Merry Christmas, all!

A Christmas card from us to you:

Christmas caricature gift for an unsuspecting wife...

...not on paper, but drawn on a large pillowcase---so she can hug her hubby any time she wants!
The client allowed me to post this, the preliminary drawing, since his wife has no clue it's coming. The actual sketch was done with fabric markers and paint. When he sends me a photo of it on the actual pillow, I will post that too.

On another topic, I just found out my Hillary sculpture took third place in the NCN December Face-off. My friend Paul Moyse took first with his sculpture of Mugabe. (see his blog in my Links list). Paul also recently had the honor of drawing caricatures at Paul McCartney's private family Christmas party...that will be one caricature gig he'll never forget!

Sketchbook stuff

While working on a gift commission today, which I can't post til after the holiday, I found these forgotten doodles on the same page in my sketchbook. I tidied them up a bit in PS, and so, here they are: two unrelated caricature artists from the NCN, drawn from life at the convention...

This is Jert- Jeremy Townsend. Everybody draws him at the con, and usually the caricatures are the kind that make you scream (and groan) with laughter. None more so than his own drawings, though! He has a post on his blog about attending the Sebastian Kruger class recently in Germany...it's at www.mrjert.blogspot.com.

This is Liesbeth Beckers, from Belgium. She's been a friendly presence at the last two conventions...her website is www.leesbat.com. There's actually going to be a European mini-con in January, and I am sure she will be attending that one. Wish I could!!!

Sculpting stand...

Even with the holidays looming, I've been wanting to start my next sculpture. I couldn't stop myself when my boyfriend made a early Christmas gift for me-- a wooden sculpture stand!
I'd learned from my previous effort that making the head and body as one unified piece of sculpey presents some limitations, especially if your armature is very stiff. This way, I am sculpting the head on a dowel, attached to a base, so both my hands are free to work. Then I can attach the head to the body with ease.
(John sneaked outside to take a photo of me at work, unawares, on his back porch)

I'll post photos of my next sculpey subject ( she's not political this time!)
as it gets further along.
What a difference a year makes...last year I barely knew how to use Photoshop or had any experience with sculpting (except as a spectator sport!).

Breakfast with Santa...

Santa arrived at a local country club to hand out gifts to all the children, who were also treated to caricatures!

Holiday Party

For the third year, I've been invited to be a part of a very special holiday party.
It's such a friendly atmosphere there, and the people I draw are so appreciative. Here are two of them. Thanks for your smiles!

College event....

...that wasn't a holiday party. So my Santa hat stayed home...
I didn't write many names because I could barely hear anybody over the music, even though they were only sitting three feet away ;-O

1st sculpture finished!

Here she is, in all her sculpey glory (or infamy!)

I've discovered that I want to do more sculpting. There don't seem to be many who do it, and it intrigues me.... Although this Hillary does not reach my usual standard for drawn likenesses, she's only the first of hopefully many, and I already have another victim in mind. But that will have to wait til after the holidays...

Holiday gigs...

This weekend I got to work with caricaturist-pals at two Christmas parties...
These photos are from the first one; it was my fifth year there and every year they ask me to bring MORE ARTISTS!






The second party was held in a really darkened hall...which was great for ambiance but tough on my eyeballs...

Hillary--love her or hate her!

That seems to be the consensus on how people feel towards Senator Hillary Clinton politically, but I am feeling that way artistically! Sculpting her likeness has been frustrating for me.
Today was a Face-off deadline for the raw sculpture only, but I took some advice from Court and Paul, and worked on her face and neck before baking and painting her. Luckily, nothing cracked during her 40 minutes in the oven, and the paint is a base coat. I did decide to go with acrylics rather than oils as they are easier to work with. She still needs to be put into her dreamed-of Oval Office, but that will be in Photoshop later this week ( if I have any time! Christmas is around the corner!)

Taking shape....

Hillary's, that is! Here is the result of this afternoon's sculpting session. I am using some colored sculpey in places ( anything non-flesh will be painted with oil paint, which I want to use for its blending properties) and her likeness is almost there. This is addicting!

