Live Digital Painting at Virgin Atlantic’s San Francisco Inaugural 30th Anniversary Celebration

I painted this live event digital painting at the Virgin Atlantic San Francisco Inaugural 30th Anniversary celebration (and 40th anniversary of the founding of Virgin Atlantic), co-organized by the Trade & Investment Department of the British Consulate General San Francisco at The Center for Architecture + Design in downtown San Fransisco. I was invited to perform at this event because of my connection to the original Virgin Atlantic San Francisco Inaugural back in 1994 on which I was participated as part of the VIP guest group. I drew a digital portrait from life of Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, in flight using a prototype Apple PowerBook borrowed from Apple!

To paint the scene and capture the energy and atmosphere this 30th anniversary celebration I used an Apple iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Procreate app. An interesting reflection that I used technology from the same company thirty years later! The artwork in progress was shown on a large flat panel display so guests could enjoy watching the painting as it evolved over time (and sometimes watch themselves be depicted in the artwork!)

Here are some photos from the event:

Click on the icons above, or on this link, to be taken to the Apple App Store (iOS) to download the free AR app HidNFlix. I use the HidNFlix app to augment this artwork. Currently HidNFlix works only on the iOS platform (iPhone, iPad, etc). You’ll be able to see the embedded video when you view the image (print or on screen) through the scanning mode of the app.