Canal Wedding

Johnson Wedding at The Canal, by Sam Day, 24 x 36 inches, oil on canvas

The Canal is a popular event venue overlooking the locks on the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which connects Lake Washington, Lake Union, and a sizable Alaskan fishing fleet to Puget Sound.  I’ve painted several weddings here, and my stepson and his wife had their reception here. The view from the dining hall is usually filled with boats queuing up to ascend the locks, and regularly includes both pleasure and commercial craft of many sizes. The view also includes a train bridge, and the sound of freight and Amtrak trains crossing adds ambience to the venue a couple of times an hour.

But the challenge for a wedding painter is to pair this amazing view with the one inside: the dance floor, the dinner, the spectacular bride and her lucky groom. So we have just a glimpse, at the right of the painting, out the south and west facing windows, to the bright, late sun reflecting on the water. The perspective is bent wide, more than 180 degrees, to the dinner on the far right. And, of course, the center of the painting focuses on the reason everyone came.

The couple — Wedding painting by Sam Day