Macias-Lawson Wedding, Arctic Club Hotel, Seattle, November 26, 2011

The Arctic Club Hotel is one of the greatest pieces of architecture in Seattle. Built in 1917, it is distinguished by two-dozen terra cotta walrus heads lining the Cherry Street and Third Avenue facades. After the Nisqually earthquake ten years ago, when the building was languishing as city offices, some of these walruses had their tusks held on with duct tape. But in recent years the building has been acquired and beautifully restored to its historic splendor by a company of Mr. William Lawson, whose son was married there on Saturday.

The building is mixture of architectural styles, but the Dome Room evokes Paris in the Belle Époque. I have painted in the room before, and I hope to again— many times. In fact, I think it would be my dream art studio. So it was really a privilege to paint the room for its new owners.

This painting was also an opportunity for me to do something I’ve never done before: a vertical wedding painting. The size and format were actually dictated by the wall on which the painting will eventually hang, but it works compositionally because of the Dome Room’s magnificent stained glass ceiling, which occupies the top half of the painting.

At most weddings and events, I paint on a French easel, which is a portable travel set designed in the days of the Impressionists to carry enough paints in the box for a plein aire outing. I use this for paintings up to 30 inches high, though it gets a little rickety with torque on paintings as wide as 40 inches. For the Macias-Lawson wedding, the canvas was 48 wide and 60 high— the second largest I’ve done for an event, and by far the tallest. I rented a van to move a big easel from the studio, even though the venue was just six blocks away! (Its also unadvisable to walk through the neighborhood carrying a big wet oil painting in the rain, after midnight.) The easel was designed for paintings up to 59 inches high, and needed a minor modification for this job. But it has a great sliding carriage, which allowed me to set the painting low at first, when I painted that grand ceiling before the wedding, and simply slide the whole thing up the ratcheted vertical support to paint the lower half during the reception. I used my French easel on the side for a tableau, to hold my paint and brushes.

It really would take a week to faithfully and realistically render the architectural details of this exquisite room. But as with paintings I’ve done at The Ruins, where an excellent muralist labored for three years to adorn the place, my scribblings are quick impressions, meant to evoke that single evening in its magic moment. By constricting my painting time to the time of the event (with some allowance to paint the setting in just the hours before), I control, harness, and channel the energy of expedience. If I were to take the painting back to the studio to touch it up, dither over it, and— as one of my illustration teachers called it — noodle it to death, that energy would leak out of the painting. Some people, upon hearing (but not seeing) what I do, ask me if I’m going to take a photo of the wedding, and do the whole painting back at the studio. I could, of course, and I could make the painting look just like the photo. But you can get that from any of several corporate studios that email your photos to China, where factory artists copy them faithfully for the cost of a good craft store frame.

There are no photos from any wedding that depict what I paint; I do not capture a sliver of time in a click of a shutter, but the whole elapse of the evening over several hours. Mini-portrait-caricatures depict the key figures. The bride and groom, in this case, were painted in their entirety during their First Dance. I have to confess here that I take extensive liberties with perspective, even with my point of view. I have compressed nearly 180 degrees of view into this vertical rectangle. When a camera does this, we call it a fish-eye lens, and close objects become enormous and far details disappear. Its great for documenting architecture, but people, not so much. I paint as if I were on a ladder, and the floor angled like a raked stage. This allows me to give elements within the room relatively equal importance as events, rather than distorting closer things.

Artistry lies as much in the process and interpretation of what the artist sees, as in the skill with which it is rendered.

A Zinzanni Evening—Painting at the Circus

In the Spiegeltent at Teatro Zinzanni for the third time, on Sunday the sixth of November, I did a painting for their annual gala auction to benefit the Zinzanni Institute for the Circus Arts. The Institute teaches children to juggle, clown, and tumble their way towards a chance to run away with the circus—or at least to develop some killer skills. The gala funds scholarships for kids who can’t afford the program. An amazing nine-year old graduate appears in my painting, center stage, juggling five balls, next to auctioneer Kevin Joyce.

It just another normal weekend for me to put on a bowtie and black apron and perform for a crowd, with my brushes and palette and mahl stick and a rapidly transforming canvas. Doing it under the big top with these performers lets me pretend I’m a tall, Danish version of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec at the Moulin Rouge. Their Spiegeltent dates from that era (so named because of the mirrors encircling the space), the dancing, singing waitresses wear corsets and fishnet stockings and feathers, paired with waiters in vests and caps. Décor of tassels and fringe and faded velvet are everywhere.

The air of Paris is especially strong at Zinzanni right now, since their current dinner show is Bonsoir Liliane!, a memoir about, and starring, Liliane Montevecchi— a grand dame of the stage, ballet, cinema, and theatre. I told her that her voice reminded me of a stretch version of Edith Piaf (she’s more than a foot taller than La Môme.)

With all the acrobats and contortionists and strays from the opera and ballet, this troupe has been called “the Kit Kat Club on Acid.” So why not throw in a barrel-voiced cross-dressing comedian/comedienne primped and powdered like a Venetian carnival queen? That’s him/her posing with the buyer of my painting and her daughter, center left. Kevin Kent is one of TZ’s original members.

Another regular at Zinzanni is Francine Reed, who came in from Atlanta for the gala and a concert the following night. As I mixed my colors and began to paint the background of the venue, while the crew tested lights and recording volumes, Ms. Reed spent a luxurious amount of time chatting with me. It was a pleasure getting to know the woman whose voice makes Lyle Lovett sound good. We talked about growing up singing in church, and she listened patiently while I sang to her a song I wrote for my wife, nodding and smiling approvingly. During the auction she sang God Bless the Child. She appears in my painting dressed in purple, with feathers, on the stage, middle right.

