Live Painting at The Talbott Hotel

I did something I’ve never done before. I live painted at an event. When I can do something for the first time as an artist, it’s always a huge growth opportunity. I’ve been doing this long enough to know I need to push myself to try new things. It doesn’t matter what it is, I’m always glad I did it. That’s why I try to say yes to things like this, especially things that make me a little nervous.

The event I painted at was the launch party for The Talbott hotel. They went through a major renovation and reopened as part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. I created a lot of illustrations for their branding. If you missed my post on our collaboration, you can check it out here.

As a follow-up to our collaboration, they asked if I I’d live paint at the launch party. Without really thinking about it, I said “sure!” Shortly after agreeing, I realized I had A LOT to figure out. This is the hard part of doing anything for the first time. The preparation.

First item of business was what to paint. We talked about live portraits or painting people’s favorite cocktails. However, we decided I wouldn’t be able to work fast enough to get through a significant amount of people. There were 250 people at the event. I had the idea of just painting scenes from the event, which The Talbott team loved. We decided I would spend an hour in three different locations, doing one painting per location.

The most pressing item of business was how on earth I was going to make my setup portable. At home, I work at a drafting table. I use lots of supplies, along with a paint palette and water cup.

I bought two easels to try. The first was all wood, and looked really nice. However, when it arrived it was way too heavy and difficult to set up. The second easel worked great. It was this Falling in Art one. It still looked nice, but weighed about half of what the other one did due to its aluminum legs.

Next order of business was supplies. I had the brilliant idea of buying this clip-on cupholder, deciding that there was nowhere to place a cup of water where I wouldn’t knock it over. I brought clear solo cups to fit inside the holder. It worked perfect and almost looked like it was part of the easel.

Then, I had to worry about my paint palette. I decided to cut down some sheets of my palette paper to fit the larger tray area inside the easel. My commercial paper cutter was perfect for this. I packed about 10 sheets of palette paper, but only ended up using three.

Next, what supplies to bring? I use a lot of pens, markers, brushes, pencils and paints. I knew I couldn’t pack it all, so here’s what I did bring:

• 5 Paint Brushes (of various sizes)

• Peach Watercolor Pencil (for sketching)

• Black Pen

• Gum Eraser

• 9 Tubes of Gouache Paint (primary colors, black, white, and a few extras)

• Napkins

And these limited supplies actually did the job! I found myself wishing at the event that I had more paint colors, but I made it work. Even some colored pencils would have been nice. I probably could have worked a lot faster if I had more drawing materials. I draw a lot faster than I paint. I actually used the peach watercolor pencil a few times to fill in some areas.

Things I wish I had done differently….

I probably should have done just two paintings. I found myself wanting to spend more time on each painting. The last one I did felt especially rushed because I had gone over time on the other two. Next time, I would budget 1.5-2 hours per painting at least. There’d be many benefits to just doing one larger painting, because I could really spend time on it. The paintings I did were around 8x10 in. size, on an 11x14 in. pad of paper. I could see doing one 11x14 in. painting on larger paper and having it turn out great. It certainly would have been a more relaxed event for me if I hadn’t pushed myself to do so many illustrations. Once I was in it, I didn’t want to upset the client and go back on the number we had agreed on. Especially since I’d planned on digitizing the paintings when I got home for them to use on their brand materials.

The one thing I didn’t think about was how many people I’d talk to while painting. This is probably why I found myself short on time. I met so many lovely people who were interested in what I was doing. If I had budgeted for more time, I could have had longer conversations with these people. Another big regret I have from the event.

Another minor detail I wish I’d thought about was bringing wipes. At some points throughout the night, I got paint on my hands and it was really tough to keep the paintings neat. Also, I brought business cards in my bag, but it would have been nice to have them in a more visible spot for people to grab.

So, would I do it again? Maybe under the right circumstances! It was a lot of pressure, but I was so proud of myself that I did something outside my comfort zone. It was also great exposure and so great for my growth as an artist. One thing I’m happy I figured out is how to paint on-the-go with an easel. I really loved painting on the patio at the event, which made me realize how much I loved painting outside. I could definitely see myself doing plein air painting again with the same setup. Hopefully if you’re considering doing some outdoor painting, this article helps you figure out the logistics more quickly than I did.

For highlights from the event, you can check out The Talbott’s reel on Instagram. Some of my branding illustrations made cameos throughout the event in the form of photo props and totebags! I did the map above for the party too.

Anyways, my finished paintings are below. Which is your favorite? Mine is probably the second one from the patio. As I said, I just loved being outside, so this one really flowed for me!

Painting 1 | Gallery: Took me 1.5 hours

Painting 2 | Patio: Took me 1.5 hours

Painting 3 | Reed Room: Took me 1 hour.