Greg and Tamara’s First Dance
Greg and Tamara’s First Dance Oil Painting
Country Wedding
Greg and Tamara were married nearly three years ago on November 3, 2018 in a country barn venue, Harvest Moon Pond, outside of Madison in Poynette, Wisconsin. Despite living in Chicago, they wanted a country wedding and found this beautiful venue. Their twin boys, Charlie and Hank, were born on September 4, 2020 so they are a happy little family. Ironically, Hank and Charlie’s great-grandparents were married on September 4, 1950, exactly seventy years prior.
Cache of photos
Because I didn’t collect my own visual information for the painting, I connected with their cache of 325 photos from the event to piece together the composition for this painting. I made this composite for the painting from several photos. You can see that some of the photos were black and white and some were color. This composition incorporates the gorgeous large chandelier and the loving way Greg looks at his new bride.
Pie instead of cake
They did not have a wedding cake. The bride is a pie gal so Greg and Tamara had wedding pies instead. So I didn’t need to figure out how to add the cake to the painting composition. Luckily, there was enough going on that a cake wasn’t missed.
For this painting, I wanted to include that stunning chandelier and the guests up in the balcony. So, this painting is a vertical format.
Prepping the panel
I drew the scene onto a pre-tinted 24″ x 18″ panel. I make the panels myself, prepping the surface with multiple layers of sealer, gesso, and acrylic tint before I am ready to start the oil painting.
The drawing is all ready to go but it doesn’t show up too well in the photo.
Studio set up
Here’s my entire set up in the studio.
Plans
I keep the master composition on the left side and have a foam core peg board on the right. Photos most pertinent to the section I am working on get rotated and pinned to the right side peg board.
My palette is laid out and ready to get started. A lot of thinking, planning, and preparations go into the painting to get to this point.
Starting with the top
So, I am starting with the upper beams, ceiling and exposed duct work. While I could have added brighter metal highlights to the duct work, I did not want to draw attention to it so I left off any sparkling highlights.
Next is the small chandelier in the loft.
The area around the chandelier is painted a brighter red mixed with some yellow and cadmium red light to reflect the glowing light.
Loft
Then I started painting in the people in the loft looking down on the dancing newlyweds. I scratch the wiring of the railing into the wet paint over the people with a rubber tipped tool.
Then I add the railing, wiring, and beams with planters overflowing with greenery and flowers.
Large chandelier
One highlight of the painting is the large chandelier in the upper right. The chandelier has to be magnificent!
Negative space
I started by painting the negative space around the brass and sparkling, flame-like light bulbs. Like with the smaller chandelier, I used reds and oranges for the negative space. I also put in the beam underneath it and in the background. This made the “frame” for the chandelier.
The chandelier proper
Then, using palette knives, I painted in the brass and the flaming bulbs. For the brass, I mixed cadmium yellow with cadmium red medium, magenta crimson, cadmium red light(more of an orange) and a touch of ultramarine blue. The highlights were mostly a dash of pure yellow. The bulbs were cadmium yellow with a heavy dose of titanium white.
The heavy paint “carves” out and seems to bring to life the chandelier and flames.
Background
Next, I paint the beams on the underside of the loft and the background lights.
Painting guests
Then, I add some of the people in the background. As I normally like to do, I start with the darkest values in the section and work to the lightest values. While it is easy to lighten a dark value, it is impossible to darken a light value.
More people added including a little girl in a bright orange-red dress.
So that’s it for now. I appreciate you tuning in! Check back to see how the rest of the painting goes and the final result.
Happy trails,
Charlene
P.S. Go here to learn more about the wedding paintings.
When I attend the wedding/reception, I do live sketching, giving the drawings to the guests and/or save some for the couple. Also, I collect all my visual data for the painting and then create a stunning heirloom oil painting in the studio. I can also work from photos if not possible to attend the event or if the event has already happened. These make great wedding or anniversary gifts!
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