Wow, it's been almost two months since my last post. That's not good! I've had a lot of stuff happening and wanted to write about it, but just didn't. No excuses, that's just what happened. So it's time to do some catch-up here on a lot of topics. For today's post, we'll talk about three completed wedding paintings and one that's in progress.
I was happy to be chosen to create the wedding paintings for four couples in late summer and fall. The first of these was for Nil and Aveni, a wonderful couple from the Durham area. They had a wedding based on traditional Hindu customs, but modified a bit for America. For one thing, it was only one afternoon - I understand that Hindu wedding ceremonies can go for days. In Indian tradition, the groom travels in a procession from his village to his bride's. That doesn't work so well in an American urban setting, so instead, the procession went around the large building where the wedding took place. It was led by Batala Durham, a Brazilian samba reggae drum band (that's part of the Hindu tradition, right?), and to say they were lively is an understatement. They had entire procession of several hundred participants (and me) dancing all the way around the building. However, they didn't have somebody in the nearby residential area dancing and the cops showed up. Any time you have the cops called on your celebration for making too much noise, you know you're doing it right! The wedding itself was beautiful. I painted a moment at the very end of the ceremony that, I thought, perfectly captured their feelings for each other - and it was a huge hit for them both.
The next painting was an outdoor ceremony on a ridge outside of Hendersonville, North Carolina. It was held shortly before sunset with beautiful colors in the sky. Taylor and John are very close with their families and wanted the painting to show that. So we decided to include all of the immediate families: their parents and brothers and sisters. Getting good likenesses, with lots of life in them, for so many people, is quite a challenge. Taylor and John, though, loved the way it turned out.
The third painting wasn't a wedding, it was a vow renewal. Juli (the owner of Wedding Inspirations Bridal Boutique in Asheville) and Jeff had been married for 32 years. The ceremony was held at Jeff's surprise birthday party, and to top it off, it was a surprise vow renewal. I won't go into the story of how you can have a surprise vow renewal here, but it's enough to say that, as told by Juli, it was both hilarious and deeply touching. I had free rein in choosing the moment to paint, and to heighten the feeling of love between the two, the painting only included them. And here's how it turned out:
Yesterday, I started a new painting for Klaire and Drew. Klaire had a very definite idea that she wanted the painting to focus on a moment at the end of the ceremony when they were showered with roses. That sounded great, but as the couple was coming down the aisle at the end of the ceremony, they stopped a couple of times for impromptu kisses. I changed the painting's focus right then and there. Fortunately, once they saw how it was developing, both Klaire and Drew loved the concept. This painting is still at the very early block-in stage. It's going to take 2-4 more weeks to get it up to the standards that you see in the other paintings. But it WILL get there and I will post it here when done. So here's the painting, still at the ugly stage:
I was happy to be chosen to create the wedding paintings for four couples in late summer and fall. The first of these was for Nil and Aveni, a wonderful couple from the Durham area. They had a wedding based on traditional Hindu customs, but modified a bit for America. For one thing, it was only one afternoon - I understand that Hindu wedding ceremonies can go for days. In Indian tradition, the groom travels in a procession from his village to his bride's. That doesn't work so well in an American urban setting, so instead, the procession went around the large building where the wedding took place. It was led by Batala Durham, a Brazilian samba reggae drum band (that's part of the Hindu tradition, right?), and to say they were lively is an understatement. They had entire procession of several hundred participants (and me) dancing all the way around the building. However, they didn't have somebody in the nearby residential area dancing and the cops showed up. Any time you have the cops called on your celebration for making too much noise, you know you're doing it right! The wedding itself was beautiful. I painted a moment at the very end of the ceremony that, I thought, perfectly captured their feelings for each other - and it was a huge hit for them both.
Nil and Aveni
The next painting was an outdoor ceremony on a ridge outside of Hendersonville, North Carolina. It was held shortly before sunset with beautiful colors in the sky. Taylor and John are very close with their families and wanted the painting to show that. So we decided to include all of the immediate families: their parents and brothers and sisters. Getting good likenesses, with lots of life in them, for so many people, is quite a challenge. Taylor and John, though, loved the way it turned out.
Taylor and John
The third painting wasn't a wedding, it was a vow renewal. Juli (the owner of Wedding Inspirations Bridal Boutique in Asheville) and Jeff had been married for 32 years. The ceremony was held at Jeff's surprise birthday party, and to top it off, it was a surprise vow renewal. I won't go into the story of how you can have a surprise vow renewal here, but it's enough to say that, as told by Juli, it was both hilarious and deeply touching. I had free rein in choosing the moment to paint, and to heighten the feeling of love between the two, the painting only included them. And here's how it turned out:
Juli and Jeff
Yesterday, I started a new painting for Klaire and Drew. Klaire had a very definite idea that she wanted the painting to focus on a moment at the end of the ceremony when they were showered with roses. That sounded great, but as the couple was coming down the aisle at the end of the ceremony, they stopped a couple of times for impromptu kisses. I changed the painting's focus right then and there. Fortunately, once they saw how it was developing, both Klaire and Drew loved the concept. This painting is still at the very early block-in stage. It's going to take 2-4 more weeks to get it up to the standards that you see in the other paintings. But it WILL get there and I will post it here when done. So here's the painting, still at the ugly stage:
Drew and Klaire (rough block-in)
So that's what's been happening with the wedding painting side of my studio operations. The painting of Drew and Klaire is the last on my list until April, so over the winter, you'll see more of my charcoal and pastel figures, along with some small oils and maybe even one or two large artworks. And I hope to be a little better at keeping this blog up to date.
More information on wedding paintings:
Asheville Event Paintings
Asheville Event Paintings Facebook page
More information on wedding paintings:
Asheville Event Paintings
Asheville Event Paintings Facebook page