Hillary sculpture in progress

My entry for the NCN Face-off competition has been untouched til now, waiting for me to get back from all my gallivanting...the deadline for the raw sculpture of Hillary (dreaming of the Oval Office with a big cigar!) is actually due this Friday. So, I finally got around to squishing on some Sculpey, after applying foil to the armature. At this stage, the likeness is not there yet, but being as this is my first-ever sculpture, it's not tooo bad. I am enjoying the process. By the way, this is almost an entire 1-lb box of Super-Sculpey.

Marketing my caricatures...

Today, I decided market myself by advertising on Craigslist. I put up my business card and a small group of samples:

We'll see what happens, as I have never really advertised before-- other than word of mouth and business cards handed out at events I've done. Here's the link if anyone wants to check it out:
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/evs/496289339.html

Evolution of a gift caricature...

Before my vacation, I had the pleasure of drawing a couple's caricature for a sign-in board at their wedding. They had me do a digital rendering of them to be matted and centered on a large sheet of illustration board, which their guests would then sign as they arrived at the reception.
This is the final:

The bride had emailed me photos of herself, her fiance, and various other things she wanted. Her wedding colors were tangerine and garnet.

Here are the two sketches I emailed for her approval before finishing the piece in Photoshop. You can see how it evolved...we made a few small changes.


This process was very enjoyable for me, especially since on the day of the wedding, I was floating somewhere in the Caribbean, knowing that people were signing my contribution to their happy day!
Thanks Gina and Balbir!

Back on dry land...

I just returned from a wonderful, relaxing Caribbean cruise with my boyfriend John, where I didn't draw a thing the whole time!!! Here are some photos from our trip:

On the top deck...

On the island of Grenada....( we were on the big ship!)

Formal Night...

On the island of Bonaire...

And finally, 20 feet under the island of Aruba!!
This was daring for me, but once the first beautifully-colored fish floated past my face, I forgot to be scared.
Back to the drawing board soon!

Live from our cruise.....

Armature for Dec.Face-off contest

One of the deadlines for my Hillary sculpture is for an armature. Sculpey needs a skeleton to adhere to, as when it bakes it actually gets softer before hardening to its final consistency. A plain old metal household hanger suited my purpose. I also found a dollhouse chair and box which will become the Oval Office desk when I get done with it...
One of the judges mentioned that the angle of the final photo of my sculpture will be very important, since I want to emphasize her 'cankles' as well as a maniacal grin.

It will have to be titled "HIllary's Revenge" or "Why Hillary Aspires to the Oval Office" since who knows if she will actually make it there?

Grand Opening

Another chilly November day, another outdoor gig! This bank grand opening was quite comfortable, though, as I drew in a heated tent (along with a face painter, children's activities, popcorn and other goodies-- and a small band that included a steel drum!).
Matt and Stephanie, of PartyDelaware.com, ran the festivities, and here they are:

Matt kindly photgraphed me with some of my subjects: (thank you!)


Yes, this young dad requested that his tongue be drawn hanging out to show off his piercing...

Pencil study....

...of a character from an old Warner Brothers "Pepe Le Pew" cartoon. The WB cartoons were far and away my favorites as a child, and still are.
Actually, at the moment, I am working on some gift commissions that can't be posted due to their client's "surprise" factor, so little doodles like this will have to do for now. The Hillary sculpture project is also temporarily on the back burner.

Roughs for Dec. Face-off

These are my first, very rough sketches for the December NCN Face-off competition (caricature sculpture of political figure). It's a good thing these contests are bi-monthly, because this one will be time-consuming. I'm also totally out of my element, because caricature sculpture is something I've always wanted to attempt. So even with gigs, commissions and the impending holiday season, Hillary's gonna get sculpted!

These will be refined a bit more before I go to the next step...

A tinkered-with sketch...

...of my friend Hans (his blog is in my list!). In honor of his joining the NCN, here is my previous pencil sketch of him. I scanned it into Photoshop and added some background color and highlights to it.

Block party...

Well, you wouldn't think November would be a month for block parties, but there I was today, sitting in a suburban cul-de-sac, caricaturing away in the nippy air. Thank goodness for Under Armour, a brand of thermal clothing that really keeps you warm!