Three ladies-gift caricature commission...

Here are three lovely ladies who are celebrating the wedding of the one in the middle (in the drawing). I drew them all on paper separately, then scanned them together and did a few touches in Photoshop ( which I am still learning how to use). I am emailing the finished piece to the client, who lives in Oklahoma, this morning; isn't the internet just grand??

Back to the ballpark...

The moisture in the air let loose during Sunday's pregame with a vicious thunderstorm right over the stadium. Startled people were actually screaming at some of the thunderclaps! By game time, it was hot and sunny once again. Here are two young men about to go watch baseball after getting a caricature...

Last Day at the Fair...

Here are some faces from a steamy, soupy Saturday...





So that's it til next year for my little 10' by 10' patch of caricature real estate...

Before the deluge...

...I was able to get a few caricatures done, before giving up and clearing out!
It seems to be a tradition that ONE night at this fair gets rained out. I don't recall it happening on a Friday before, but that's the evening Mother Nature picked this year.
Here's a little sweetheart I drew just as the winds were picking up; her dad was nice enough to hold onto my tent AND shoot a few photos. Thanks to Alison's parents for braving the storm and sending me these pictures!


You can see Sam and her lone customer of the night in this one:

This father and daughter must have REALLY wanted a caricature, they sat while buckets of rain were coming down. He even left his umbrella for me since it was blocking water from my easel. ( Don't worry, he'll be back for it on Saturday, last day of Kimberton Fair 2007...)

A crazy caricature Thursday...

My day was spent (along with Sam) at TWO locations teeming with thousands of people...an afternoon Phillies game and then my fair in the evening.
Here's one photo I took at the game--a lanky young Yankee fan dragged to see the Phillies play the Nationals...

Much later, this carnival-going couple came and sat for me...

Here is a view of Sam and my son hanging out during a lull...

And finally, here's a view up the midway a bit. I have been situated next to a family-run cheeesteak/sausage sandwich place for the better part of the last ten years. They're one of the reasons why I enjoy doing this fair-- plus I've gotten to see their kids grow up-- one week out of every year (and vice-versa...)

To see Sam's work so far, go to her blog ( it's in my list of links--Sam Gorrie's Blog)

Another summer evening gone by, at a fair

My camera's memory card didn't make it back inside my camera from the previous night, but luckily my son had his camera with him....so here are two of his small shots.


Sam and I got lots of drawing in and even stole a few minutes to go on a ride (the Spin-Out!) which was a first for me in 10 years of doing this fair. When we returned to the booth, a couple who'd been waiting asked if I could still draw after being tossed around in the air upside down-- I said we'd find out!!

A gift for a caricaturist...

Sometimes a customer comes along that is so beyond ordinary for the caricaturist to draw that it's like getting a unexpected gift. Tonight at my fair, I had several of these:


The man turned out to be a tattoo artist.(Duh!) He totally understood my glee in drawing him, and it turns out that there are run-of-the-mill designs in the tattoo industry also. After he was drawn, his wife and her pierced-and-tatooed friend sat for me. I chided his wife for being boring, since she wasn't covered in either piercings or tattoos! They were still laughing when I took the photo, while I was praying my camera battery would hold out just a few more seconds...

Sam drew alongside of me again; it was a surprisingly busy night for so early in the week, so I only got this from-the-interior photo of the booth. You can see my daughter Madeline ( tie-dyed shirt) watching Sam and eavesdropping on the crowd's comments for us!

A fun-filled week at the local Fair!!

Tonight was the first evening of a local country fair that I have worked for the last ten years. There are alot of memories bound up in my little ten foot square spot... because this was one of my very first venues as a caricature artist. When I started out, my young children accompanied me to the fairs and festivals that I mostly did then. As they got older and more independent, it wasn't so fun for them to go spend all day watching me work, even if it WAS at a carnival, so they found other things to do. Now, the tides of time have come full circle (or whatever that lame cliche is!!) and I am now lucky enough to be accompanied by my son George, and his caricature-artist-extraordinaire of a girlfriend, Sam.

I'm sure I will have better photos tomorrow, as much of tonight was spent getting the booth situated ( meaning what we did and didn't forget to bring!!) but this one above shows Sam drawing a couple, with George observing.
Here's one of my first drawings:

This is Sam in action, and her cute and hilarious results:


These two sisters were so appreciative they even came back with a tip! ( Not something that happens often at fairs!)

2nd place finish in NCN Face-off Competition

Another Face-off has ended and I am honored to place second in a field of very high-quality entries. This competition was very international in flavor, with the other two winners coming from England and Iran, and the judges from California, the Netherlands and Japan. My prize will be a custom drawing from renowned caricaturist, author and teacher, Jan Opdebeeck, of the Netherlands.

