Painting An Idaho Wedding

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Hayvez-Loseth Wedding, Lewiston Idaho, 2016. 24 x 36 inches.

The Lewiston-Clarkston valley

Usually when I travel to paint live at a wedding, it’s someplace that fits the stereotype of glamour— The Hamptons, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Cabo San Lucas, et cetera. But this trip was to one of my favorite places in the American West: Lewiston,Idaho. When Lewis and Clark first came over the Continental Divide and down Lolo Pass, they met the Snake River here at it’s confluence with the Clearwater; they then traveled the Snake to the Columbia and the Pacific Ocean.

Detail: the Couple

 I grew up about 35 miles north by northwest from here, so it was like going home. (In fact, I did go home, too). Every summer of my childhood, every weekend, we drove down the old Lewiston Grade (now called the Spiral Highway) to this beautiful valley, and then up the Snake River to Buffalo Eddy, in Hell’s Canyon, to swim and canoe.

This bride and groom were friends of friends from my home town, so I gave them my hometown discount.

It was a delight to talk, as I painted, to an eleven year old girl about her 4-H project, raising a pig. It was amusing to be outbearded by several men in the room. And the food was the best home style cooking you’ll never find in some chef-catered ballroom on the coasts.

And although it was the second of January, I even found time to swim in the river.

Detail: An essential component of every painting: Extended Family.

The Grooms of June at the Fairmont Olympic

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The Victor-Barnes Wedding, The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle

TheFairmont Olympic Hotel is the grandest old hotel in downtown Seattle, housed in an Italian Renaissance edifice with marble clad lobbies, Corinthian columns, and vast, ornate ballrooms. The Garden Room is the centerpiece of these gathering spaces, with double height windows rising above the hedges of the motor court.

The gentlemen who chose this place to exchange their vows are lovers of the arts, and I was pleased to have been among the evening’s artistic offerings.

Upon entering the lounge, guests lined up to have custom poetry written on the spot by Typing Explosion, a performing trio in the guise of mid-century secretaries. The nostalgic song of their typewriters was accompanied par excellence by the Seattle String Ensemble, and dancers emerged from the shadows, choreographed by Rainbow Fletcher.

The grooms with flower girls

At the end of the cocktail hour the violins went down, and the convivial voices rose. But suddenly the crowd hushed, as Jennifer Krikawa, an operatic soprano, began—mezzo piano— to call them to form a ribbon- lined aisle.   She sang from both the standard opera repertoire and Broadway show tunes. I got a little verklempt at Somewhere There’s a Place for Us from West Side Story; later a Mezzo joined her for the famous Flower Duet from the opera Lakmé, by Delibes.  As an avocational tenor myself, I was in heaven.  

During dinner the grooms and their flower girls found time to stand for quick portraits, and the painting was done by the time the dance troupe returned to pull them onto the dance floor with white feather boas.

Painting A San Ysidro Ranch Wedding, Montecito, California

The Savitt-Diamond Wedding, San Ysidro Ranch— oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, by Sam Day

Forbes Magazine recently called this “America’s Best Hotel," but the San Ysidro Ranch has been familiar with such accolades since it became a resort in 1892. In its early years it became a darling retreat for a new industry: Hollywood. Winston Churchill brought his family here. John Huston wrote the screenplay for The African Queen here. Sir Lawrence Olivier married Vivien Leigh in this same garden. The Kennedys honeymooned here; a cottage is named for them. Jessica Simpson got married here this summer.

But it is not a place of glamour and glitter to the glitterati: it’s a place to get away from all that. Indeed, it seems like Eden. Originally deeded along with the Santa Barbara Presidio by King Charles III of Spain in 1780, and for much of the 19^th century a working citrus ranch, the property still covers five hundred acres. Two hundred of those acres are meticulously gardened, with not a pebble out of place. (I know, I tried to look for one to weigh down the vase that held my brushes. I probably would have had to hike down to the creek to find one.) The forty-one cottages are secluded and homey, unostentatiously decorated with antiques, oriental rugs, and fine paintings. It seems every structure is covered by bougainvillea.

Detail of couple 

Though there are many separate gardens— from the Rose Garden to the Chef’s Organic Garden (plotted with traditional Spanish geometry, with a fountain in the center)— this couple were married on the main lawn behind the hacienda, between the pergola and the reflecting pool full of water lilies, under a chuppah laden with hydrangea and roses.

I painted from mid afternoon until the end of cocktails, just before the sun set. The bride and groom found a few minutes to stand for their portraits between photos and dinner at the Stonehouse Restaurant, a short stroll away. I then took the easel down to the Hydrangea Cottage, where the painting was displayed during dancing in the courtyard.

Adjacent to that structure, I relaxed in what became my favorite building on the property: the old faithfully restored adobe cabin, which dates to 1825. 

Hu-Cheung Wedding, Grace Chinese Lutheran Church, Seattle

Hu-Cheung Wedding, 2014,  Oil on canvas,  by Sam Day. 

Kristy and Will had a simple, family centered wedding, packed with guests from both the United States and Taiwan. The ceremony was presided over by two ministers, and conducted in both English and Chinese, with translation for each. It was filled with music, performed by friends of the musical couple, and also sung by the congregation as a hymn, and included the serving of Communion. I more often paint receptions than ceremonies, but the length of this one made it possible. The couple met in this church, so a painting in the chapel itself has special significance for them.

Laina and Mo at the Fremont Foundry, Seattle

Laina and Mo at The Fremont Foundry, oil on canvas by Sam Day

Event venues can be made from anything these days. The Fremont Foundry is a magnificent space that preserves an old industrial metal works, including a fully functioning gantry crane (not pictured). It mostly just lifts a massive chandelier, but it’s there if you need to lift something really heavy.  That’s in the atrium, of course, where dinner was served. The setting for my painting was the penthouse. The ceremony was outside on one of the expansive roof decks, as were cocktails, during which guests flowed in and out of the penthouse. After dinner downstairs, they came back up to the penthouse for dancing.

My painting depicts both ends of the evening. On the left, through a window, we see the ceremony, with the wedding party lined up against the skyline. It’s a small, loose rendering; a detail in the background. On the right, through another window, we see the guests at cocktails. Through higher windows, we see the changing light at dusk. And in the center of the dance floor, the couple poses with their mothers. 

The couple and their mothers

MV Saskonia

This is the season for wedding shows, venue open houses, and tastings.

 This painting was done at a tasting on the MV Saskonia, a retired Washington State Ferry. The vessel once made daily crossings at the Tacoma Narrows, where Galloping Girdie fell, and between Tacoma and Vashon Island. She served from 1930 to 1967. She has now been converted to a charming event venue, and decorated with furniture from a 16^th century castle. Her berth on the north end of Lake Union affords a marvelous view of the lake and Seattle skyline. The Space Needle makes a cameo in the painting, seen through the closed overhead sectional door that opens to the deck.

I love old wooden boats, so I was thrilled by every feature of this grand dame. But one of my favorite favorites was the nearly black lacquered floor.

Equal to the richness of this setting are the offerings of the catering and baking companies, shared by the Saskonia’s sister venue, the Lake Union Café, which overlooks the lake just  a few hundred feet across the water. 

Twelve Baskets Open House

This is the second year I’ve participated in Twelve Baskets Catering’s annual open house tasting. The venue was the marvelous event space 415 Westlake, with its marvelous, glowing wood plank ceiling. 

As I do this year after year, Twelve Baskets will have a growing collection of my paintings at their showroom in Kirkland.