Live Event Painting Examples and other News

I was invited to live paint the entire day of wonderful, inspiring and fascinating presentations and performances at the TEDxBerkeley 2022: Kaleidoscope in the Zellerbach Auditorium of the UC Berkeley campus on April 9th, 2022. See the TEDxBerkeley YouTube channel to see video of all the presentations and performances.

I created a single painting throughout the day using the latest iPad Pro 12.9 with Apple Pencil 2 and the Procreate app. All presenters received a framed print of their portrait afterwards.

Drawing Shamini Jain

Portrait of Shamini

With Shamini (on my right) and Rnee (on my left) and a print of my painting of Shamini

Thanks and congratulations to the fabulous TEDxBerkeley team (including all the amazing volunteers) on a great event! Thanks also to all the Zellerbach Hall and UC Berkeley staff who helped.

This painting was created live at a year end celebration at the Oracle Park in San Francisco. I used an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Procreate app to paint with. As you can see on the video and in the photos below I shared the entire process with the event guests by displaying my digital canvas on a large LED display.

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

While I was painting this scene a couple of guests came up to me and said “you should NFT this!” Well, I decided to take their advice and make this my “Genesis”,ie first, NFT (NFT = Non Fungible Token, a term explained in this Forbes magazine article), my very first tokenized artwork, and I am offering the digital file for sale on the OpenSea platform. Click here to visit the OpenSea NFT listing.

The collage portrait of baseball legend Willie Mays that you see next to me in the photos above is a painting I created in 2005 when, through his God son Barry Bonds, I had the pleasure to visit Willie Mays in his home and he kindly let me tell his life in this collage using memorabilia he had on his walls. With thanks to Eddie and his team, to Peggy for documentation (pics and vids) and to all the wonderful staff at Oracle Park.

At this company holiday party in the historic Phelan Building in San Francisco (see the Wikipedia description and also this great article on the history of the building), I live-painted the scene using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Procreate app. My live painting was projected in real time on two large screen on either side of the band (shown in the photos below). Guests enjoyed watching the painting evolve throughout the evening. If you watch the replay video above you’ll notice that the beginning canvas is a collage I put together based on historical photos, plans, maps, textures and documentation relating to the Phelan Building. My final painting includes the band members of Hella Fitzgerald and dancers Rebecca, Calvin, Jade and Leo.

While guests were enjoying their conference gala awards dinner at the annual conference of the International Association of Movers (IAM), I created a live painting titled “Land, Sea, Air” (above) that represented the subject matter of the conference: the vehicles and tools of moving — ships, cranes, trains and planes. My brush strokes were displayed in real time on a monumental sized 70′ wide by 15′ high projection screen. I used the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app.

“Cirque Paint”
Gena Juggles / Jeremy Paints!

After the dinner, as a featured performance, myself and fifth generation award-winning circus performer Gena Cristiani presented “Cirque Paint” in which Gena juggled as I painted in response to her, using custom brushes on a iPad that reflected the objects Gena juggled with. It wowed the audience! This act can be adapted and customized to suit any special event.

At this company event in the Desert Foothills event space in North Scottsdale, Arizona, I captured the scene as the event transitioned from an outdoor reception to a sit down dinner in a barn and finally a surprise concert featuring Cyndi Lauper. I used the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app. These portraits were displayed on multiple large LED monitors as I painted so guests could enjoy watching the painting unfold throughout the evening.

At this company event celebrating the company moving into new offices. I used the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app as my medium. These portraits were displayed on a 55″ LED monitor as I painted them.

 
 

 
 

I share more of the portraits below along with the replay videos showing the creative process. All portrait subjects received the digital files delivered electronically.

 
 

 
 

 
 

This portrait was created live for the retirement dinner of a CEO in The Woodlands, Houston, Texas. He wanted to share the lessons of what winners do from three inspirational historical photographs he has on the walls of his office. These three images are reflected in the painting.

I start the painting with the reception scene as a jazz combo plays. Then I paint the three inspirational photos and the portrait of the honoree. The music playing in the replay video was selected by the honoree.

A framed fine art canvas print of the final artwork, including an Augmented Reality extension that shows the video you see above within the art, was presented to the honoree afterwards.