A Wedding Gift from Kathleen to her Sister

A Wedding at St. Marys

Evening Everyone,

I'm writing this blog this evening whilst trying to finish what feels like ten million other things!!! Do you ever get days like that where it's everything all at once and then it's all calm again. This blog post has been on my mind to write the past couple of days so I just had to sit down and do it this evening (everything else will just have to wait!!!!)

A couple of years ago Kathleen contacted me to see if I would do a drawing/painting for her. Her sister was getting married and Kathleen wanted to surprise her with something unique that would capture the essence of her wedding day. She thought it would be a wonderful keepsake.

Kathleen wasn't sure what she wanted in the image and wether or not it should be a drawing or a painting or what size. A good challenge for me I thought. I love doing this and love hearing the stories behind peoples ideas and that's where the ideas for imagery begin to merge from chatting to the client and really listening. We met up on a few occassions and sifted through some ideas. We chatted about the them for the wedding (if any), the venue, if it was a church wedding, where the couple lived etc...

The theme of the wedding was vintage and as the couple don't live near the church we decided that including the church would be a nice idea as well as creating that old vintage look which would reflect the theme of the wedding. Kathleen had it in mind to include a wedding party on the gounds of the church which was similar to a photo she had of her parents wedding at the same church! All very exciting. I couldn't wait to get started!!

I began researching vintage themed weddings, 1920s formal wear for both male and female etc,

From here I created some sketches from the imagery I had collected. It was important for me to fully grasp the essence of vinatage in a formal setting in order to capure this special memory with effect

These sketches allowed me to develop fictional characters for the drawing. I also played around with different techniques and styles in order to achieve that old sepia look that old images have. Coffee, the old reliable worked wonders!! During our meet up I would show Kathleen the drawings I had created and we discussed what was working and what wasn't. I should mention that every client is different and so meeting up does not always need to happen. Kathleen was delighted with the direction it was going and once she was happy with size and medium and image after our second meet up it was full steam ahead!!! Always love getting to this part!!

Below is St. Marys Church in Nenagh... The bride originates from here but lives with her husband in Dublin ....

The final drawing ...

The final drawing and its frame ... !

A beautiful memory captured in a drawing. Something different hanging on the couples home in Dublin.

If this idea is something you would like to gift someone for a wedding present give me a shout ...

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

Janey xXx