{"id":232113,"date":"2025-06-30T07:30:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T11:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=232113"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:45:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:45:36","slug":"beautiful-moments-sfa-alum-brings-smiles-to-bridal-couples-with-live-event-painting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/06\/beautiful-moments-sfa-alum-brings-smiles-to-bridal-couples-with-live-event-painting\/","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Moments: SFA Alum Brings Smiles to Bridal Couples with Live Event Painting"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the end of the year, Erin Leigh Boughamer<\/a> will have attended more than 50 weddings \u2013 31 of them in 2025 and all of them since 2022.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that a tribe of friends are spontaneously making trips down the aisle, or even children of friends or friends of her children. It\u2019s not that she\u2019s stuck in a loop of invite after invite, caught in some practical joke or on a list of reception seat fillers.<\/p>\n

Boughamer \u201994 (SFA) is an event painter, a wedding artist who now makes a living by focusing on flowers and gowns, first dances and first looks. The artwork she produces for each couple is the gift of a lifetime, keepsakes meant to endure until death do they part.<\/p>\n

At least one time, though, she was the gift, when a groom-to-be arranged for her to live-paint their first private dance as a token of affection for his bride.<\/p>\n

\"A
Erin Leigh Boughamer ’94 (SFA) is a live event painter who has 31 weddings booked this year. (Contributed art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShe started crying,\u201d Boughamer says of the reveal. \u201cThe bride was walking through the reception room before the guests came in to look around at everything she had chosen for their decorations. She walked up to me thinking I was with the venue, when he looked at her and said, \u2018This is my gift to you.\u2019 Witnessing that beautiful little moment between the two of them was precious, and one I won\u2019t soon forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Boughamer left UConn three decades ago with a degree in graphic design from the School of Fine Arts<\/a>, event painting hadn\u2019t yet become part of bridal vocabulary. People talked about videographers and photographers to document the day, not painters to encapsulate a single moment.<\/p>\n

To ask her back then if she foresaw herself with a wardrobe of dressy pantsuits, each with at least a little dollop of acrylic paint on them, she\u2019d have said no way. Then again, she might have said no way to some of the other professions she\u2019s held along the way.<\/p>\n

House stager. Interior designer. Children\u2019s clothing designer. Private art teacher. Crafter on the green. Marketer. Public school teacher. Business owner. Entrepreneur. Gallery artist.<\/p>\n

There might even be more, as she dabbled in small creative outlets through the years while staying home to raise her children. The last few, however, have been the most influential on her work today, all coming over the last 12 years as she set out on an unintentional quest to find her spark.<\/p>\n

Reigniting That Flame<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cEvery time I go in the studio, whether I\u2019m cleaning and organizing it, drawing and painting, or simply making sketches that aren\u2019t a beautiful end product, just doing something, anything, I come out happy every single time,\u201d Boughamer says. \u201cI think we\u2019re all like that. We all need to have some form of expression. We\u2019ve gotten to the point where life is all work, family, house chores, go to bed, and do it again. We don\u2019t allow ourselves the time or the space to express ourselves or be creative. I think even the simplest act of creating can keep us sane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around 2013, Boughamer moved into the workforce full time when her two kids were older and took a job in network marketing selling health and wellness products, a job that was far from the world of art but nonetheless important to her future.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s where she learned branding, public speaking, and sales pitching. She learned how to approach people and how to talk to them. She learned how to sell someone something by sharing her story and building relationships. These were business skills that hadn\u2019t been offered before, and it was a job that inadvertently gave her a business education.<\/p>\n

So, when she came across the then-burgeoning paint-and-sip industry \u2013 those popular paint nights that usually involve a group of people noshing on hors d\u2019oeurves and sipping beverages while being guided through a painting project – she\u2019d gained the business know-how to move ahead with her own.<\/p>\n

Paint Sip Fun<\/a> became a near overnight success, Boughamer says, with she and 30 part-timers teaching sometimes two to three classes a day at restaurants, banquet halls, private residences, bars, and other places all around Connecticut and Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

One class drew 198 students and required 10 assistants \u2013 and was the best time ever, she says.<\/p>\n

\n

What really makes my heart sing is that person coming in, saying, \u2018I can\u2019t even draw a straight line,\u2019 and walking out two hours later saying, \u2018I did that.\u2019 That\u2019s what really makes me happy, helping others to reignite that creative flame that lies dormant inside most of us. — Erin Leigh Boughamer '94 (SFA)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhat really makes my heart sing is that person coming in, saying, \u2018I can\u2019t even draw a straight line,\u2019 and walking out two hours later saying, \u2018I did that.\u2019 That\u2019s what really makes me happy, helping others to reignite that creative flame that lies dormant inside most of us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Back when she was selling health products, there was a point when Boughamer asked herself why that job. Was it to just to make money? Was it just to pay the bills? Was it to sharpen a business acumen? The answer boiled down to something pretty simple.<\/p>\n

