Everybody loves a wedding. They’re fun, happy, and usually end up with a big party and dancing. Photos of newly wedded couples are always a delight to look at because both parties are so blissfully happy and obviously having a great time. It makes painting a watercolor of them especially fulfilling . When I’m commissioned to paint an original watercolor portrait from a wedding photo, I know I’m capturing a moment in their life that they’ll always cherish and it’s something that they wish to share with others.
Every detail in the photo isn’t necessarily in the finished painting. I think the softness of watercolor painting lends a wonderful airy feel to the image.
I painted this watercolor from an old photo of a friends’ parents engagement from a black and white to full color. I think I did a pretty good job capturing the love they obviously felt for each other and the happiness of being together.
The quality of a watercolor portrait really depends on good lighting. Sometimes the photos are outdoors and sometimes inside. Both the above and below paintings were done from photos taken in natural light, not with flashes. Can you see the lovely dark shadows on the faces and backgrounds? Though it’s necessary in some lighting to use a flash to phtograph a subject, a flash tends to flatten out a photo, and these don’t make for good watercolor portraits.
If you have a wedding photo you’d like to commission as a watercolor portrait, just send it to me and we can discuss it!
