commissioned watercolor

  • Hand-Painted Other Wedding Goods

    Vintage Damask Ombre Bridal Portrait

    • Comments Off on Vintage Damask Ombre Bridal Portrait
    • by

    Damask Ombre Vintage Bride by Hand-Painted WeddingsI painted this bridal portrait of a vintage bride to coordinate with the Damask wedding invitation.

    Her short, puffy dress with modest sleeves is inspired by the dresses of the 1950s, when damask was all the rage. I also made sure she was stylish with the times by wearing a vintage Juliet veil that ended around the waist along with her dainty white gloves.

    This bride’s fiery red hair and pouted lips leave you wondering what this bride is thinking as she glances over her shoulder for the bridal portrait. This bride feels very Mad Men inspired with how fashionable and yet modest she is on her wedding day.

    I love painting these bridal portraits, and would love to do more of them, so if this keepsake strikes your fancy, contact me for more information. Please note that I would work from a photograph.

    Damask Ombre Vintage Bride bridal illustration portrait painted by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • Commissioned Watercolors

    Vintage Purple Feather Bride Portrait

    • Comments Off on Vintage Purple Feather Bride Portrait
    • by

    Vintage Purple Feather Bride painted by Hand-Painted Weddings

    A special Friday treat for you…a bridal portrait illustration fitting for a purple, vintage wedding. This bridal illustration is inspired by the Vintage Purple Feather Invitation in the Hand-Painted Weddings Shop.

    This pursed lips bride is all about the accessories, while wearing a simple (and comfortable) drop waist wedding dress. I was definitely inspired by Daisy from Great Gatsby with this illustration, I have to admit. I just love the blonde bob haircut along with the large, pink hair fascinator, which matches the bride’s belt and shoes peeping out from under her dress.

    I think a vintage wedding is a lot of fun! There are loads of inspiration in doing an era themed wedding. And let’s admit it, there is something surreal about your wedding day, so why not conjure up another decade for your theme and be playful. One of the things I like to encourage brides to remember for their wedding is lightness. It is so easy to get bogged down with all the heavy decisions along the wedding planning process, so I try to remind couples that it is a celebration and a bit of whimsy is sometimes just the thing to get the focus back on the most important aspect of the wedding…joy.

    Have a beautiful weekend everybody!

    Vintage Purple Feather Bride painted by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • Announcements, Press

    Featured Watercolor Art in Hatch.co Mother’s Day Campaign

    • Comments Off on Featured Watercolor Art in Hatch.co Mother’s Day Campaign
    • by

    Hand-Painted Weddings art on Hatch Mother's Day campaign Hand-Painted Weddings art on Hatch Mother's Day campaignI am excited to share that I recently created some watercolor washes for Hatch.co‘s Mother’s Day campaign. For these watercolors I was inspired by the soft pastels of spring. I also played around with some layering of the watercolors as seen in the second page above.

    Hatch is a website full of creative and talented makers, and I am so grateful to have my artwork spotlighted in this special campaign for Mother’s Day. Support makers and shop now for your unique Mother’s Day gifts on Hatch.co…Mother’s Day is right around the corner!

  • Hand-Painted Cards

    Personalized Holiday Cards Rock

    • Comments Off on Personalized Holiday Cards Rock
    • by

    Holiday card by Hand-Painted WeddingsPersonalized holiday cards are the best! Store-bought, generic cards really don’t have anything on them.

    I have holiday cards on the brain as I brainstorm what I’m going to do for our Christmas card this year. Above is last year’s card (yep, that is my husband and I doing headstands). We decided to do a yoga-themed card because yoga had been such an important part of my year in 2013, especially in light of my leg injury earlier in the year.

    If you are looking to have a personalized, hand-painted holiday card, I would LOVE to work with you. Now is the time! Simply contact me here for more information because every request is unique, and email me a photo to work from.

    Note: Your painting doesn’t have to be a portrait. It can be a photo of your pet, or a photo of your home, or anything else that represents 2014 to your friends and family around the holiday time.

    Personalized Holiday card by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • Commissioned Watercolors

    Meaningful Hand-Painted Gifts

    • Comments Off on Meaningful Hand-Painted Gifts
    • by

    Commissioned Watercolor Family Portrait by Hand-Painted WeddingsEvery year I feel like it gets harder and harder to get meaningful gifts for friends and family around the holidays. Lives get busy, people already have so much “stuff”…it can be such a tricky thing!

    With that in mind, taking a handmade approach can totally be the answer around the holidays, and now is the time to start planning for those gifts, because they take time! If you don’t have the skills or time to make your own gifts, consider hiring an artist. There are so many options on Etsy. Here at Hand-Painted Weddings, we have done some lovely commissioned watercolors as anniversary gifts, baby shower, and birthday gifts for clients. These gifts are priceless keepsakes for years to come. If you are interested in more information on hiring me to paint gifts for you, contact me here.

    Commissioned family portrait watercolor by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • In the Studio

    Happy Holidays from Hand-Painted Weddings!

