Martin Ashley Hardy

For for the past 16 years I have created many types of party paintings:  weddings, mitzvahs, birthdays, dinners, galas, rehearsals, ceremonies, fundraisers, inaugurations, and corporate events.  While most parties take place in event spaces, I have also painted in private homes, museums, galleries, boats, tents, restaurants, stadiums, and hockey rinks.  

I am often rehired by families as their milestones happen:  first I paint the mitzvah, then years later, the wedding.  Many families have multiple party paintings, serving as highlights and chronicles of their family’s history.  There are 900 or more or my paintings hanging in homes, personal collections, and corporate offices.  

It started when a perceptive party planner observed me painting colorful scenes outdoors in Union Square, New York City.  I was capturing a party scene on the spot, in real time, and he offered me an opportunity to take my plein air, allegro style of painting indoors. 

Keeping pace with the flow of happy moments of a family or company is always a challenge. First, I like to establish a background setting to imply the location:  seaside, city, river, or woods. Then, throughout the evening, I may paint an interior, still life, and/or figures and their fashions.  The character of the composition comes from the unique elements of the party and the improvisation which comes out of the unexpected. 

                                                                                            Vows at Cedar Lake 2018

T-rex and the godess 

Riverview Jazz       Fundraiser

POOL PARTIES

Liberty House

Long Island Wedding   2018

 The picture is finished and received in a beautiful bag towards the end of the evening,.