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Whitney Sanford's intricate paintings of different housing and communities around the world

San Francisco artist Whitney Sanford is fascinated by housing and how it differs around the world.

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All images courtesy of the artist, via CB submission

All images courtesy of the artist, via CB submission

As she has moved several times throughout her life, coupled with a desire to travel, her work tends to focus on the concept of home and community.

It began when she and her partner visited Crestet in France: "I was looking around and was mesmerised that this tiny hilltop town, surrounded by nothing but wide-open space, had been built by people carrying these little rocks up this giant hill.

"I wanted to know what they were running from to make such a defensive city; were they successful and what has happened to them since? It sparked the whole project of wanting to understand how, despite our inherent need for homes and structure, culturally, we manage to both share certain styles and decisions and differ entirely."

Sanford uses watercolour, oil, paper cutout, animation, polaroid and collage to create her detailed artworks. In this case, she has mainly used watercolour and pen and ink, with a little acrylic, too. Discover more of her work at www.whitneylsanford.com.

Watercolour cross-section illustration of a pink ornate palace built into a rocky cliff face, showing multiple interior levels and rooms
Colourful stacked buildings with red-tiled roofs cascading down a hillside, topped with a domed cathedral, in Whitney Sanford's watercolour painting
Bird's-eye view painting of densely packed white apartment buildings with terracotta roofs in a Mediterranean-style hillside town by Whitney Sanford
Aerial view of a dense urban neighbourhood with colourful buildings in pink, red, yellow and white, streets with road markings, and small green spaces between structures
Overhead architectural plan of red and white buildings surrounded by green landscaping and curved pathways in an urban layout
Whitney Sanford's detailed mixed-media illustration of colourful residential buildings with varied window patterns, a street sign and interconnected architectural elements depicting urban housing styles
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