Renea Menzies is a Houston native and a former international model that graced the runways of Paris, Mexico, Tokyo and Spain. After years of modeling, Renea realized she wanted to express her artistic abilities in other ways. She came back to the United States and began to work as a make-up artist. She then transitioned to the world of sculpted art. After years of perfecting her craft, Renea’s 3-D flowers, which are created by using various-sized pallet knives to blend rich colors, have become what she is best known for. Renea is now back to living in Houston, where she is raising her two children.

Renea began to see the possibility of a career as an artist while going through her divorce, when all the paintings she had created to decorate her home sold during the estate sale. Realizing that there was genuine potential for her to make a living as an artist, she started painting regularly. Although her love of art is so profound today, it wasn’t always the career she dreamed of. She loved to draw as a child in school, but her teachers said it wasn’t up to par. Her experience as a model helped Renea prepare for her future career, by learning to assess scale and balance through clothing, and color through make-up. Renea describes her technique as “sculpted oil”, which involves creating a colorful background and forming and shaping flowers to be placed on the canvas.

Renea is a self-taught artist whose ex-husband’s grandmother was a professional artist and provided her with inspiration. Other artists who influenced her were Jackson Pollock and Emma Powell, who she says possess “guidelines, focal points and purpose in all aspects of the painting”. Renea also feels a special connection to Van Gogh, and she admires how well known and distinctive his paintings are. She loves how he uses the same strokes throughout his paintings, as does Jackson Pollock with his signature technique. As for her own style, in the beginning she thought of herself as a contemporary artist. Now she believes that she is more of an abstract artist. Renea says that she is “absolutely flattered” when people are inspired by her work.

Renea has said it was her life experiences that lead to her success. Of raising her two young children, who were one and three at the time of her divorce, with no college education, she states: “Being an artist and a single parent wasn’t easy, but when you know what you want to do, you just do it.” While Renea was “all about being happy” and being at home with her children, sometimes she struggled financially. However, in the last 2 years or so she has achieved “huge success”.

Today you can see Renea Menzies’ work in a dozen of prestigious galleries, such as World Street Fine Art, in Aspen, CO, Newberry Fine Art in Boston, MA and Jason Samuel Gallery in New York, NY. Renea recently participated in the Red Dot Art Fair in Miami. Her paintings will be shown at Ocean Reef Art Show in Key Largo, Florida in February 2012, at the New York Art Expo 2012, and this summer during Art Hamptons 2012. Her work has been featured in Art Quarterly, Houston Modern Luxury, and Art Business News Magazine.

For more information on Renea Menzies, please visit: www.reneamenzies.com

Sculpted and Engaging – An overiew of Artist Renea Menzies

In a July phone interview, Houston based fine artist Renea Menzies commented on her technique, her inspiration and aspirations. An artist focused on adding to the lexicon of fine art, she is driven to paint by the sensation of the medium. The texture, the tonality, the feel of the paint stimulates her creativity one palette stroke at a time. The completed painting is not in the artist’s mind’s eye as she starts the creative process. Yet she knows instinctively when a work is ready for a collector.

Blushing Garden, 2010 by Renea Menzies. Oil on Canvas.

Similar to a castle rising from the sand, Menzies’ sculpted oil canvases vibrantly and in grand scale emerge. No two paintings are exact to the other. No two strokes are alike. Her current body of work is distinguished by each stroke blending from 3 to 6 different colors typically, a process that ensures differences for every painting. Some are large, like Midnight Oasis, 2010 measuring approximately 60” x 48” or Blushing Garden, 2010 with measures approximately 37″ x 49″.

Thick palette paintings typically resonate for collectors. From a smooth background –which Renea typically nurtures with paint first- the canvas gives way to two to three inches of her subject. Her relation to the canvas enables Menzies to mold, blend, and shape each detail, floral or otherwise. Some are obvious and, depending on her focus, others remain abstract. She then picks up each piece of sculpted oil with a palette knife laying it back down onto the canvas as the spirit, the artistic process moves her to completion. The result is depth, texture and a sensational experience with the work.

This year has been a good year for Renea. In Houston, where she is based, as well as through national shows and continued interest from galleries and collectors, Menzies has found a following. Renea has been influenced from her travels as a model, along with the deep art history found in Spanish, Mexican and European cultures.

She is currently represented online by GALLERY M and other national galleries. Additional works can be viewed and acquired at gallerym.com.

Posted by Mason Hayutin
on August 1, 2010 Filed under THE HOMAGE.
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