Fourth holiday party of 2014...

...and it's one of my favorite company parties of the year because it feels much more like a family party.  This is the entrance:

and this is their showroom, transformed into a gigantic ginger-bread-house factory:

There are many faces I'm happy to see every year:

Thank you once again for having me! :-)

B'nai Mitzvah caricatures

Last weekend, I had the honor of drawing at an unusual double bar mitzvah celebration for twins...

a B'nai Mitzvah.

Bar Mitzvah (Hebrew: בַּר מִצְוָה) and Bat Mitzvah (Hebrew: בַּת מִצְוָה) (plural: B'nai mitzvah for boys, B'not Mitzvah for girls) are Jewish coming of age rituals.

It was also unusual in that it was all happening in one elegantly appointed room, which meant I got to see and hear some of the traditions. 

Below: Some of the 13-year old boys (who made up most of my sitters ;-) and who enjoyed being caricature spectators for the evening. 

Here's a few of them! I wish  had gotten some photos of the guests of honor----but I drew them first, so they'd have time to socialize with their many friends and family members. 

One young gentlemen took a sped-up video of my drawing hand!

And, my drawings did not consist of only adolescent boys:

Congratulations, boys! Thanks so much to your family for having me draw at the entire celebration!

Third holiday event of 2014

For a title, I think I'll just number each holiday party I do this month...there's quite a few on my calendar, for which I am quite grateful.

When I walk into a gig, somewhere in the back of my mind lurks the fact that my job, of being a caricaturist, although it brings joy and happiness to folks, is not a necessity of life to my clients. It's a perk. So I try to make sure I'm doing the best job I can, for each person who sits in my chair. I want the experience AND the drawing they leave with (preferably BOTH) to be something they'll enjoy in different ways, for a long time.

This gig, a children's Christmas party, is one of my longest running events. Many of the parents attending tell me about how I've drawn their kids for many years in a row....and how they're all hanging up proudly in their home. I'm grateful for all this too. :-)

Santa ALWAYS shows up at this party!!

Second holiday gig of 2014

Two holiday parties in two nights for me! My easel and I attended another festive event last night. This one was courtesy of The-Nose.com, and the guests were all real estate agents. The venue was a converted theater!

Everybody was *really* happy here and there was a live band!

My very first sitter told me I had drawn her ten years ago at a party, and that it was still hanging up in her office!! Unfortunately, I didn't remember her....brain like a sieve, I guess. Or else it might be that I have drawn probably tens of thousands of faces since then ;-)

More fun reaction shots at this party!

I was asked to do several groups of co-workers, whose  members left when done, so this photo below doesn't include the subjects......however, the V.I. Lenin-lookalike appears in the video taken by my last subject of the evening (and the band's finale, too!)

(Yes, I told him he could have a career impersonating Lenin----and he said it wasn't the first time he'd heard that!!!)

Okay...two minutes of party ambiance including what I look like from the sitter's P.O.V. ( Yikes) (and it's my sitter singing, I was just mouthing the words ;-)

Thanks, Tad!!!

First holiday event of 2014

The holiday gig season began last night with a gala for residents of a stylish hi-rise condo building. The party was held in various common areas, and my easel and I were situated near a tranquil lap pool!

All the guests were neighbors in a sense, so the atmosphere was quite jovial with lots of friendly banter.  I tried to get some reaction shots because everybody was giving me

 such good expressions!!

 Below: This is the one whose immediate first reaction I wasn't quick enough to capture...he burst out laughing and doubled over!!

Thanks so much, Michelle, and for taking the time to check out my online caricature-reaction video which resulted in you booking me! Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! :-)

Ballerina Bat Mitzvah

My first gig after returning from the always inspiring 2014 ISCA convention was a pretty pink-themed bat mitzvah celebration, for which I had been booked well over a year in advance. The elegant rooms at the country club venue were decorated with the bat mitzvah girl's dance attire. She herself was quite adorable!

 I drew a mixture of kids and adults. This boy was game!!!

 Below: This family had fun being drawn, with the dad whispering to me the kids needed to be drawn with their preferred Apple products. I said that I preferred them as well ;-)

This gentleman told me this was his first caricature, and that he'd always wanted one when he saw artists drawing in NYC. He got his wish and then some! :-)

His daughter enjoyed watching the process, (after I'd drawn her, of course) and even posted this pic on Instagram:

Thanks to Gigmasters, and Abby and her family for having me! :-)

Update 12-8-14: I'm very grateful to my client, Abby's mom, who left me some very nice feedback on Gigmasters:

Emily was a pleasure to work with and my guests were very excited about the caricatures they took home with them. She is extremely talented and I would absolutely use her services again if the opportunity were to arise.

ISCA convention 2014 in Reno, Nevada

ISCA stands for International Society of Caricature Artists, and the 2014 annual convention (held in Reno, Nevada) has just wrapped up. Artists like me are heading home with inspiration filled to the brim, and some sadness that it's over! A long blog post from me all about it is coming (ditto on a post about my caricaturing fun in Texas this year ;-) but for now you can use the hashtag "iscacon2014" on various social media to see amazing caricature art-----and various caricaturist shenanigans.

Here is a look at my wall for now. 

Thank you to the ISCA board and EVERYONE who had a hand in organizing such a wonderful event! 

Whiskey in the jar....or airbrush paint.

The Maryland Irish Festival is always a merry sea o' green, and I shared a spot with my friend, artist-photographer Patrick Harnett. Check out HIS Facebook page for his 'Ireland the Olde Country' photographs---which are more like paintings. He has A LOT of fans!

Speaking of painting, I brought the hard-working Iwata Eclipse with me and airbrushed plenty of folks with their alcoholic treats... along with shamrocks....and little Irish dancers. 

I even drew an engagement caricature! It wasn't THE actual engagement, it was a 'we want THIS instead of a formal engagement photo'! WOW! ;-D

Had to laugh at THAT t-shirt!!

My Other Half showed up unexpectedly again. :-)

DrawInn Vlagtwedde 2014----in the Netherlands

No sooner did I return home from my month in Texas, drawing caricatures at their State Fair, (which I still haven't blogged about!) than I was setting off for Europe (!!!) to attend a caricature-artist mini-convention, called DrawInn Vlagtwedde. Held in the northern part of the Netherlands, for twenty-seven artists from nine countries, the venue was the lovely home of my friends Johanna and Johannes...

The great room of their house, originally the attached barn, was instead an artists's studio for most of the week: 

Well, actually it's always Johanna's studio. She's a sculptor of the highest caliber. So, the creative vibe is ever-present. 

The event was also organized by Jan Op de Beeck, who's been a friend now for more than ten years, ever since meeting him at my first ISCA convention back in 2003. 

I was the only American in attendance. The local newspaper ran a story about the convention, featuring the hostess and her two most distant guests:

Jan asked me to do a slide presentation about my experiences with retail caricature in the US. That was one topic even a nervous public speaker like me could handle!

If you'd like to see many more photos:

This link goes to my album of general convention photos on my Caricatures by Emily FB page. 

And this link goes to my artwork, and the artwork done of me by other attendees...but here's a little preview:

What a wonderful experience! I am SOOOOOOOOO glad I went, and am extremely grateful to the organizers (who are very dear to me). :-)