Doing live wedding painting or live guest portraits in the UK can be a different experience to live painting in other countries. The main difference being... the weather! Here are a few tips and tricks I have picked up while painting at UK weddings, hopefully they'll be helpful to you - whether you are the one getting married, or a live wedding painter yourself!
Number 1:
Weigh things down
This happens without fail every single time I paint outside; I will set up my paper palette with my blobs of paint on it, or if I'm doing guest illustrations, I will start displaying each of individual paintings on the table, and a freak gust of wind will come from nowhere. It will blow my palette over, causing oil paint to go on everything on the table, and in the case of the guest paintings - will cause them to scatter over the grass and in the bushes. Not exactly what you want at a beautiful summer wedding outdoors!
So to counter this, I've started to buy decorative glass marbles and stones to weigh the items down. They are the type you see in vases with faux flowers in them. They are clear so they are not too obvious, but as they are glass and quite weighty, so they hold the guest portraits in place and stop the palette from flying away. You could use other things - like pebbles, crystals, or rocks, but the glass stones work well for me and my aesthetic.
Number 2:
A Parasol
Summer weddings in the UK rely on good weather. But during even just one hour in the UK we can experience, thunderstorms, blazing sun, 90mph winds, and then hail. So I do have to say, I am quite shocked at how trusting a lot of wedding venues can be with just hoping for the best with the weather, and not providing any cover for the wedding suppliers or the guests either! This is why, when I get to a venue early and I know I'm painting outside, I will always ask if they have a parasol I can use. They usually do somewhere around the venue, and they are always happy to let me use it. But it ensures that I'm not getting faint painting in the scorching August sun for 5 hours straight, or having everything soaked in the inevitable August downpours that will happen straight after the sun has gone behind a cloud.
I might even invest in a mini parasol to attach to my easel or painting table, just so I have something to shield me incase all else fails!
Number 3:
A Strong Easel
We did touch on wind earlier, but this is a good thing to keep in mind when live wedding painting on canvas in the UK. If you have a lovely light aluminium or plastic travel easel, It will be so easy to bring to the venue and set up quickly and easily outside. However, the moment you step away from the easel, you will have to have someone who is happy to hold it for you. I can't count the times I have gone to the toilet, or gone to refresh my water bottle, and then found my travel easel has flown 50 yards away with the wind.
I do have both a heavy wooden french plain air easel, which can withstand the outdoor wind, and also a light travel easel, which can't. But as I like to paint in evening/wedding wear, which is not do easy to walk and carry things in, I opt for my travel easel most of the time. When I have to fill up my water and step away from the easel, I lie my easy-fold easel on the floor and put the canvas down next to it. This stops the wind from picking them up, and I don't have to worry so much. Then it's easy just to set them up again quickly and carry on painting when I get back.
Hope these tips have been helpful!
If you would like to book Chloe for your live wedding painting or event painting experience, please go to her contact page!
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