Six Foot Painting at Tutta Bella - Wallingford

On April 26, 2009, my client rented out the restaurant Tutta Bella in Wallingford, Seattle, Washington, for a 60^th birthday bash. This was my greatest challenge to date, because of the enormous size. At six feet wide and four feet high, the canvas is nearly eight times the size of my regular 24” x 30” event paintings. But I had to complete the painting in the same amount of time— a four hour party, plus three hours of set up.

I actually spent days preparing. I stretched the canvas myself, because I’m rarely pleased with off-the shelf products this size. I also built a special carrying case to transport the painting when wet.

I arrived at 8 am to set up for an 11:30 event. After about an hour of set up and mixing paint, I began painting the background.

I was trying to include about a 150 degree view, so I had to visually bend the architecture like a fisheye lens. As with all these paintings, lot of quick brush work has to be done in the beginning. Even very thin washes still take a lot of paint at this size. Everything is umber and ochre at first. Areas I want lighter are altered by lifting out paint with citrus thinner. Detail is added later in thicker layers.

After lunch, core family members stayed til nearly 4 pm. The clients' grandchildren stood for their portraits in the foreground.

Music to paint by! Richard Sclafani and Peter Cicero, of the italian folk duo the Tarantellas, serenaded the finishing touches.

The excellent planning was orchestrated by Jesse Brix and Travis McBurney of True Colors Events. The event was photographed by the talented staff at Imigri, and all the photos I have of me at this event are copyrighted by them.

Video: Time Lapse of 5th Avenue Theater Painting

On April 18, 2009 I made my 5th Avenue debut at their annual gala auction. My painting from that evening will be reproduced in promotional materials for next years’ gala, and the painting will be sold at that auction (2010)—while I’m painting the image for the 2011 auction. It’s nice to be asked to start a tradition!
Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater hosts Broadway musicals, often featuring world premieres, such as the upcoming Catch Me if You Can.

Thanks to ProMotion Arts for the video. http://www.ProMotionArts.com
http://www.5thavenue.org/

December Art Walk

Galleries in Pioneer Square, Seattle, have long held the openings of new shows on the first Thursday of each month. The First Thursday Art Walk ties the galleries together with crafts for sale in Occidental Park, open studios in buildings where artists rent studios, and occasional street performers. This month I decided to pay the $10 to the City and set up my easel in the park. It was a chilly evening, there were roving carolers, and the crowd was light. But there was this delightful group of high school art students from Auburn, which is nigh to Tacoma. They gathered around and craned their necks as I scribbled as many of them into the painting as possible before they were summoned back to the school bus.

On Painting Architecture

The first order of business, before painting the guests, is to paint the room in which they congregate. I’ve always been drawn to painting people, and though I love architecture, the thought of painting it as subject matter would have bored me stiff when I was younger. But weddings tend to be set in grand places, and brides and grooms place their memories in these great places. And as I’ve learned to scribble these settings quickly, I’ve come to appreciate architectural painters. As I have an eye for faces, those who are good at buildings have an eye for perspective. I forget about it. Sure, I studied it in school, learned to draw it with a tee square and triangle, even remember doing that homework on the bus. I don’t particularly remember the particulars now, though. And in these paintings, I’m bending the rules as far as I can see without making it look deliberately distorted. The scope of a painting is often more than 180 degrees. Some lines, then, get bent like a fish-eye lens. But I don’t distort the figures, at least not in a wide-angle lens way.
The painting shown here was done in the Northern Lights Dome Room at Seattle’s recently restored Arctic Hotel. It is a magnificent ceiling of stained glass and gilded molding, and presented a delicious challenge as the evening dimmed.

Under the Big Top

On Sunday, November 9, Junior Achievement of Washington held an auction at Teatro Zinzanni in Seattle, raising over $300k to help teach kids about financial responsibility and financial success. I enjoy donating to events like this, because in addition to supporting a cause, auctions are great networking opportunities. This venue was especially fun, because I just fit right in with circus performers.

The couple who purchased this painting are depicted at the end of the long table, in the far right half of the painting.

Painting an Auction

This sunday I'll be painting an auction for Junior Achievement at Teatro Zinzanni in Seattle.
The auction runs from 10:30am – 2:30pm, November 9th, 2008. Of course, I'll be there hours before, setting up my easel, and commencing to paint the spectacular setting. Teatro Zinzani bills itself as selling Love, Chaos, and Dinner, in a setting that is half cirque and half cabaret, with a five course meal by Seattle genius chef Tom Douglas. The winning bidder for my painting gets their table and guests painted front and center in my composition, which is sure to be a colorful evocation of Talouse-Latrec at the Moulin Rouge.

Prices, Terms, Travel Policies

As soon as I began painting weddings, I found that I’m not charging enough. I have heard of a few people who do this, often at several times what I charge. So I’m gradually adjusting the price, a little bit each year. Posted below are this year’s prices, and the new prices for 2009. As is common in the wedding industry, a non-refundable deposit of 50% is due upon signing a contract to reserve a date. 2009 weddings that are booked before January 1st will be given 2008 prices. Travel fees are discussed below the chart.

  2008 Prices                    2009 Prices

24 x 30     $1850        24 x 30     $2000
24 x 36     $2200       24 x 36      $2300
24 x 40     $2500       24 x 40      $2650
30 x 40     $3500       30 x 40     $3750
36 x 48     $4500       36 x 48      $5000
48 x 60     $5500       48 x 60      $6000

Of course, for any travel requiring an overnight stay, I’ll need to be reimbursed for lodging and airfare. I’ll drive as far as Vancouver, BC, Portland, OR, or Spokane, WA, without asking for gas money.
There are certain logistical hurdles associated with air travel. I can fly with my oil paints (they’re just vegetable oils), but they won’t let me carry solvents on board. So I need a day on the ground in your fair city to procure a few art supplies, or they sometimes they can be shipped to my hotel. Hence, an out of town gig generally books three days on my calendar. I need to charge a fee (currently $500) for those days that I could be booking if I were working locally. So for most North American gigs, I would charge the price of the painting, plus two travel days, plus airfare and lodging.
For Europe, make that six days. Here’s why. At the end of an event, I’m only ninety-five percent done with the painting. I usually take the painting back to my studio and touch up the bride and groom, then ship them the painting. I can do this touch-up at the destination, if I stay and wait 48 hours for the paint to dry enough for me to paint another layer on it. So a client would be paying for (1) travel day + (1) prep day + the painting (no extra travel fee for the day of the event) + (2) days drying time + (1) day painting and preparing painting for delivery +(1) day travel back to the states.
Those two days waiting for paint to dry need not be wasted. I’d be happy to spend them painting additional alle prima paintings of the city or resort of your nuptial memories! Prices for these will be appropriate to size, but can be steeply discounted as part of a negotiated package.