Memories on canvas
Now, signi cant moments of a wedding are captured on canvas by artists painting on the spot
Bengaluru-based Pavan Vijay dreamt of a unique wedding with Sanjana BA in March 2024. And to make his Dday a memorable one, he opted for live wedding painting. “I thought of customised photographs but painting us live on the mandap is thrilling,” says this SBI marketing executive who contacted Hyderabad-based Keerthana Adepu in November 2023.
Keerthana ew down to Bengaluru for the wedding in Jayanagar in March this year and painted the decor and the couple “We relive beautiful memories each time we look at the art,” says Pavan, a resident of Basavanagudi.
In an age of seles, Instagram reels and digital images, the couple preferred to preserve their memories of the wedding in an album lled with of sketches, colours and strokes, instead of photographs.
In Hyderabad, Keerthana has a busy but celebratory April with ve weddings scheduled to capture. 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 when she made 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.
With orders placed through social media, the 22-year-old has, so far, done around 60 antarpats and 13 live wedding paintings live in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Khammam and Karimnagar.
Narrative art
Photography/videography has become an important aspect of weddings irrespective of the scale of the event. Images accompanied by digital technology narrate stories with meticulously planned photographs. 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.”
Sristi had done a portrait for a Bengaluru-based couple which clubbed Kerala mural painting as a style with more eccentric elements like bottles, books and casual clothes (it was not done live).
With experience in doing live event painting and stylised couple portraits over four years, she did her rst live wedding painting at the start of 2024. “The painting was a wedding gift from the groom’s close friend, and was di¦erent as it involved painting ve events across the four-day celebration,” she says.
The artists sitting sit in an earmarked space and sketch/paint spontaneously as the ceremony progresses. Srishti uses watercolours, mostly along with ink, to paint the main scenes but uses acrylics for a snapshot of an event and the decor.
“Essentially, these are something to look back and smile upon; sometimes, it could be something as simple as the couple conversing on the crowded mandap, or nally eating after fasting for long hours before the pooja,” she says.
Art imagery
In Hyderabad, the small breed of live wedding painters is growing. The trend of live wedding painting in the city began two years ago, says M Sanjay Kumar of Eshwariah Art Gallery, who curated art at a wedding at Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre. “The families of the bride and the groom were into literature and enthusiasts of music and art,” he recalls.
Artist Prasuna Murali sketched moments like the bride being carried in a pelli butta (cane basket) by her maternal uncles, the couple placing jeelakarrabellam on each other’s heads, tying the mangalsutraand playing traditional games. “Sometimes people engage artists to paint portraits of guests at weddings akin to a mehendi artist creating 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, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh has gained enormous response from the locals, says software engineer-turned-live wedding painter Dhanushya Pallem (@dhanupaintslive).
Besides Vijayawada, orders have taken Dhanushya to Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Chennai, Eluru, Guntur and Hyderabad. Using acrylics on Lenin canvas she visits the venue early to take a photograph and paint the couple and decor.
The process also poses challenges. “Having to complete the painting at the speed at which the event happens is tough,” says Srishti. “Detailing takes a lot of time and effort, so it is always a switch between capturing what I want to paint and taking time to complete it. Also, people at the wedding keep interrupting to comment on your work. It’s difcult to not get distracted and continue to work with focus, but still be polite to guests.”
The price of the artworks starts from ₹20,000 and goes upwards till ₹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. A live wedding painting is often chosen as a gift for siblings, friends or even by the bride and groom wanting to surprise their spouse.