MODEL HOMES PORTRAIT ARTISTS CAN CREATE KEEPSAKES OF YOUR BELOVED ABODE WHEN PHOTOS WON'T DO.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

A house can have its ``good side'' just like a person, and it's the job of a home portraitist to locate it and bring it out.

Also known in the real estate world as architectural renderers, home portrait artists often spend days or even weeks sitting in front of a house, sketching away. The finished product, often commissioned by a client who wants a special memory, will be unlike a photograph, according to the artists who produce them.

``If you take a photo of a building, it's not always shown to its best advantage,'' says Rosalind Binger-Makuh, a Pasadena-based artist who has been creating home portraits for several years as a side business. ``You can eliminate a tree that's obscuring the house, or open things up so the house comes through.''

The bulk of Binger-Makuh's commissions come from Pasadena and regions of the San Gabriel Valley where the homes are old and historic - well worth preserving in a work of art. She has also sketched historic buildings for city agencies and universities. One of her earliest commissions was South Pasadena Middle School for a retiring teacher.

``I fell in love with the houses and the architecture and decided to just do them,'' says Binger-Makuh, who also designs accessories and teaches. ``I'm from New York, where everything is old.''

Realtors often commission a home portrait for clients who have either purchased a house or, occasionally, for those who are leaving a cherished home. In fact, consulting a real-estate agent or architectural designer is a good way to find a home portraitist. It's not the kind of work that any student fresh out of art school can master, says Cynthia Luczyski, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Old Pasadena.

``My degree was in art, but I couldn't do renderings like that anymore,'' says Luczyski, who has commissioned Binger-Makuh several times. ``Roz did a rendering of my own house, because I thought I wanted to have one. They really look very authentic.''

People who love their homes often want unique ways of displaying them. Barbara Werner of Berkeley makes rubber stamps out of her portraits. Often working from photographs sent by people from different parts of the country, Werner produces line drawings via a computer program.

Jean-Maurice Moulene of the Hollywood-based Beaux-Arts Design often supplies the portrait that can grace his clients' stationery and holiday cards. His clients have also commissioned portraits of second homes.

``When I'm doing a rendering, it's all about the detail of the place,'' says Moulene, who will be teaching a class in architectural renderings through UCLA extension in April. ``It could be lyrical but it's more whimsical. I'm trying to personalize the drawing so that it kind of captures the atmosphere.''

Moulene visited a client's home in Beverly Hills to scope out a view for home rendering that would grace the client's change-of-address card. Although the home was gorgeous, Moulene and the home owner decided he would sketch a 1926 greenhouse in her back yard rather than the home itself.

``We thought it would be funny to be a little more mysterious about the place she was going to live,'' says Moulene. ``She was very pleased and the people who received the card loved it. I develop real relationships with my clients, not only just the service thing.''

Binger-Makuh charges $300 for renderings. Moulene's work ranges from $1,500 to $10,000. His clients get pencil, ink and watercolor renderings approving each design until they are satisfied.

Neither Moulene nor Binger-Makuh uses a computer or technology of any kind, sometimes to the surprise of people who see their work.

Binger-Makuh recalls, ``When I exhibited at an arts and crafts weekend, architects came up and said, 'Do you do this freehand?' I said yes, and they were shocked. Why wouldn't I? They say, 'Nobody does this anymore. Everyone uses the Computer Aided Design (CAD) system.' ''

Jim Burns, a Pasadena-based former architect, thinks that that particular technology ``stinks to high heaven.'' If you're going to commission a portrait, he figures, get somebody who works by hand.

``The computer stuff is just so dull, so mechanical, really not very pretty,'' says Burns, who has done only a couple of home portraits. ``A computer doesn't know how to do a juicy wet sky.''

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(1 -- 2 -- cover -- color) ON THE COVER

Rosalind Binger-Makuh of Pasadena, whose drawings are seen above and left, says a portrait interpretation of a home can work around things that would obscure a particular view.

(3 -- 4 -- color) Translucent trees, left, and a backyard view, below, mark two portraits from Jean-Maurice Moulene of Hollywood's Beaux-Arts Design. ``I'm trying to personalize the drawing so that it kind of captures the atmosphere,'' he says.

(5 -- 6; 5 -- color) Berkeley-based artist Barbara Werner, whose work is shown above and right, transfers her portraits to rubber stamps for homeowners who want to add a classy touch to their correspondence.

(7 -- 8) Though Werner creates her portraits using photographs and a computer line program, other artists eschew technology. ``A computer doesn't know how to do a juicy wet sky,'' says Jim Burns, a former architect in Pasadena.

(9 -- color) no caption (Rosalind Binger-Makuh)

John McCoy/Staff Photographer