Vendor Spotlight | Courtney Kibby Designs Live Wedding Painter

December 16, 2022

Beaver Creek Wedding, Destination Wedding, Vendor Spotlight, Wedding Planning Advice

When did you start your business and what motivated you to do so?

What would you consider your greatest professional achievement in the past year?

What separates you from your competition? What can you offer that no one else can?

I’m Courtney Kibby, a fine artist and live wedding painter based in Oklahoma. I’m also a mom of 3 (Baby #4 is due in January!) and expert multi-tasker. I’m a lifelong artist obsessed with finding beauty anywhere. In 2018, I officially started my business, desiring the freedom to nurture my children as they grow up.

My heart is to create paintings with deep meaning that transcend time, not slice it like a photograph. In my client experience I strive to create an innovative and exciting experience for my clients and their guests through live wedding painting. Using my couples’ unique story, aesthetic, and desires (not homogenized inspiration from Pinterest or Instagram), I paint their wedding day in a dreamy impressionist style. I want to capture the unique tone and feeling of their wedding day, so they can mark their day beautifully and relive that feeling for a lifetime.

I work with only a handful of clients a year because I treat every wedding I paint like my own. I understand each wedding is entirely different, and comes with a different set of needs and desires. My approach isn’t a cookie-cutter checklist, but a personalized five-star fine art experience keeping clients’ needs and wants top priority every step of the way. Every element, from capturing the dress details to the emotion and feeling of the day, of the painting is carefully composed so my couples can look back on their wedding day 20 years later, share it with their loved ones, and feel that it was perfect + timeless.

When you’re working on a wedding or event, how do you usually interact with the other vendors? What is your experience working with wedding planners?

One of my favorite things about painting weddings is working with and getting to know the amazing team of vendors. After all, the best paintings are created because of the intentional efforts of the planner and creative partners they’ve enlisted for the wedding.

Intent to create a collaborative, happy environment, I do my homework — scout the venue, have a plan to be efficient, remain a positive presence at all times, and pay attention to even the smallest of details.

Wedding by Kelly Karli Weddings and Events, Vail, Colorado

How would you describe your style or aesthetic?

My style is deeply rooted in the traditional timeless impressionist style, but with a modern twist – the medium of watercolor, which can be fickle, unpredictable, and unforgiving. My impressionist style has been described as light, airy, and ethereal, but my favorite descriptor is dreamy. After all, your wedding day is a dream come true, and you want a painting that shares the same dreamy-quality of your day.

What or who inspires you in life and in your work?

As an artist, I’ve long been inspired by Claude Monet and how he found inspiration in his own backyard daily. Mind you, his backyard is a gorgeous and magical garden in Giverny, France, but it’s inspired me to find beauty in the smallest details, the magical moments that are sometimes forgotten.

In life and work, I’m inspired by KT Merry, a luxury wedding photographer and my mentor.

How would you describe your creative process?

Effortlessly creating this painting live takes an artist’s eye, a small footprint, quick hands (which stems from lots of practice), and intentional preparation. I help my clients clarify their vision for their live painting, and use their aesthetic, design, and unique story to create their unique heirloom painting. I’m not working through a cookie-cutter checklist, but am instead taking in the details, the moments, and the feelings. Live painting not only requires skill and efficiency, it requires an understanding of everything that’s happening, how it all comes together, and being able to react in real time. The bottom line: If you want it painted, I’ll make it happen.

What’s your favorite way to unwind?

My favorite way to unwind *other than painting* is to open a good book! I’m an avid reader and typically have between 7-10 books on my nightstand so I can pick up a book based on how I’m feeling that day. Some of my favorite books I’ve read this year are Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, Atomic Habits by James Clear (one I reread yearly), and reading aloud The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis (The Magician’s Nephew is still my favorite) with my children.

If you weren’t a live wedding painter what would you want to do?

If I wasn’t a live painter and fine artist, I would want to own a bookstore, be a book editor, or a children’s book illustrator. I grew up loving Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly in You’ve Got Mail, and always imagined what life would be like living in New York, having a literal bouquet of sharpened pencils at my desk daily (which, spoiler alert, I do have as an artist!) owning a bookstore, reading countless not-yet-released books of emerging and established writers, or drawing illustrations for children’s books.