Final O's game of season for me...

..and some very interesting faces and personalities passed before my easel.
This dear lady works at the sandwich stand near the caricature concession, and is always good for some stimulating political conversation! She's a fervent Obama supporter, so I included that fact in her drawing.

As I drew a heart between this couple, whom I thought were a "couple", I found out they were co-workers! So some quick thinking saved the situation, by converting the heart into some directional lines from a whizzing fastball...

This last twosome told me they were getting married next week, and that they weren't particularly Orioles fans..they liked the Philadelphia Phillies! :-) Luckily, I haven't forgotten how to draw the Phanatic. Both the lady and gentleman told me how much they were going to treasure ther caricature....awwwww!

Company picnic

Today was one of those gigs where every drawing was a couple, or a triple, or a even a quadruple....in four hours, I think I could have counted the number of single caricatures I did on one hand. It's always funny how different events seem to take on their own quirks that way. I definitely didn't use as much paper as I would have otherwise! :-)

September (and August's) NCN contest

Last month's challenge was Elton John. I drew a younger, more outlandish version of him on the almost last day. The winner was Pete Emslie, whose work has been inspiring a lot of NCNers lately!
This month, we're attempting Audrey Hepburn. I hope to get back to this, to flesh her out a bit in color.

Corporate Workshop

My gig this afternoon had an international flavor. A local company was hosting some overseas employees (most were from the Netherlands!) and wanted to give them a treat during their week-long workshop, which had an Olympic theme. So each caricature featured the person doing a sport, and I was able to display my signed Kerri-and-Misty gold-medal beach volleyball caricature. Several people chose that sport as a result!





Afterwards, all the employees hopped on a trolley car to head to Center City Philadelphia to enjoy a murder-mystery dinner theater. I drew every person on this trolley!!

Birthday party

On Sunday afternoon, I drew lots of guests at a big party for a cute little one-year-old's birthday. The girl of the moment slept through most of her party!

Bar Mitzvah caricatures!

This afternoon I found myself at a very friendly Bar Mitzvah celebration. My caricatures were a hit, as once again after drawing all the kids I was asked to stay longer to draw more adults! :-)




After it was over, I skedaddled to my car in a downpour ( tropical storm Hannah was dumping on us) but luckily, I was prepared with a big plastic bag covering my pull-behind art-cart!

Update 9-8-08: The agent emailed me this nice-to-hear feedback ...
"Thanks! Customer called with glowing reviews - she loved you and your work!"

Trying my hand at political cartooning---the Republican ticket

These were drawn in a somewhat new method for me...I did rough sketches directly from the TV screen (no photo references!) as John McCain and Sarah Palin gave their speeches at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota this week. Then I inked and colored with markers, scanned into Photoshop and added more color and the background. Thanks to cartoonist Pete Emslie for suggesting this way on the NCN forum.

A talented wedding photographer caught this caricature reaction...

This is a funny moment caught by the photographer at one of my recent wedding gigs. It's the mother of the bride reacting to my caricature done of her son and his friends, and I am so tickled by it! To see more of Matthew Wright's wonderful photos, (and my caricatures are featured in a few) click here: Fig Tree Photography. Thanks to both Matt and the wedding families for sharing these with me!

A master caricature artist now has a blog....

The amazing, wonderful and humble Jan Opdebeeck now has a blog!
I met Jan at my very first caricature convention in 2003; he was the guest speaker. Aside from being a phenomenal caricaturist, he is an approachable teacher and a gentleman.
These two pencil drawings were done by him in 2005, of myself and my fiance, and I treasure them..

Bon Voyage party....

Signature mats for a caricature make the best gift for any occasion! This time it was for a bon voyage party for my son, who is off to Bangkok, Thailand, for several months for yoga teacher training. I fervently hope that the unrest there is settled soon, for everyone's sake....

I drew a few of his friends at the party, including his best friend from since they were five years old, Katie, who was a good sport about me experimenting with a less-than-flattering caricature of her....