Recipients pose with gift caricature

Here's the airbrush-caricature-catty-family from my earlier post posing with their gift. They even have their expressions matching the caricature (or is it the other way around??)

Last gig of 2008- a birthday party...

...for an adorable one-year-old boy and his entire extended family. I was only one part of the entertainment, which included a magician, a balloon twister, airbrushed hats and t-shirts, and a cotton candy machine--but we were spread throughout the house. I only saw the results of my colleague's efforts floating by. Unusually, the client opted for color caricatures, which was fun for me, and was so popular with the guests that my time was doubled. Afterwards. she sent me home with a great big bag of treats which included two beers (!). That's a first!
There aren't alot of photos as I was drawing at a furious pace to get everyone done--some of the guests wanted to be drawn multiple times with different relatives, too.

Family holiday party

My subjects yesterday ranged in age from a four-week-old infant to teenagers to baby-boomers to a ninety-three-year-old matriarch at a holiday party held in the home of a large, loving family!
My client, (whose family loves her party-giving style, the kids decorated gingerbread houses too) displayed the caricatures on her banister for all to see. This is the second party I've done for her; I drew at her son's birthday party earlier this year. Thank you Linda!!!

Wedding shower!

Yesterday, my event was a beautiful young lady's wedding shower. Her friends and family enjoyed playing "Who knows the bride best"---and then the bride was quizzed on how well she knew her groom! All the while, I was drawing people by the Christmas tree.


As the menfolk filtered in later, I ended up drawing them too (and the family dog!) but I don't have photos. They had me draw the dog, an adorable Bichon-Shih Tzu, in a basball cap and t-shirt! :-)

My client graciously sent this feedback this morning:
We absolutely LOVED Emily - her artistic abilities are amazing! She did caricatures for everyone at the shower; including husbands, boyfriends and pets! Everybody loved their caricature and Emily herself fit right into our bridal shower atmosphere. I would have absolutely no hesitations in hiring her again and I highly recommend her to anyone considering this type of entertainment. Thank you so much, Emily - all the best to you in the new year!

Thank YOU for having me at Megan's special day!

Update 12-27-08: The client shared her photos with me via Facebook. Here's one of their cute little doggie sitting for his caricature!

Merry Christmas and a happy 2009!

from Emily and JB....

Trip down Memory Lane...circa 1995

While doing some last minute Christmas-dinner shopping with my daughter yesterday at a local farmer's market, we ran across some long-ago examples of my pre-caricature art life--a mural and some signs I did for a hamburger stand. It's been so long since I've seen these that I was almost startled when we walked past them! Madeline wasn't much more than a toddler at the time.
You can tell I had a lot more interest in doing the faces of the Amish family than in the background of the mural! Back then, I did not really know much about painting, especially broad expanses like skies or using perspective for a landscape. Today, I would do it much differently, but that's why seeing my old work is helpful--it reminds me where I started, and to be grateful that I've progressed.

Last-minute Xmas gift commission

A cat-crazy English family, done in markers and airbrush.
"A very happy Chrimble and a gear New Year"

Holiday party... and tales of caricature commuting.

I have a doozy of a caricature-commuting story about my event this evening. It just may have been the worst time spent driving to a gig in all my years of doing this....

It started with me walking out my door two hours before my scheduled start time, for an evening corporate holiday party held in a lovely restaurant about an hour away from me. Shockingly, my trusty little car wouldn't start, and it didn't seem to be a battery problem. I called my mechanic to let him know I'd need him tomorrow, then I called my daughter to see if I could borrow her car. She wasn't anywhere nearby, so.....

That left Plan B. My fiance is away at the moment, but his little Ford truck was sitting in my driveway. I'd never driven it, because I loooove my Honda. However, his truck and its STANDARD TRANSMISSION were the only wheels available. Now, I have not driven a stick-shift for twenty-five years, (since back before motherhood-- when I had a 1978 Camaro) and felt totally apprehensive about getting back in the saddle right then, but I had no choice. I got in, started it up and headed out...and noticed it was very low on gas. And it was getting dark (could not see where stuff was on the dashboard, so could not use my GPS). And I hadn't had dinner, and now there was no time to do anything about that. Then I ran into a slow-moving traffic jam. Uggggggggggggggggggggh!

