Clare Willcocks – Live Wedding Painter and Corporate Event Illustrator in Devon, UK
If you’re looking for a live wedding painter, corporate event illustrator or an artist in residence, you’ve come to the right place! Clare Willcocks is a live event painter based in Devon, UK, bringing to life special moments and corporate events with beautiful paintings to wow your guests.
Clare is primarily a Devon, Cornwall and Somerset wedding painter and illustrator.
If your wedding or event is outside of the South West, please note that Clare can only accept a small number of bookings per year which involve over two hours’ travel time from Devon.
As a wedding painter and live artist in the South West of England, Clare provides a range of artistic services, please find your package from those outlined below.
“We can’t thank Clare enough. Our guests were so happy with the gorgeous paintings and we were even happier with ours. What a way to capture the day. Would absolutely encourage anyone planning a wedding or event to have Clare there!”
Sam and Murphy
Please see my Instagram account, @a_sketch_journal, for more examples of my work.
2025 Packages and Pricing – Weddings
Live Wedding Artist
Portraits Half-Day Package from £495*
- 4 hours live guest portrait painting (usually for your evening reception – approx. 10 mins for individuals, 15 mins for couples)
- Pop-up portrait exhibition
- Portraits stamped with your wedding details, envelope provided for guests to take away
Treasured Moment and Portraits Half-Day Package from £550*
- Arrival prior to ceremony to prepare backdrop of key moment painting
- 2 hours of painting a key moment (vows, confetti throwing etc.)
- Finished original painting, framed, mounted and displayed at your wedding
- 2 hours live guest portraits after the ceremony (approx 10 mins for individuals, 15 mins for couples)
- Pop-up portrait exhibition
- Portraits stamped with your wedding details, envelope provided for guests to take away
- Unique guest entertainment as they watch the painting process
- Take home an original work of art to remember your special day
Memories Full Day Package from £825*
- Arrival prior to ceremony to prepare backdrop of key moment painting
- 2 hours painting an agreed key moment (vows, confetti throwing etc.)
- 6 hours of guest portrait painting (approx 10 mins for individuals, 15 mins for couples) OR 4 hours of guest portraits, and 2/3 quick illustrations of other moments throughout the day
- Pop-up portrait exhibition
- Portraits stamped with your wedding details, envelope provided for guests to take away
- Unique guest entertainment as they watch the painting process
- Finished original painting, framed, mounted and displayed at your wedding
- Take home an original work of art to remember your special day
- Approximately 8 hours painting time
*Additional fuel charge of 45p per mile for venues over 1 hour away from Bideford, North Devon.
*Additional artist accommodation charge of £100 for venues over 2 hours away from Bideford, North Devon.
We can discuss your requirements during a free telephone consultation prior to booking. 25% deposit required to secure your booking (6 months prior to wedding date). Full balance required two months before wedding day.
Additional Services
I can provide the following additional services on request. Please get in touch for a quote.
- Wedding stationery
- Thank you cards featuring one of your wedding illustrations
- Additional portraits after the wedding day
- Additional key moments after the wedding day
- Prints of portraits/wedding illustrations
- Venue illustration
Live Wedding Painting Q&A
What is a live wedding artist?
A wedding artist or live event painter produces paintings as your wedding day unfolds. Clare paints portraits of guests and key moments during your wedding day, providing entertainment as well as a keepsake for your guests.
What can I expect from my live wedding painter?
Clare can paint live portraitsof your guests, or focus on a key moment in your special day, such as exchanging of the vows, or your first dance.
She also offers combo packages including key moment illustration and portrait painting. Additional services include post-wedding paintings and thank you cards.
How does live portrait painting work?
Clare will paint your guests as they sit for her, or from photos if you prefer. Portraits of individual guests take approximately 10 minutes, couples take around 15 minutes. You can discuss a priority list of guests with Clare.
The finished paintings will be displayed like a pop-up gallery, and guests can take them home when they leave as favours, or you can choose to keep them yourself as a sort of visual guestbook!
What is the process of painting a key moment?
Normally, Clare will arrive before the guests and begin drawing out the background of the painting from life. For example she will set up at the end of the aisle before you arrive to start sketching out the background for your wedding painting.
During the ceremony, Clare will take photos of the bride and groom, from which she will complete the painting during the rest of the agreed time. Guests can come and watch the progress of the painting, and by the end of the day, you will have a beautiful, original artwork.
Live Corporate Event Art Q&A
What does a live event artist do?
Your live event artist provides unique entertainment for your guests as they watch your event being illustrated before their eyes.
What is conference illustration?
If you’re looking for an artist to paint your event, Clare can produce a live ‘sketchnotes’, representing key takeaways from a conference in a visual format, which can then be scanned, edited and sent to invitees via email. These can include logos, portraits and symbols – the content can be discussed in advance.
What is live portrait painting?
Clare can paint live portraits of guests for them to take away. Individual ink and watercolour portraits take approx 10-minutes and are in full colour. This is a unique form of entertainment, and gives your guests a souvenir from your event.
What is reportage illustration?
Reportage illustration is like visual journalism. Clare will attend your event and make a series of sketches throughout the day/week to capture live moments as they unfold. The idea is to tell the story of your event through illustrations, which can be made into a printed brochure/digital document afterwards.
What other live event services are there?
Clare can create post-event illustrations from photos to create a brochure or handout to send as a gift to guests. Other options include illustrated thank you cards and merchandise.
Combo packages are available to suit your needs, please enquire.
Corporate Artist in Residence Q&A
What is a corporate artist in residence?
A corporate artist in residence will spend time within your company, usually over the period of a large project, to document the process in a visual form.
What can I expect from an artist in residence?
Clare will spend time getting to know your organisation, producing sketches over a period of time to create a body of work designed to achieve an agreed aim. For example, Clare can visit the site of a new development, creating illustrations of building work, historic findings, site maps, portraits of key figures etc, to produce a celebratory booklet on completion of the project for the public or stakeholders.
Another example may be attending a special event or press trip to make sketches and take photos to produce an illustrated commemorative booklet.
Bespoke packages can be discussed, please enquire.
Please get in touch!
If you have any questions, please get in touch using the following form.
Photo credits: Header shot – Capture Weddings, other photos: Lee Maxwell Photography and Jude Photography.