She found fulfillment in empowering others, whether to transform their bodies or draw a straight line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have that drive, that passion, that fire, you\u2019re going to fizzle out. I want to make an impact on other people\u2019s lives,\u201d she says of her impulse. \u201cI want the woman who hasn\u2019t done art since the third grade be amazed by what she\u2019s created at the end of a class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as the pandemic put a temporary end to in-person group classes, each night for three months Boughamer got on social media at 6 p.m. to talk people through an art project with supplies they had at home.<\/p>\n

This is how you can draw with a crayon. Here\u2019s what a marker can do. Do you have a pencil? It\u2019s a dream tool for blending and shading.<\/p>\n

That maintained her clientele, who when they left their houses as pandemic restrictions lifted, clamored for her to open a physical studio, and while she did in Somers for about 18 months, Boughamer\u2019s own life had taken a turn.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d gone back to school to earn a teaching degree and by now was working with school-aged children. Running a physical location while working full time proved incompatible, so she returned to the flexibility of a mobile paint-and-sip model.<\/p>\n

And then, lightning struck while leading a class for a bridal party.<\/p>\n

Taking It Seriously<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201c’Can you live paint my wedding?’\u201d Boughamer says the bride-to-be asked her. \u201cI was confused. \u2018What are you talking about?\u2019 She explained it to me, showed me pictures, and I agreed. Then, a couple people randomly found me in 2023, probably from a social post, and last year I decided to give it a go. 2024 was really my first year in the event painting business, as that\u2019s when I created a website and started marketing at bridal shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year brought her to 18 weddings, earning enough to outpace what she made as a public school teacher. This year has her at 31 weddings \u2013 three over Memorial Day weekend alone \u2013 and now contemplating whether to shift her professional efforts solely to Paint Sip Fun and Event Painting by Erin<\/a>, along with some gallery work.<\/p>\n

\"A
Erin Leigh Boughamer ’94 (SFA) is a live event painter who has 31 weddings booked this year. (Contributed art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She also paints live at fundraisers and charity auctions, with her first on Nantucket last summer for the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation to help with its efforts to preserve Nantucket Harbor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that I don\u2019t like teaching in schools, I do, I just want to build the businesses properly. I want to really set the foundation and proper business structure,\u201d she says, adding that she\u2019s on the hunt for a business coach to help.<\/p>\n

Art was something gifted to Boughamer in part through genetics. Her grandmother: artist. Aunt: artist. Mom: crafty. Dad: encouraging, with a side of business savvy.<\/p>\n

She started at UConn as a psychology major, earning a D and D- in those first two intro classes, mostly because she wasn\u2019t interested in the subject matter. But her GPA was bolstered by the A+ in the elective art class she took.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got home after freshman year, my dad sat me down and asked me why I wasn\u2019t doing something with art. \u2018Clearly, you\u2019re good at it. You got an A+ in your elective drawing class. Why don\u2019t you take it seriously?\u2019 I looked at him and said, \u2018I can do that?\u2019 I didn\u2019t know I could. From then on, it never stopped,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

A couple years ago, Boughamer says she started to get restless and sought to find her<\/em> art, the work that would show the world the contradictory bohemian and reserved parts of her personality, born of the free spirit side of her dad and the pearls-and-heels influence of her mom.<\/p>\n

\"A
Erin Leigh Boughamer ’94 (SFA) exhibited her painting series, “Calming Chaos,” at The Jorgensen Gallery in March. (Courtesy of Molly Mia Photography & Film LLC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The series that developed, \u201cCalming Chaos,\u201d<\/a> puts on canvas her love for architectural, geometric shapes alongside a freeform, almost carefree style of painting. After hours, in her studio at home in Hampden, Massachusetts, she says one could find her literally throwing paint one minute and the next sitting with a ruler and compass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this series almost done, and I thought how poignant it would be if I could show it at the place where my whole art career began,\u201d she says, explaining she called Emily Murray, alumni relations director at the UConn Foundation, with whom she\u2019d worked before, to ask if UConn had a place.<\/p>\n

The Jorgensen Gallery<\/a> agreed, and in March, Boughamer, as Fine Art by Erin<\/a>, returned to her alma mater as a gallery artist, having created several canvas pieces as large as 5-by-6-feet as showstoppers. She sold four artworks from the show to collectors in New York City.<\/p>\n

