Painted Wedding Reception at the Governor Calvert House, Annapolis

Wedding Reception at the Governor Calvert House, painted live by Patricia Bennett

Congratulations to the Bride and Groom.

The reception took place in the Atrium and the Ballroom.  The Atrium is two multi-storied brick walls topped with a roof, at the entrance is a black and white photograph of the Capital.  The back end opens to a lovely outdoor area where there was a bar set up for cocktails.

I arrived at 1:30 pm and began painting in the Atrium, where I focused on the image of the state capital and the globe string lights.  I wanted it to look like it was outside.

The cake arrived around 4pm and I painted that in.  Around 6pm guests arrived and I moved my easel into the ballroom and added the the tables into the painting, in preparation for dinner at 7pm.  The first dance was before dinner in the Atrium.  With the help of staff, I moved my easel, drop cloth, paints, painting, etc... just in time to paint it.  After guests were seated, I returned to the Ballroom to paint the dinner.  It is unusual that I move three times in one night, but it worked, thank you to the Staff at the Governor Calvert House for their help!

Address of the Governor Calvert House:
58 State Cir, Annapolis, MD 21401

Wedding and Reception at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel

The Knot at the George Peabody Library, organized by Elle Ellinghaus

The Knot at the George Peabody Library, organized by Elle Ellinghaus, painted by Patricia Bennett.

Yesterday I got to paint at the gorgeous George Peabody Library for the Knot event, which was organized by Elle Ellinghaus.

 I will put the painting image on my blog tonight, and plan to send out many thank you cards with the image on them.  

I met lots of great people, some of them familiar faces, some new.  A really nice night, beautifully decorated as well.  There were those little lights strung across the interior and a wonderful assortment of pinks and greens in the flower arrangements.  The band was excellent as well.  And there was a faux-patisserie set up at one end of the library with little cafe tables.  

Delivering my copy of the Baltimore Country Club painting today!  Off to the Caves Valley Golf Club to a private home.

Copy of Baltimore Country Club Black Tie Painting by commission, by Patricia Bennett

The copy took four weeks to paint, unlike the original, which was ten hours.  I used rulers and grids to make it exact.  I measured to the 1/8th of an inch across a 24x36 inch canvas, using my print-out of an image of the original for reference.  I'm very pleased with it.

Bar Mitzvah in Harrisburg

24x36, Bar Mitzvah at the Zembo Temple in Harrisburg, PA, Patricia Bennett

Last night I painted a wonderful Bar Mitzvah in Harrisburg.  It was at the Zembo shrine in the arena where they used to have the circus.  There was a batting cage set up, basketball hoops, a caricaturist, a tattoo-artist, a photo-booth, a fun D.J. with five friendly back-up dancers, a videographer, a few photographers, a lighting crew, and me!  Very nice people, and the event planner/caterer was very helpful.  The theme was sports, as the boy in question loves to ski, play basketball, and baseball.

The lighting guys put a nice light on my canvas, which was greatly appreciated.  Fun all night.

Portrait of a Child

Portrait of a Child, 24x24, in progress, Patricia Bennett

She is a very active, creative child, and she loves the outdoors.
I'm going to add more color and adjust her hair a little less gold.

Painting at the Baltimore Country Club Black Tie

Baltimore Country Club Black Tie Ball, painted by Patricia Bennett

Below is the painting which the guests saw at the end of the night.  I cleaned up the chandeliers and added a figure, otherwise there is little difference.

Baltimore Country Club Black Tie, December 7, 2013, painted by Patricia Bennett

and a copy, commissioned by one of the attendees:

Baltimore Country Club copy, painted by Patricia Bennett

The copy took me a month to paint.  I had to use rulers to be accurate.  It was extremely challenging.  The copy took more than ten times longer to paint than the original.  I left the added figure out, because the painting was better without it, and I further cleaned up the chandeliers.  I also used a ruler to draw the perspective lines, although they were pretty accurate.

Process:

I arrived at the Club around 1pm, and spoke to the General Manager about where they wanted me to paint.  There are two main rooms: the Dining Room, and the Dancing Room (those are my names for them).  The Event Coordinator had suggested I set up in the Dining Room, however, the GM preferred the Dancing Room, as there would be a large fire, the Christmas tree was there, and people would be dancing.  

I found a corner out of the way, yet visible to guests so they could see the painting.  I wanted to see the bar, and the tree and the fire.  I realized that I needed to compress the room spatially in order to show a nice size for the tree, so I left out an archway or two.  That was the hardest part.  I am so literal that it confuses me to not paint what I see.  I also compressed the bar in order to fit in the remaining archways.  Then I painted and painted until 7pm, when the event began.  As I painted, the bar was set up, then the lights were dimmed, and the band arrived.  The fire was started, and a large pile of firewood stacked.  The sun went down, and candles were lit.

First was cocktails, and then dinner, which was in the other room, and then dancing.  During the dinner, I cleaned up the chandeliers and other fixtures.  I took no breaks, because there wasn't time.  When I got tired one of the servers brought me a giant cup of coffee.  At midnight I packed up and took the painting with me.

Patricia Bennett's painting In Baltimore Style Magazine, December 2013

http://www.baltimorestyle.com/index.php/style/fashion_article/feelin_lucky/

Suzin Boddiford, Style fashion editor, invited me to be at the photoshoot.  It was really cool and I feel quite lucky.

The painting next to the model is mine, it wasn't really there because it didn't exist yet.  During this photoshoot, I painted the model as she posed.  I had a few seconds to paint her in.  I also painted the photographer in, Nemo Neimann, as he held a very heavy camera and photographed her.  Afterwards, I sent my painting image to Nemo and he photoshopped it into the empty frame that they had sitting next to the model.  

I especially like the reflection that Nemo put on the floor in front of the painting to make it extra real.  

It was very exciting to be at the photoshoot.  I have never seen one before, and the Belvedere Hotel location was splendid.  

Style Magazine Superstition Photoshoot at the Belvedere, 24x36, Patricia Bennett

Please note the cute black cat running across the floor.  The cat was very shy and kept running away.