    • Comments Off on Happy Holidays from Hand-Painted Weddings!
    • by

    Holiday card by Hand-Painted WeddingsThis year for our Christmas card for our close friends and family, I did a portraiture of my husband and I doing one of the most fun activities…yoga. This year has been an interesting one for me in terms of my health (broken leg, 13.5 weeks in crutches, then hardware removal surgery), but I still kept at one of my goals for the year, which is to accomplish a headstand. I will admit I am still working on headstand in the middle of the room—slight fear of falling—can’t imagine where I get that from. One of the most beautiful things about yoga is that there is always more to work towards. Anyways, I really wanted to do this portraiture, which is so personal, for our Christmas card. Portraitures are really tricky (especially faces), but I like the challenge!

    Now, for the message inside….

    May your holidays be turned upside down with fun!

    Have a wonderful holiday everyone, and remember to have some fun!

    Holiday card by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • In the Studio

    In the Studio: Sunflowers

    • Comments Off on In the Studio: Sunflowers
    • by

    Sunflower painting by Hand-Painted WeddingsAs you may have noticed from Monday’s post, I have a beautiful vase of sunflowers on my desk. It is hard to come by a more cheerful flower than the sunflower!

    So immediately after I was done painting the hot air balloon landscape, I found myself instantly drawn to painting my sunflower still life…. couldn’t help myself! Happy hump day!

    Commissioned watercolors now available. Sunflower painting and photo by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • In the Studio

    In the Studio: Whimsical Hot Air Balloons

    • Comments Off on In the Studio: Whimsical Hot Air Balloons
    • by

    Hot Air Balloon Painting by Hand-Painted WeddingsCan you believe it is almost fall (I can’t!)? It has been such a lovely summer so far…I’m not quite ready for it to end yet! To keep the lovely summer vibe going, I thought I would paint this whimsical watercolor of hot air balloons flying above the plains.

    There is something so magical to hot air balloons. I don’t often see these colorful hot air balloons flying overhead now that I live in the city….although, most days, I do see the Channel 6 Zooballoon above the Philadelphia Zoo!

    This week is going to be a warm one in Philly, so I plan on soaking in the last bits of summer and then start embracing the next season, my favorite, Autumn!

    Painting by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • Made my Day

    Manhattan

    Manhattan Bridge painting by Hand-Painted Weddings

    A dear friend of mine is moving to New York City. She’ll be living in Manhattan, starting a new job, and be experiencing many new adventures for sure….she is a very lucky girl.

    I’m also a very lucky girl to call her my friend! She has been there for me through the thick and thin the past few years. We’ve shared an office, a neighborhood, our addiction to coffee, carpooled for a bit of time, and many nights over a glass (or 2) of wine. She is one of those friends that just gets me, even when I don’t get me.

    I’m going to miss having her so nearby but can’t wait to see how our friendship changes. I’ll likely be enjoying more weekends in NYC once I’m back on my feet again, which I can’t wait for!

    When she moved into my neighborhood I painted her a watercolor of a street in Philadelphia…Pine Street to be specific…as a housewarming gift. This was one of the original watercolors I did before starting Hand-Painted Weddings. It only seemed appropriate to paint her a watercolor of NYC to add to her budding collection. The view in this painting is from a street in Brooklyn looking towards the Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State building peeping through the archway.

    Painting by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • In the Studio

    In the Studio: Painting my Bouquet from Lovesick Expo

    • Comments Off on In the Studio: Painting my Bouquet from Lovesick Expo
    • by

    In the Studio by Hand-Painted WeddingsThe bouquet I put together for the Lovesick Expo on Sunday turned out so pretty! The colors worked beautifully with the Hand-Painted Weddings logo and the textures were stunning. In the studio today I am painting pieces of this lovely bouquet.

    The flower I am painting in this photo is very unique; it almost looks like it was stripped of its petals. I am actually not even sure if it is a flower or foliage. I don’t mind either way…sometimes the foliage is more interesting than the flowers to paint.

  • In the Studio

    Commissioned Watercolor: Start to Finish

    • Comments Off on Commissioned Watercolor: Start to Finish
    • by

    Yesterday I showed you one way I work from photos, and today I’m showing you the more literal way I sometimes work from photos for commissioned watercolors. In my commissioned watercolors, I start with a pencil sketch. If a client wants me to crop out sections of the photograph or zoom into an portion, that is even more fun! While I was lucky in the case above in that the photo was gorgeous to begin with, there may be instances where a beloved photo did not turn out as you intended, or has a distracting element in it that you’d rather have removed. Turning not so good photos into watercolors is a great way to showcase the reason you love a photo and turn it into a piece of artwork that will last for generations to come.

    To view the work in progress post for this painting, go here.

    Top photo by Maryanna Scarpato. Painting by Hand-Painted Weddings.

  • Commissioned Watercolors, Work in Progress

    Work in Progress: Commissioned Watercolor Succulent


    Here is a sneak peak of a commissioned watercolor I am currently working on. This is a 5″ x 7″ painting that I am working on from a beautiful photo that the client provided. It has been a lot of fun to work on! The colors are fantastic!

    Succulents have been on my wish list to paint for awhile. I just might end up doing a succulent wedding invitation in the near future!

    If you are interested in my commissioned watercolor services, please keep in mind that the subject matter doesn’t have to be wedding-related; the skies the limit! Contact me here for more information.

    Paintings by Hand-Painted Weddings.

    SaveSave