Episode 80: Capturing Moments on Canvas with Jonathan Garcia
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Today’s podcast is all about Jonathan Garcia, a live wedding painter. His purpose is to capture those moments that you never want to forget on canvas. He loves using color and different techniques to not only express emotions, but to exhibit true beauty.
DISCOVERING HIS TALENT
Growing up, Jonathan always expressed himself through sketchpads and water color. When he was in high school, he took an art class because it was an easy elective, but he ended up doing really well in the class. Years later, one of his friends was getting married and he came up with the idea of painting them at their wedding. Jonathan agreed! At the wedding, he painted for the first few minutes of the ceremony, then stopped to enjoy the rest of the wedding, and then went back to painting for another hour. When his newlywed friends saw the painting, they could feel all the love in it and told everyone at the wedding about him. His career took off from there!
MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF
Jonathan started to paint his friends weddings for free but after the 4th wedding, he decided to start charging. He has now been painting weddings for 8 and a half years. A typical wedding day for him involves arriving at noon to set up. Then he asks the couple, “What moment do you want to remember forever?”. He has a photographer with him who takes a photo of the exact moment they want captured so he can enjoy the ceremony. Once the ceremony is over and guests head over to cocktail hour is when his work begins. He prides himself on finishing his painting before the end of the night of over.
GETTING PERSONAL
Live wedding painters are starting to become popular because it’s something different than normal. Having a painter at the wedding lets the couple take a gift home at the end of the night. It’s a way to spoil and cherish the couple since the wedding is an event for their guests. One of his favorite paintings he has done was for a couple getting married at the San Diego Zoo. He painted giraffes with bowties and painted the couple in a tiger cage! Anytime Jonathan can incorporate animals into his paintings he takes advantage of it. He has a question section on his website incase there are any family members, animals, or extra additions that the couple wants to incorporate. He once had a client ask to add donuts into the painting instead of flowers. He loves to make every painting a personal and intimate experience.
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