It’s been a week of weddings! From Saturday to Saturday, I presented three different gifts/commissions to three couples, driving with family from Charlotte, NC up to Hartford, CT the first weekend and then down near Atlanta, Georgia the following weekend (with a full work week teaching in between). Despite 2000 miles and 40 hours on the road, my kids never once asked “are we there yet”! God bless the inventors of car DVD players. It was such a joy to serve these families and patrons with my artistic gift. (I apologize for the poor color in these photographs… the lighting in the wedding events was limited).
The first of the wedding paintings was a commissions by Katie Timmerman for her friends Luke and Lindsey who were getting married on 10.29.18. Luke had been a sniper with the Army Rangers and Linsey is a school teacher. The image is built around the couple and an angel just behind them referencing their favorite verse, Psalm 91:11 “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.” [NLT] 18x36” Acrylic.
The second piece of the wedding week was a larger acrylic, 32x48” that was done as my first ever combination of commission and live event. This work was done as a visual testimony for my dear friends Tim and Phanuelle Pillsbury, also married on 10.29.18, who commissioned me to craft an image that would showcase God’s goodness and calling in their lives to hang in their home. I began the work in my studio, and then brought the piece to Hartford, CT where I was to be a groomsman in the ceremony. I was able to paint the groom in waiting and the rehearsal dinner blessings (in a tux) for the hours leading up to the ceremony, and during the reception I finished the work with images of the bride and components from the ceremony. My work culminated with me giving an explanation of the painting’s layered symbolism as a speech/ prophetic blessing for the couple near the end of the wedding reception. The full story deserves an entire blog post of its own, but hopefully that gives you enough to tease your imagination… It was an unbelievable experience!
The final of the wedding images was this past Saturday, 10.06.18, at the wedding of my cousin Rachel Gamble to Mason Lechner. I was able paint this watercolor of the wedding party between the ceremony and the reception while the couple took pictures, since it was all at the same venue. It was such a joy to catch them totally off guard and hand them the painting during the dance party, and have them do a double, triple take… “wait… that’s US… that’s right NOW! How did you do that?!” Painting fast has pros and cons, but it really is special to capture a moment in real time and give a gift that my cousin and her new husband can appreciate for a lifetime.