The opening fed her soul, and now she\u2019s in the thick of wedding season.<\/p>\n

Capturing a Moment<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a throwback to the old days,\u201d she says of live wedding painting. \u201cBefore the camera was invented, all couples had to remember their day was a painting. It\u2019s almost full circle that way. Brides these days want an heirloom keepsake and instead of having a photo like we had, it\u2019s a painting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Live wedding painting, while somewhat a new add-on to weddings in the Northeast, started to migrate from California about a decade ago, Boughamer says, working its way through the country, artist by artist, who now talk shop on social media about things like contract language and technique.<\/p>\n

With her couples, though, Boughamer talks about what moment they want to preserve, but the answer to that oftentimes comes only after answering the second question.<\/p>\n

Is it important to include the bride\u2019s bouquet in the painting? If so, then the first dance in which the couple would be holding each other and not likely the bouquet, probably is out of contention. Is grandma\u2019s pearl necklace an important detail? If so, the back of the couple\u2019s heads or even a side view at the altar probably wouldn\u2019t work so well.<\/p>\n

Is there a visible tattoo that ought not be overlooked? Should the dogs somehow be set in the scene? How much of the architecture and d\u00e9cor of the barn, ballroom, reception hall, church, outdoor garden should be in the background? The bride has on a cape not a veil. Yes, the cape should be included, how can that be best emphasized?<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask these things for two reasons. First, this is something the couple is going to stare at the rest of their lives. Second, the very first bride was very particular and knew she wanted the dipping kiss pose because she was wearing Christian Louboutin red-bottom shoes and wanted them in the painting,\u201d Boughamer says. \u201cThe painting has to be really tailored to exactly what the couple is looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Erin Leigh Boughamer ’94 (SFA) is a live event painter who has 26 weddings booked this year. She not only paints the wedding couple but also can sketch guest portraits. (Contributed art)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The betrothed also must decide if they want any of the other painting options Boughamer offers \u2013 guest paintings, 5-by-7-inch watercolor illustrations of each guest often given as favors, and collaborative paintings that engage the artistic efforts of guests in a sort of paint by number kind of way.<\/p>\n

In one instance, the couple had restored an old truck together and mentioned to Boughamer there\u2019s a special dirt road where they like to take it. So, she grabbed photos of the road and the truck and painted the focal point of the truck in the piece, sectioning off the rest of the canvas into little blocks for each guest to contribute.<\/p>\n

One by one, she gives each guest an art lesson, handing them a palette of paint and instructing them exactly how to layer it on. Nervous guests who can\u2019t even draw a straight line are reassured: it\u2019s a very small area; no, they can\u2019t mess it up. She won\u2019t put red paint on the palette for a guest who\u2019s painting the water in a beach scene.<\/p>\n

An added bonus is a photograph of each guest in the act, pictures added to a guest-autographed book and given to the couple.<\/p>\n

Boughamer relies on photographs for much of her live event work, taking pictures of the dogs to add in later, or the gardens, or the mountains in the distance, because most of the canvases get finished back in her studio \u2013 another 20 to 40 hours of work ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome weddings are more quiet and more subdued, while some are just a flat-out party,\u201d she says. \u201cI enjoy all of them because I like being with people and interacting with guests. I have yet to be at a wedding where someone didn\u2019t come talk to me and express amazement by what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usually, guests remark that they can\u2019t wait to see the final product, and since that\u2019ll likely happen back in the studio, she gives blank note cards depicting the piece to each couple for use as thank yous.<\/p>\n

People have an intrinsic desire to be creative, she says. Just watching a painting being done in real-time can be invigorating; it\u2019s like watching the birth of something from nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are creative creatures whether you\u2019re creating dinner, creating a garden, creating a spreadsheet, or creating an outfit for the day. Everyone creates something, it doesn\u2019t matter what. It\u2019s our human nature to create,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Erin Leigh Boughamer ’94 (SFA) left UConn three decades ago with a degree in graphic design from the School of Fine Arts, event painting hadn\u2019t yet become part of bridal vocabulary. To ask her back then if she foresaw herself with a wardrobe of dressy pantsuits, each with at least a little dollop of acrylic paint on them, she\u2019d have said no way<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":232146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,1711,1731,2649,1914,2235,2227],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2368],"class_list":["post-232113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-arts-culture","category-entrepreneurship","category-blue-pride","category-sfa","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-edu-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 15:32:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232113"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232348,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232113\/revisions\/232348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/232146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232113"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=232113"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=232113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}