Wedding Day on Canvas

When I began planning Laura and Mike's wedding, I was delighted to learn they were interested in having a "live artist" create a painting, on site, of their wedding day. I had been hoping to work with the artist Ken Lund (www.kenlund.com) since I had first seen his work, so I recommended him to Laura and Mike immediately.

Fortunately Laura and Mike had hired me 14 months before their August 2008 wedding date, so when I called Ken, he was still available!
Just last weekend the wedding day, and the painting of the wedding day, were ready to begin!



All paintings begin with the proverbial blank canvas.....

1:30pm, Fogarty deck

Here Ken is setting up his easel, his drop cloth, his paints, palette, brushes, and spatulas. It was a busy time, as the caterer, florist, musicians, DJ, and my 2 assistants and I zoomed around setting the stage for Laura and Mike's wedding celebration. Somehow it was comforting to me to see the artist calmly staying in one place, setting up his area of creativity, calmly, and in no rush...just waiting for the curtain to rise, and his painting to begin.

3:00pm, Fogarty deck

First he sketched in the outline of the Pavilion and the deck, the area Laura had chosen for him to focus the painting. While my assistants and I were going up and down the stairs, setting up for the ceremony, welcoming and seating guests, cuing the musicians, beginning the ceremony with the entrance of the family members, officiant, wedding party, the bride and her father, ending the ceremony, inviting guests to cocktails, and gathering the wedding party and family for photos.....Ken was quietly filling in the colors
and textures upon which he would add the guests and the evolving action of the day when they moved down for the cocktail hour.

4:30pm Fogarty deck, with bride and groom, see larger view below

During cocktails, dinner, and dancing, Ken was adding detail to the painting; as Laura walked by, to go in with Mike for their first dance, Ken asked if there was someone special she would like in the painting, and Laura suggested her mother; deftly, Ken added a few brush strokes, and now Dorothy, Laura's mother, will always be a part of Laura and Mike's painting. (In the completed canvas below, Dorothy is the elegantly tall woman in a long green dress, looking out at the view.)

7:30pm competed painting; note fog coming over the hills

This 30" x 40" canvas will be framed, and placed in a prominent location in Laura and Mike's home, a lasting reminder of a day never to be forgotten!


As the evening ended, and the guests left, the painting was taken by Ken, to dry thoroughly; it will be presented to Mike and Laura after their honeymoon. Those of us cleaning up at Fogarty enjoyed the beauty of the sunset, with the fog rolling in over the hills....the last detail of a beautiful day, and one which Ken was able to add as his final touch to the depiction of Laura and Mike's wedding day.