Puget Sound Bank’s 10th Anniversary Party

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 A live painting is a great commemoration for any memorable event, be it a wedding or a cocktail party. This occasion was the tenth anniversary of Puget Sound Bank, held at the Bellevue (Washington) Hyatt. The Chairman of the bank is front and center in the painting, as is his wife. But many other figures in the painting turned out to be more important connections than I knew, when simply sketched what I thought to be a great face. I guess that’s what happens when the right people come to a party!

Voila! Wedding Show, Woodmark Hotel, Yacht Club and Spa, Carillon Point, Kirkland, Washington, March 28, 2010

In one respect, it can be harder to compose a painting at these shows than at a wedding. That is, there’s no client and no prioritized group of people who need to be in the painting. In many trade shows, I end up painting from a booth in a long row of other vendors, and I struggle to find an important focal point to be main visual interest in the picture. Fortunately, this show was divided into several more or less intimate rooms. This one was called the Winter Room, and had a great central display that, pictorially, defines what we were doing there: selling to brides.

I rarely paint service people in commissioned pieces, and if I do, I limit it to one and keep it subdued. But this is a demo painting, and it seemed to me that service is what the business is all about. Having made that decision, I loved the ethnic variation of the workers; the face of an African, an Indonesian.

Painting the harpist was a joy. But had I known there was a string trio coming later, I would have scooted the harpist over to make room to paint them all in.