A very special wedding gift.

On April 26th I attended a beautiful wedding, the bride and groom are not only very good friends of mine but they're also avid collectors of my work. I wanted to give them a very special wedding gift, so I created an artwork specially for them.

Because they had purchased one of the pieces from 'Discoveries: Montréal' I decided to make the artwork in the same size and style so the pieces would go together. Because I wanted to create something that would reflect their journey as a couple I had my husband, who was the best man, ask some sneaky questions. He figured out where they had their first date, where they had their first kiss and which Montreal locations were extra special to them.

I took pictures of all of these special spots and had a little walk around their neighbourhood to get some additional material to round out my composition. Of course all of this had to be done in secret, every time the happy couple came for a visit I had to hide all the evidence!

Usually when I create a commissioned piece the client is part of the creative process but in this case, because it was a surprise, I had to have faith in my ability to anticipate their taste and create the piece without their input which made the creative process extra exciting.

When they saw the painting on their wedding day they I knew all my sneaky research had paid off. They absolutely loved the piece and they were blown away by all the little details that were included. One of those details, the green hearts in the lower left corner turned out to be extra special. The bride told me afterwards that she couldn't figure out how I knew that those hearts were so special to them. Well in fact, I didn't, when I was creating the composition I was missing something in that corner and the idea of using the hearts just sort of came to me, it kind of felt like one of those 'lightning bolt ideas', I just knew that using them would be the right choice, must've been the universe talking. :)

The painting is now proudly on display in their apartment together with it's brother (or are paintings considered to be female?) 'Pointe-Claire'. I hope it will function as a reminder of their journey together and their special day. Lori and Gary I wish you much happiness and many new adventure in your future together!