It feels great to donate a painting, and I do for several charity auctions each year. It feels even better when the event’s appreciation allows me to bring my wife and guests back for dinner and a show throughout the year!

The Klein-Susinno Wedding at the Salish Lodge, Snoqualmie Falls

On Sunday, October 23, 2011, I was pleased to be invited to draw caricatures at the Klein-Susinno Wedding, held at the Salish Lodge,

Snoqualmie, Washington. The lodge sits atop the roaring 268 foot Snoqualmie Falls, and was made famous in the television series Twin Peaks.

I don’t do caricatures nearly as often as I used to. The live wedding paintings pay better, of course, because the couple is getting a work of art that can last for generations. But caricatures are an affordable alternative for the client, and a valuable wedding favor for the guests to take home.

And I truly love doing them. I never tire of drawing or painting faces. I love seeking out the personality of the sitter; it often manifests in a single brush stroke as they flash that smile they were hiding, or as they raise an eyebrow or smirk at the reaction of their friends to my drawing in progress. I love the family resemblances and variations I see, from grandparents to grandchildren. I love the subtle differences unique to every ethnicity (in this case German and Italian) that sits before me. These particular families were full of confident personalities, and I was able to caricature them honestly and playfully without being disrespectful or disparaging.

Of course, throughout the years I’ve drawn many people who were more reserved and anxious about how I might portray them. There are always people who ask me to make them thinner, or omit a double chin, or downsize a nose. At every caricature gig, I find myself repeating, for the nervous, the mantra that I always make the women look like movie stars. I then joke that the men get what they have coming to them. But the truth is I try not to offend anyone. I subscribe to Al Hirschfeld’s philosophy that caricatures never need to be insulting, because everyone has an interesting face.

Urban Unveiled, 2011, at Seattle's Benaroya Hall

It was a pleasure to be invited to paint at Urban Unveiled for the third year in a row. The painting belongs to Jesse Brix and Travis Burney of True Colors events, which produces this hip

wedding show, featuring a fashion show by Luly Yang.

Painting the lobby of Seattle’s Benaroya Hall presents a challenge, to the nth degree, that I face in some measure at any wedding reception that runs into the evening. That is, I have to begin a painting during daylight, knowing that I will finish it after dark. All of my wedding and event paintings are a snapshot not of a moment in time, but a span of time over several hours. I have yet to try to depict both daytime and nighttime on the same canvas. I have to decide which it is, and almost always, it needs to be whichever comes later.

I always come to the venue a couple of hours before an event, and paint the room. Once the event begins, I can then focus on just painting people. But that means painting the grand lobby of this symphony hall in bright, south facing daylight. The people arrive as the setting sun colors the skyscrapers outside these four story glass walls with rapidly changing shadows, and then the ceiling dances with choreographed up-lighting, as the windows go dark and reflect the interior. From the very beginning, I paint in anticipation of this final lighting. At first, the window frames are dark lines against a bright background. But I know they will later become light lines against a dark background.

I know this because I’ve painted here before. But when I paint somewhere new, especially when it’s a destination wedding and I haven’t been able to scout out the place beforehand, I have to learn to look around and visualize with prescience. Always, even in familiar venues, I have to ask the planner what the lighting design will be— what will be dimmed, what will be accentuated.

Then, as everything changes, I take what comes, and paint from direct observation. It is the opposite of the perfection one seeks in studio painting. But the result is always something spontaneous, fluid, and irreplaceably unique.

Join me at Benaroya for Urban Unveiled!

On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, I’ll be painting at one of my favorite local wedding shows. Urban Unveiled is organized by True Colors Events, the peerless event-designing duo of Jesse Brix and Travis Burney. The venue, every year, is Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony, and features a fashion show by Luly Yang. Its an honor and a pleasure to be invited back to paint at this show for the third year.

Sizes and Prices, 2011

I've had a surge of inquiries lately. I've also checked blog stats lately, and I see that the increased traffic also seems to be finding last year's listing of sizes and prices. So to make things a little more clear, here are the prices that are good through the end of 2011. Clients who book before the end of the year for dates next year or even later nevertheless get to lock in this year's prices.

Travel cost usually includes air fare and lodging for two nights, although larger paintings take more preparation time at the destination.

Inches Centimeters US Dollars

24 x 30 61 x 76 $2500

24 x 36 61 x 91 $2800

24 x 40 61 x 102 $3250

30 x 40 76 x 102 $4000

36 x 48 91 x 122 $5000

48 x 60 122 x 152 $6000

48 x 72 122 x 183 $7500

48 x 80 122 x 203 $9000

A Barbecue Among Friends

Not every event painting is a wedding painting. As you read older posts, you’ll find I’ve painted live at birthday parties, retirement parties, charity auctions, and even a wake. (That was a great memorial, with great people remembering a great person.) So it is not so strange that the occasion of this painting is simply a barbecue among friends.

The hosts had graciously allowed me to use their home for a photo shoot for one of my religious paintings, my reference for which involves costumed models and sets of some detail. (You can read about this at my other blog, here.) In exchange, they asked me to paint their barbecue later that evening.

As often happens in Seattle in autumn, dinner on the terrace was redirected indoors by a fragrant rain.