New Orleans Wedding: The Second Line

This painting was inspired by enthusiasm and love. My son and his beautiful bride married in New Orleans in October. Immediately after the ceremony we enjoyed a New Orleans tradition, The Second Line. The Bride and Groom, wedding guests, neighbors and a marching band paraded and danced around the neighborhood. It was absolute joy. I wanted to preserve the moment. I needed to paint this.

I thought I would use a French Impressionist style to reflect the city’s culture.

A photo by, wedding guest and the grooms aunt, Annette Jenkins, a terrific professional photographer served as a reference.

A 12 by 16 canvas is toned with thinned yellow ochre oil paint. Diagonal grids are drawn on both the canvas and the photos to aid the drawing process. A decision about edits and changes to the painting are made. A black and white photo and a color photo are placed on either side of the canvas for reference. A rough sketch is lightly drawn with red pastel loosely locating the major elements. The drawing is reinforced with thinned oil paint.

The painting proceeds with a full pallet of color with turpenoid thinned oil paint. I started at the background and proceed forward. I used a note to stay loose at the top of the easel as a reminder to maintain the loose impressionist style.

The canvas is fully covered. The paint is allowed to dry.

I oil out the painting and add a second layer. Here more color is added. Some minor corrections to the drawing occurred. Thicker paint is used.

The painting was oiled out a second time. More details and thicker paint was added.