Live Event Painting Examples and other News

This painting was created live at the Name Reveal Event for Princess Cruises latest cruise ship, the Sun Princess. Before the name was revealed I live painted a scene of the view from the deck of the cruise ship showing Greek islands and the Agean on the left and an Alaskan scene on the right. Then for the reveal I painted a sunrise happening, starting with night and transforming into the early morning light, with the Sun Princess depicted on the right.

The actual reveal was so beautiful: a dancer was suspended below a balloon and danced in the air with the setting sun directly behind her as the fabulous electric string quartet Spinphony Strings played The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”.

My paintings, virtual murals, were displayed in real time on a 60′ x 20′ floating barge display system moored at the terminal. The audience could enjoy seeing the brush strokes as they built up into the completed artworks.

This is the replay of the first artwork I made:

Here are some photos from the event:

And the artworks:

Big thank you to the whole team, talent and staff involved in this fabulous event!

This video shares the time lapse replay of my live painting at the Municipal Association of South Carolina (MASC) 2022 Annual Meeting reception in Charleston, SC. The artwork depicts some of the iconic historic architecture and sights of Charleston, as well as of some other beautiful cities and towns in South Carolina. I also depicted some of the guests attending the reception.

The artwork was created live based on direct observation using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app. It was shared on a large display screen for all guests to enjoy watching the live art evolve throughout the evening.

Huge thanks to Ken and his amazing MASC team as well as the great staff of The Charleston Place!

This painting, a virtual mural, was created live at a private VVIP dinner in the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston. It depicts the scene and captures the atmosphere. The artwork was displayed in real time as it was created on a large screen visible throughout the magnificent event space. The room had dramatic floor-to-ceiling glass windows on two sides through which we were all treated to an amazing colorful sunset view looking out over the beautiful Boston Seaport.

Here are some photos from the event:

Big thank you to the staff of the ICA and the team at this event. Great working with you all!

This video captures the celebratory atmosphere painting live digital portraits at the Afterpay 2022 Pride Parade Watching Party in San Francisco. Afterpay is part of the company Block.

All the portrait subjects received digital files of their portraits that they could immediately share on their social media. Here are some of the portraits and a few photos from the event.

With big thanks to Liz and the her wonderful colleagues at Afterpay! Thank you also to Nina Bris, Peggy G and the others whose photographs and videos are shared in my montage video.

This is my live painting of the scene at the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) World Education Congress (WEC) 2022 Closing Party at the San Francisco City Hall. The party theme was California Dreamin’ – celebrating the best of Northern, Southern and Central California vibes. The artwork was created live based on direct observation using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app. It was shared on a large display screen for all guests to enjoy watching the live art evolve throughout the evening.

Huge thanks to Kerri and Eddie and their colleagues at Innovative Entertainment!

This painting was created live for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) at their Nuclear Energy Assembly Special Event, Art Imitates Energy, which was held in The Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C..

The painting, a virtual mural displayed in real time as it was created on a 12′ x 6′ LED screen visible throughout the magnificent courtyard, was an interactive creative project based around the theme of the many and varied peaceful uses of nuclear energy. I started at the atomic level and invited guests to choose their favorite colors for the colors of the electrons circulating around the Uranium atoms I depicted. Thankfully each Uranium atom has 92 electrons so I didn’t run out of them!

I then added motifs, sometimes assisted by guests with ideas and suggestions, that ranged from nuclear reactor buildings (such as the cooling towers, reactor building, turbine building) and components (the turbine and fuel), the fission reaction and nuclear plant workflow schematics; to the transfer of energy through power lines; Washington, D.C., lit up at night; medical applications of nuclear from whole body scanners to radio-isotope scans and radioimmunotherapy (RIT); all the way into space with NASA’s proposed spacecraft enabled by nuclear thermal propulsion.

Here are some photos from the event:

Big thank you to the staff and organizations of the Nuclear Energy Institute (@nuclearenergy), Skylark Creative Group (@skylarkcreativegrp) and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (@smithsoniannpg). Great working with you!

Photo credits to Kate Nelson and Daniel Longfellow. Video credit Kate Nelson. Artwork painted on an iPad Pro using an Apple Pencil and the Procreate app.

This painting was created live at the Washington Nationals Philanthropies’ Night 4Good that took place in the MGM National Harbor to celebrate the true meaning of the Nationals Philanthropies, a charitable arm of the Washington Nationals baseball team that gives back to the local community. The event featured the presentation of the annual Power of Baseball award to Theodore N. Lerner, Founding Managing Principal Owner of the Washington Nationals.

Congratulations to Mr. Lerner on his award and lifetime achievements. As he noted in his acceptance speech and as I then added to this painting: “on field excellence with off the field impact.”

Here are some photos from the event:

Big thank you to the staff and organizations of the Washington Nationals Philanthropies (@Nats4Good), The Dufour Collaborative (@dufourcollaborative), Skylark Creative Group (@skylarkcreativegrp) and the MGM National Harbor (@mgmnationalharbor). Great working with you!

Photo and video credit to Kate Nelson. Artwork painted on an iPad Pro using an Apple Pencil and the Procreate app.

This painting was created live at a VIP Fiesta reception hosted by the company Appgate at SFMOMA.

Framed canvas fine art prints of this, and other artworks by me, are available – for more information please visit my Prints page.

Here are some photos from the event:

With thanks to the fabulous Appgate team and staff at SFMOMA.

This painting was created live during a 15 minute virtual “Wellness Break” for an online conference. I used an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Procreate app and shared the entire process with the over 400 event guests in attendance of my session. The artwork theme concept was “Key to Success”.

A small sampling of the enthusiastic and appreciative guest comments included: “This is such a wonderful and soothing session.” “Thank you for giving us this relaxing view into your artistic process. Wonderful and perfect break!” “Thanks for sharing, this is awesome!” “Thank you!! Wow!” “Love it! need this!” “Amazing, thank you! Beautiful!” “WOW! Amazing! Thanks for sharing:)” “So enjoyable!” “Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing your gifts with us!”

This painting was created live at the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Tangled Bank Studios, a production company that is part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and is dedicated to crafting compelling, immersive films about science and scientists. The artwork memorializes the storytelling journey of the company shared at this event, and includes visual references to many of their films. The positive, uplifting message to be conveyed in the artwork was one of encouraging conservation; offering a beacon of hope; focus on the future of the planet; shining a light; inspiring people to take action; and connecting with hearts and minds.

As explained in the Tangled Bank Studios FAQ page, the “tangled bank” reference in their name is taken from the poetic final paragraph of the later editions of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: “It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.” You’ll see the first line of this quote from Darwin visually referenced in the artwork (under the bridge on the left). The FAQ page explains that this paragraph refers to “how all life forms are inextricably bound to each other in a way that can seem chaotic but, in fact, is guided by natural laws. Understanding these laws and making sense of the chaos are the heart of scientific discovery and, we think, a great adventure. Our aspiration is to bring viewers along on this adventure and to make it as real, immediate, and meaningful as it is for the scientists themselves.”