Company picnic

Today I was part of a lovely company picnic held in the boss's backyard...



This couple were sure I had drawn their children at a party last Christmas, but couldn't remember where. When I told them my name, the wife said, "Yes, it was definitely you, you signed their drawings..." It turned out that her father had taken them to HIS company's party last December! So, today was their turn for a caricature.

Ebony pencil sketch...

I'm quite enamored of the Ebony pencil, made by Sanford, for sketching, as it can make very intense darks. Here is my copy of a lovely painting by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). Somehow, copying a master's work helps you to figure out how they achieved certain effects, which helps in your own drawing. She's always been one of my favorite artists, not only because of her techniques, which I admire, but because she mostly painted real-life (not idealized) women and children.

June/July Face-off Competition winding down...

My previous Face-off post showed some progress on my new business card self-caricature. The final is due this Friday and one of the judges, Court Jones, found some issues with the anatomy of the arm and hand. And Jan found that the decorative font I had was too distracting. So today, that was what I worked on...

10K L

There was a bit of gloom last night over the fact that the Phillies have now lost 10,000 games in their 125-year history, but it's still a milestone! Quite a few people asked to have that fact recognized in their caricature, so usually I wrote "10k???". As the night wore on, it became no question that it was a loss...

This lady was drawn on the insistence of her son. She's not a typical caricature customer, but she was a good sport and her family seemed pleased with the result...

A family of Phillies fans...

Finally, here's a ballpark black and white caricature. They differ from gig BWs--for those I use black shading for the dark values. If I were to do that here, it would be hard to change it to a color caricature if the customer changes his or her mind ( which happens frequently.) Sometimes people opt for BW because they have previous non-color caricatures, or because they don't want to spend the money for color. I always feel like it is unfinished when I am asked to do a BW, but then again, I am a detail and color maniac. They do constitute only a small percentage out of all the retail drawings I do...

Baseball Season--Part II

The Phillies begin the second half of the 2007 season closing in on their 10,000th loss as a ballclub, a feat apparently unmatched in all of sports. To me, this just speaks of their longevity as a team, ( more than 100 years) but what do I know? I've only been a baseball fan for the length of time I have been drawing at games--a mere 3 1/2 years. When I started, I didn't even know what an RBI was!

Last night, among my first customers were a couple from St Louis on their honeymoon, who came to Philly to see the Phillies play...the Saint Louis Cardinals.
I had a little fun drawing her wedding tiara...

Here's a young man with some vivid coloring...unfortunately the camera flash whited-out the drawing a bit...

Finally, a young couple who were a joy to draw, and were happy to add my drawing to their collection of caricatures...


By the way, the Phightin' Phils staved off that 10,000th loss with a final score of 13-3 (on Friday the 13th, no less!)

Pastel Portrait

Here's a fine art commission I just finished, in pastels:

The client had a good photo to work from, with that typical cute-baby expression-- it was a pleasure working on this.

June/July NCN Face-off competition

After a restful vacation, I am back to drawing! This is the latest stage of the self-caricature competition...it's being rendered in Photoshop.


There's still more to do on it, but tomorrow's deadline called for a fully-realized sketch. This will be my new business card, and I can certainly use this updated version of me for other purposes. (Blogging, perhaps?)

Happy 4th of July!

I didn't draw a single caricature today! :-)

Seaside Heights, New Jersey with JB...

Country Club 4th of July

For the third year, a local country club has included my caricatures as part of their big 4th of July (eve) celebrations. There was everything from rides and inflatables to an outdoor dance floor and of course, fireworks!
Here are two kids I drew early on before I got swamped...

More caricatures...

This couple wanted a caricature not as a souvenir of the game, but as a engagement announcement!

And a father and son:

Siblings with a brother who actually seemed to like his little sister:
(meaning he actually did have his arm around her as I drew them!)

My easel called it quits

It was an extremely busy weekend for me, and my easel decided it had had enough constant use by breaking right out from under me. The right front leg's screw stripped so I could not tighten it flush to the body. The only solution was to have my foot pushing on the bottom of the leg to keep it in place. That's the reason for my unladylike posture in this photo! Anyhow, I have some time to get it fixed.
Ah, the hazards of the caricature life...

Close-up view of a live caricature

I drew this, and then the mother discovered she needed to pay a visit to an ATM, so I had a minute to take a picture close up.
Here it is with its owners...

Mets Fans!

The Phillies fans and Mets fans have a long-standing, somewhat heated rivalry, but the ones I drew this weekend were happy to be in our park. Especially as their team took three out of four...:-(

Here's a father and sons...

Two young brothers....

...and horrors! A Mets fan married to a Phillies fan!