Bay artist immortalizes homes, works with local company for cause

Late afternoon sun washes across the deep salmon-colored bricks and green shutters of the Georgian colonial in a watercolor painting that hangs above Gary Richards' fireplace. The home depicted in the painting is the very house in which it hangs—the 97-year-old home on Lake Ave. near 116th St. that Richards spent years restoring.

When the dust settled, Richards chose to have his finished project immortalized by watercolor artist Bill Mannion of Bay Village, a painter whose other collections Richards had seen and admired. “It was something I did because I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished restoring the house,” Richards says.

Mannion has been creating these renderings—“housetraits,” he calls them—for 25 years. And it is not just the residents of Cleveland’s historic homes who commission Mannion’s work. Homeowners from tiny bungalows to grand mansions come to him to capture the places they call home.  

“A house is not just brick and mortar, shingles and siding,” he says. “Everything about the house matters to the people who live there.”

Mannion found his niche on a trip to his wife Pauline’s native England, where he sketched small pen and ink drawings of the homes and buildings that caught his eye. Back stateside, he added watercolors to the drawings. The work caught the attention of an acquaintance who then commissioned Mannion to paint the home of a neighbor as a present. Since then, Mannion has painted “housetraits” of homes as far away as Alaska.

Mannion’s clients appreciate his eye for detail. Julie Helm of Bay Village says, “It looks just like your home down to the littlest touches, like the door knocker… it is just right.”  

Mannion has always preferred to work with watercolors. “There is a clean, clear, fresh look you that you do not get with oil or acrylic paints,” Mannion explains. “The paper comes through in certain parts and helps to give some light and transparency to the painting.”

Though all of the paintings have meaning to their owners, a particularly meaningful project for Mannion was one he did for Providence House, a crisis nursery for at-risk infants. In 2008, Lakewood-based contractor Neubert Painting launched its annual Charity Paint Giveaway in which a worthy organization or community-minded homeowner is provided with an exterior paint job worth $10,000.

When Mannion learned Neubert had chosen Providence House as its 2009 recipient, he offered to create a “housetrait” to help celebrate the rebirth of the charming cream and red Victorian. Working from “before” photos and color chips provided by Neubert, Mannion was able to unveil the painting for all of the volunteers who came to paint Providence House that day.

“It was such a worthy thing to be involved with,” says Mannion, who will again paint the recipient of Neubert’s 2010 Charity Paint Giveaway. To nominate a worthy homeowner or organization, please complete the nomination form at NeubertPainting.com.