Q&A - What is live art?
We are always asked similar questions when we paint live at events, so we have decided to start a series of Q&A blogs to shed some light onto the mystery of live painting.
Live art is a fairly new concept to the world of weddings and events. Even though we’ve been painting live at events since 2007, we still meet people who have never seen it in action or have heard of the concept.
In this blog we’re going to dive into what live painting is and how it works.
So, what is live art?
Live art is when an artist creates an artwork in front of a live audience, pretty self explanatory, right? So why is it a mystery to a lot of people?
In our experience, it’s because most people have never seen an artwork created in a short amount of time while also being completed on the same day as it was started. When a painting is created with a whole room of people watching, it becomes more than just a painting, it gives the audience a look at the process and serves as a form of entertainment as well.
Can live art really be done that fast?
Live painting is designed to happen quickly in order to capture the essence of the moment. It takes a lot of experience, skill and disciplined practice to do this. The most difficult aspect of the painting is keeping the process interesting and entertaining for the viewers throughout the event. We don’t want people to be stuck watching paint dry, we want them to be excited about what we do.
Does it bother you when people talk to you while painting?
Not at all! We love chatting to people while we paint. It gives us a chance to open up the world of art creation to someone who may have never seen a professional artist at work. We also love it when kids come up to watch us paint, as we always hope to inspire a new generation of artists.
Do you get nervous painting in front of people?
After so many wedding paintings and other event paintings created, our nerves have definitely toughened up from where we started, but we still get the occasional butterflies. These days the nerves are replaced with a sense of responsibility to do our absolute best for the clients. Being a part of a wedding day or a special event is an honour and a privilege, so we always put the pressure on ourselves to achieve the best result possible out of a live painting.
What other forms of live art are out there?
We actually met in competitive live art, at an international competition called Art Battle, where Olga ended up the 2013 British Columbia Champion. We have also teamed up to become the all-time-champions of another competition, The Golden Brush.
There is usually a strict time limit for live painting competitions. Art Battle was a mere 20 minutes, while the Golden Brush is 80 Minutes. These competitions also often have a theme for the art, but it’s very open to the artists to interpret it. The winner is decided by the audience voting for their favourite artist and artwork. These competitions are a lot of fun to watch for the audience, and it’s an amazing adrenaline rush for us artists.
We hope that this was a good opener to the world of live art for you. If you think of any other questions that you want answered, just drop us a line, and it might end up in the next instalment of the blog.
Bill and Olga