Memories frozen on canvas
Now, signi cant moments of a wedding are captured on canvas by artists painting on the spot
Aleti Sai Ram Pramodhini Reddy and Patel Narsimha Reddy of Hyderabad have a new wedding essential. The couple, who will tie the knot on April 24 at Rock Enclave Convention Centre at Ghatkeskar, have hired a painter to capture their special ceremony live. In an age of seles, Instagram reels and digital images, the couple prefers to preserve their wedding memories in an album lled with sketches, colours and strokes, instead of photographs.
Artist Keerthana Adepu in Hyderabad has a busy April with ve weddings. Her ‘wedding shopping’ includes a 14x18 canvas board and acrylics of resplendent red, yellow and green to depict the couple and the wedding decor. “The focus of our work is to evoke a special feeling about the wedding day; each time the couple looks at our artwork, they go back in time and cherish memories of that day,” says Keerthana (@art_casm). Her rst artwork for a wedding was an antarpat (the cloth screen held between the bride and the groom during the wedding) in June 2023 for a friend; then she created her rst live wedding painting in November. The 22-year-old has, so far, done around 60 antarpats and 13 wedding paintings live in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Khammam and Karimnagar.
Narrative art
Photography/videography has become essential to a wedding irrespective of the scale of the event. Even so, narrative art is signicant, observes artist Srishti Prabakar (@anchoredhues). The Chennai-based artist believes, “A painting captures some details more than a photo would, plus there’s that human touch.” With experience in doing live event painting and stylised couple portraits over four years, she did her rst live wedding painting in early 2024. “The painting was a wedding gift from the groom’s close friend, and it involved painting ve events across the four-day celebration,” she says.
The artists sit in an earmarked space — sometimes near the mandap or in front of a screen — and sketch/paint spontaneously as the ceremony progresses. Looking for emotions and memories to capture in those moments, Srishti uses watercolours, mostly along with ink, to paint the main scenes but uses acrylics for a snapshot of an event and the decor. She also looks for other details and the mood.
The trend of live wedding painting in Hyderabad began two years ago, says M Sanjay Kumar of Eshwariah Art Gallery, who curated art for a wedding at Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre. “The families of the bride and the groom were enthusiasts of the arts.
Sometimes people also engage artists to paint portraits of guests at weddings akin to a mehendi artist creating mehendi designs for guests, or a bangle seller helping guests try out what suits them,” he says.
Buoyant scene
Live painting is picking up in tier-2 cities too. For instance, many in Vijayawada are keen to do this, says software engineer-turned-live wedding painter Dhanushya Pallam (@dhanupaintslive).
The process involves applying varnish once the paint is dry, so she suggests that clients keep the artwork aside for at least six hours before framing it.
The process also poses challenges. “Having to complete the painting at the speed at which the event happens is tough,” says Srishti. “Also, people at the wedding keep interrupting to comment on your work or ask many questions. It’s di«cult to continue to work with focus, but still be polite to guests.”
The price of the artworks starts from ₹20,000 and goes to ₹2 lakh (based on size and requirements) and the artist’s travel and accommodation expenses is to be borne by the client for an outstation wedding.
So next time you plan to take a sele with the bride and the groom, look around; an artist might also have captured this moment, on canvas.