So you want my arts job: Live Wedding Painter

Do you have the skills to spend five to seven hours painting at a wedding? Live wedding painter Rebekka Lord-Johnson does, and it pays off.
Live wedding painter Rebekka Lord-John. Black and white photo of a woman with long straight hair, looking down at the canvas she is painting on. The photo is digitally manipulated to be on top of a purple background, with the words 'so you want my arts job?'

Melbourne-based artist Rebekka Lord-Johnson is a live wedding painter who has garnered popularity and praise through social media. Using acrylic and oil paint, Lord-Johnson captures a special moment of the newlyweds on their wedding day and helps them create a lasting moment to cherish.

Coming from a background in marketing, Lord-Johnson has always had a passion for painting and managed to develop this love in a highly sought after niche. She was a finalist in the 2016 Rick Amor Drawing Prize and, in 2023, her live wedding painting business took out gold in the Australian Wedding Industry Awards. She often documents her process, as well as the newlyweds’ reaction on Instagram, where she has over 630k followers who resonate with the pieces.

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Celina Lei is the Diversity and Inclusion Editor at ArtsHub. She acquired her M.A in Art, Law and Business in New York with a B.A. in Art History and Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has previously worked across global art hubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York in both the commercial art sector and art criticism. She took part in drafting NAVA’s revised Code of Practice - Art Fairs and was the project manager of ArtsHub’s diverse writers initiative, Amplify Collective. Most recently, Celina was one of three Australian participants in DFAT’s the Future of Leadership program. Celina is based in Naarm/Melbourne. Instagram @lleizy_