Even with all that, I arrived only fifteen minutes after I was supposed to be there, and the client told me I could start whenever I was ready, bless her. Once I started drawing, I forgot all about it and enjoyed the faces and the wonderful harp music flowing from the fingers of the elegant harpist seated next to me! What a fun bunch of people.


Here are some of the drawings. The client asked me to stay longer since it was going over so well. Thank you! The overtime will certainly help with getting my car fixed! :-)
And despite its eccentricities, I am glad my fiance's truck was available, and that I was able (for the most part, anyway!) to still drive a stick.
These two little video clips were taken as dinner was served, when I had a short break:


Madeline, the harpist, is available for events and her email is Madharps@verizon.net

Update 12-19-08: My merchanic has already fixed my car, the culprit was a short in the ignition wires. Hooray!

Update 12-22-08: I just received a very nice note from my client. It's so gratifying to know that my work makes people happy, and all the small irritations in life are worth it! :-)
Hi Emily,
You were a huge hit – people talked about it all day Friday and brought their caricatures into work!
Thanks again and we’ll definitely keep you in mind for future events – we’re moving our employee appreciation day to May this year so I’ll be in touch!

A digital birthday caricature becomes a POSTER! :-)

...for a good friend's surprise 40th birthday party!
Here is the actual image that I had enlarged into the 18 x 24 mounted and laminated poster: ( click to enlarge all these photos)

His wife provided me with some amazing photos of their pets, so they were incorporated almost unchanged. I'd actually taken my own photos of their cars some time ago, knowing they'd end up in a caricature someday!
Fran, of course, totally knew what present I'd show up with, but he still liked it!

In addition to the poster, there was also a smaller framed version with a sign-in mat for guests to leave their thoughts. His mom wrote, "I'll always remember the labor pains!!! His sister ( below) continued the bodily functions theme by mentioning flatulance in hers...


There was some age appropriate decor:

People enjoyed being photographed with Caricature Fran and the Blues Brothers:

Being a MacGuyver kind of guy, Fran got alot of those kind of gifts...here he is with his antique oil cans. He also received a giant Swiss army knife with actual tools, a DVD set of--you guessed it, MacGuyver, and lots of wine.

Note the name change someone jokingly added to the poster.

He's opening his Viagra here,to the delight of his wife and dog! Kudos to her for pulling off a wonderful party.

I couldn't resist flirting with Jake Blues, since my own fiance is out of town...

Happy birthday, Fran!

Birthday party #2 of the day

My final event of the day was a one-year-old's birthday, whose name was also Emily!


After drawing all the little ones, I drew some fun-loving teenagers.


When I got home last night, I wondered how many people went home with drawings I'd done of them---for about 30 seconds before I fell asleep! :-)

Birthday party # 1 of the day

After my holiday gig on Saturday, I headed to my first of two birthday parties. This one was for a two-year-old little girl, whose family was overflowing with little boys. Here are a few!



The client had seen me at an event in 2003 and I had drawn her kids then; she showed me where they were framed in her family room.

I was relieved to see they all had good likenesses, even though my style was still developing back then.

Children's Holiday Party

Another of the gigs that I do every year, along with some colleagues, (this year it was Angie Jordan, Marlo Meekins, and Joe White) is a huge Christmas party for children of a local labor union.



This was one of my earlier gigs, when I first started gathering steam as a caricature artist, and I used to do this party all by myself. Over the years, the client asked me to bring on more artists, til now we are up to four every year. He told us yesterday that we are the highlight of the entire party, and we'd always be a part of it! :-)



Marlo thought this little girl looked like one of my typical drawings in real life!

Holiday party...

Every year, one of my favorite gigs is a holiday party for a group of special-needs people and their helpers...there's always lots of Christmas and Motown music, and everyone has a big smile...





I found a little nutcracker stamp to use this year next to my contact info on all my paper for holiday parties....