This couple, both local television producers, tied the knot in
a very private ceremony in Paris, in July. But they wanted to bring home a bit
of Europe for their family and friends, so they held a stateside reception at
The Ruins in Seattle. This hidden venue is tucked away in an old industrial
space. Knowing the address, one finds a concrete building with a non-descript
metal door, and a doorbell. But once inside, we are transported, as it seems,
to a villa in France. There are vine draped courtyards, and room after room of
elegant furnishings and art. The most formal of the dining rooms is framed in
gilded trim, and features floor to ceiling murals which took artist Jennifer Carrasco three years to create.
This is the third time I’ve painted in this room, and I hope to do it again. The place is magic.
Having dressed my canvas in some semblance of Ms. Carrasco’s
nature scenes, half a dozen chandeliers, and some Venetian lamp posts, I was
ready by the time the guests arrived to paint the most important features: the
people. As they trickled in from cocktails in the adjacent room (to the right
of my canvas), I caught a six year old girl peeking through the curtains. She was
the first. Then came the couple’s teen age daughters, preteen son, and the
array of parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. Off in the distance,
behind the cake, the Prague-born pianist Luke Doubravsky tickles all the keys. And shimmering
in the center are the sophisticated couple.
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