Live Wedding Painting

What is Live Wedding Painting?

Live painting is an exciting way to document your event while providing an unforgettable experience for your guests. The unique spirit of the event is captured on canvas before your eyes as the evening unfolds. The end result is a not simply a way to record your most important memories, but a work of art you will cherish.

A live wedding painting is a wonderful way to honor a new married couple. I love knowing that each of my paintings come to adorn the home of a newly formed family — and that I played a small part in making the day of their union special.

You can view my gallery of live event paintings here, or read the reviews from my satisfied clients here. or read some of my favorite painting memories here.

The First Dance
All Eyes on You

The first dance when all eyes are on the newly married couple and they get to set the tone for the evening’s festivities. It is a great scene for me to paint live, because I not only get to capture the bride and groom’s love and admiration for each other, but also the proud and excited expressions of the family members gathered round to watch the spectacle. Once the music starts, I really get in the zone and the energy finds its way into my artwork. When I am asked to paint a “First Dance”, I get started long before anyone actually hits the dance floor, and finish just as the evening ends, just in time to surprise the bride and groom (who are by then all danced out) with the finished piece as my tribute to them.

A dramatic wedding painting showing a bride and groom kissing during their first dance in Tigard Oregon
Andy Greenlee posing with one of her watercolor wedding paintings at a vinyard estate.
A tented wedding painted in watercolors as a unique treat for guests.
A wedding at an urban brewery, painted as a special wedding favor
Rooftop wedding painting in watercolors showing a bridge and the married couple
A striking elegant wedding favor in the form of a watercolor painting.
A detail from a wedding thank-you-note made for a Portland couple.
A painting made as a thank-you postcard for wedding guests.
A family portrait wedding painting made at a wedding in Vancouver Washington
A postcard painting of the bride and groom sharing their first dance, painted live by wedding painter Andy Greenlee and given as a wedding favor
A wedding painting with vibrant colors at a planetarium.
A painting depicting a bride and her family, made live in watercolors.
A special moment captured as a watercolor wedding painting.
Two brides dance together in a watercolor depiction of the wedding reception. A unique wedding favor.

The Ceremony
Capturing a Sacred Moment in Watercolors

I quietly set up my easel and brushes in the back of the chapel while the guitarist is warming up and the flower arranger is putting on the finishing touches. When the guests begin taking their seats, I try to catch glimpses of them conversing and laughing with each other so I can capture the anticipation and excitement of the event (I try not to just paint the backs of heads!) After the vows are read, I dry my eyes and move my easel to the ballroom to complete the painting of that tender moment when the couple becomes man and wife.

A West Virginia couple walks down the aisle in a wedding watercolor painting.
After saying "I do" this couple is captured in a family watercolor portrait including excited guests and family members.
Amazing canopy of trees in a painting of an outdoor chapel wedding.
Showing a painting in progress at an outdoor chapel wedding.
Walking down the aisle. A watercolor painting made live at a wedding in Portland, Oregon.
A traditional Indian wedding ceremony. Detail in watercolor.
A couple pose with their favorite wedding gift, a watercolor painting.
Closeup of the watercolor painting that was given to the bride as a gift from her parents.
A close-up detail of a couple kissing after being married. Watercolors.
A panoramic watercolor live painting of a wedding ceremony in Arizona.
Wedding Artist Andy Greenlee sets up her easel at an outdoor wedding with a Stevie Nicks "Be With You Everywhere" theme.

Wedding Favors
A Unique Handmade Wedding Favor Idea to Honor Your Guests: Candid Fashion Illustrations

This year I was invited to paint at a very stylish wedding at Terrain Garden Center. In discussing the event beforehand with the two brides, I learned they wanted to wedding to be all about their friends, and they wanted my artwork to celebrate them. They had an idea for a unique spin on the classic wedding photo booth, where instead of photos, each guest would receive a candid watercolor painting depicting their sartorial splendor, made on the spot by yours truly. The guests loved the idea, and lined up throughout the cocktail hour and the reception for their turn to show off their unique styles and dance moves at my easel, and of course they got to take home the paintings as wedding favors as a way to remember a truly unique event.

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