Tocqueville Society Live Painting Inner City Baltimore School

Cover of Tocqueville Society's 2018 Book featuring Live Painting by Patricia Bennett

Inset of the Tocqueville Society's 2018 Book

End of Day, Live Painting of Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School Children Playing, photo by Patricia Bennett

Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School Children Playing, painted by Patricia Bennett

The United Way of Central Maryland's Senior Vice President and Chief Principal Gifts Officer Holly Hoey called me in March 2018 to see if I'd be interested in painting children playing on the playground at one of the struggling schools in Baltimore City, a school that the United Way has been involved with, The Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School.

sketch of the playground composition, by Patricia Bennett

I was thrilled and honored to be thought of for this.  The painting of these children playing was going to be used as the cover of the book for the generous people of the Tocqueville Society, a special group of donors to the United Way of Central Maryland.

My homework was to see the playground.  The playground depicted would be at the Boys and Girls Club next to the school, as it was a very nice playground.  Natalie Dixon showed me the area in April.  I took photos and did sketches and figured out a design for the painting which fit the format of the book (the center of the painting was to be the spine of the book, so I made that a pole on the playset, and there needed to be symmetry to the activity in the painting.)


May 3, 2018 was the day.  I arrived around 9:30am and started painting.  I had an umbrella to keep off the sun.  The children arrived with their teachers and Holly from the United Way and ran and played.  It was a very hot day.  They were extremely curious about the painting and enjoyed finding themselves and their classmates in it.

Patricia Bennett painting Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School children playing, photo by Holly Hoey

Patricia Bennett with some of the Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School children depicted in the painting, photo by Holly Hoey

It was a delightful experience for me to meet these children and to be involved in a small way in the wonderful work that the United Way is doing.

Thank you to everyone at the United Way, especially Holly Hoey and Natalie Dixon.  And whoever designed the book is incredibly talented. 



United Way of Central Maryland
1800 Washington Boulevard, Suite 340
Baltimore, MD 21230
Phone: 410-547-8000

Maree Garnett Farring Elementary School
300 Pontiac Ave, Brooklyn, MD  21225, United States

Boys and Girls Club
3560 3rd Street
Brooklyn, Maryland 21225

Wedding and Reception at Temple Oheb Shalom

Live Painting of Wedding and Reception at Temple Oheb Shalom, painted by Patricia Bennett

Congratulations to the Bride and Groom!

Temple Oheb Shalom is filled with high-quality art, including portraits of their Rabbis.  The most recent portrait of Rabbi Fink is painted by local great Sam Robinson.  The stained glass windows and tree in the Temple are beautiful and naturalistic and they are carefully included in the painting.  Mr. Kenneth Davidson, the Executive Director, was very helpful and friendly.

I arrived around noon.  As the reception and ceremony were one room apart, it was possible for me to paint both.  The mother of the bride helped me to find the perfect spot to paint the ceremony: the second story, centered.  I was not in the way and had a great view.  Next, I found a place in the reception room with a view of the sweetheart table, cake, and dance floor.  The caterers agreed this was a good spot.  So I returned to the ceremony room and began to paint.

As Baltimore is really Smalltimore, I have painted three weddings with Rabbi Fink as Officiator, and one of "my" brides was a guest at this wedding, with her mother and her husband.  This bride is stunningly beautiful and really cool and it was great to see her.  She said that after her dog, the live event painting of her wedding is what she would take if her house were on fire:)

Flowers and Fancies put the flowers and branches on the Chuppah, which really went well with the striking bronze tree sculpture behind it.  They also made gold, sparkling flower arrangements in the reception room.

Rachel Fineberg, Mango Productions, was the Event Planner and she was excellent: really on top of everything and very helpful.  The pianist came to my rescue with an extension cord for my light, and the photographer was very good.  The food was prepared by Temple staff, I believe, and was delicious.

The bride wanted special portraits added of her walking down the aisle with her parents, her husband walking down the aisle with his mom, her three step-parents walking down the aisle, and her dog (I put him under a table).  From my vantage point, it was impossible to get even reference photos of this, and although a fast painter, I could not paint 8 people walking in two minutes.  Also, they had to be placed spatially: this was a studio project.  After the wedding, the bride emailed me photos that the guests took on their iphones.  This work took three weeks.  I'm proud of it.

In this painting, the bride and groom are watching themselves get married!  In reality, that was the sweetheart table in the reception room, and the two rooms are superimposed.

Four Seasons Hotel Wedding and Reception Painting, Baltimore, October 18, 2014

Wedding and Reception at the Four Seasons, Baltimore, Painted by Patricia Bennett

A gorgeous wedding and reception!  Congratulations to the Bride and Groom!

The ceremony was in the Four Seasons' Cobalt room, and the reception was in the Ballroom.
I arrived at 2:30 as the Chuppah was being assembled.  White flowers, then orchids were carefully added by Victoria Claussens' team, then small candles and flowers hanging from golden threads.  As they worked, I set up to begin painting.

The orchids, especially, when placed in the large balls of roses and hydrangeas created the feeling of a magical flower forest.  The floral trompe l'oeil, a large flat wall of gorgeous colorful flowers: yellow irises, pink peonies, roses, hydrangeas was breathtaking.  Even though this floral creation was in the cocktails area, which I could not see, I added it to the painting afterwards.

Victoria Clausen created the superb decor and flowers, and Lindsey Stone with U3 was the perfect event coordinator, and the amazing photographer was Jennifer McMenamin,  (I linked to her photo-story about the event, it's very impressive) and the videographer was Blue Sky Films.  The Four Seasons did catering, which was impeccable as always.