Bat Mitzvah

I drew at a lovely young lady's Bat Mitzvah celebration yesterday afternoon; she also had a digital caricature as a sign-in board! :-)

Another big tent was filled with loving family and friends. I was seated on the patio underneath an enormous umbrella.

There's the artist, doing what she does ( and speaking in the third person!)

Here are some of the faces that came out of my pen:





And here is the girl of the hour, after the festivities, with her completely-filled in sign-in (the mat on this was 16 x 20!). The well-wishers wrote in at least four different languages!
Congratulations, Eve!

Two video clips of caricature reactions!

I've been inspired by my friend Patrick, whose caricatures cause such belly-aching laughter, to video more of my own reactions. Here are two from Saturday's Stooge birthday party. Enjoy!

Stooge-themed 50th birthday party!

On a beautiful summer Saturday evening, I drew at a new 50-year-old's Three-Stooges-themed birthday party. There's everyone waiting for his arrival. He thought he was coming for crabcakes (which worked because his birthday is actually in a few weeks). Below is the stiltwalker/magician who heralded the birthday guy's coming: (in a DeLorean, no less! Back to the future, anybody??)) I was set up to draw on the shady porch. The client had had me there a few years back for another son's party, so it was nice to be included again! Instead of my usual self-caricature on my info board, I displayed a drawing I'd done of Larry, Moe and Curly ( the only Stooges I consider authentic, although I'll watch Shemp, too.) Here's a few faces! (got to draw in color for the second time that day! :-) And birthday guy and his wife: When I'd finished drawing, I got to check out the clothesline display of some of my work...
Finally, here is a short clip of a Stoogey skit that was put on by friends, which ended with the Delorean being doused with glitter. I'm not adept with the video function on my camera yet, so fogiven the sudden ending. Hilarious though!

Pig roast!

My first event on Saturday was a small family barbecue that also served as a housewarming, a graduation party, and (their words) a 'wake for Michael Jackson'!!! :-O
The pig was actually butchered the same day poor Michael met his maker....

I was happy to be able to draw in color at this one.




These two brothers were alot of fun to draw!!!

Three caricatures for sign-ins this past weekend!

Three parties held in various places this weekend had one thing in common: a sign-in caricature by this caricature artist!
Two were digital, and one was hand-drawn. Two were for for parties I wasn't drawing for (because I'd been booked elsewhere already) and one was for a party where I was present. One was for a wedding, one was for a 40th birthday, and one was for a bat mitzvah.
I'd like more weekends like this!! :-)


This bride and groom met via Eharmony when the bride enlarged her dating radius to 60 miles. Luckily there was that major highway linking their areas!

This beautiful young lady celebrated her bat mitsvah with many family and friends, and I drew many of them, as well, on Sunday afternoon.

This new fortysomething and his dog were commissioned by his wife, and I delivered the frame and hand-drawn(Prismacolor pencil) caricature right before the party!

I'm hoping to see some wedding and 40th birthday photos from those clients... Thanks, all!

RIP Jacko...

He was undoubtedly a incandescent talent, but also a tragic lost soul. Now that he's gone, time will lessen the memories of his weirdness and leave only the music...
This drawing of him was done back in 2004, when I loved using colored pencils:

Project Grad party!

Last night, I was part of a wee-hours Project Grad party that I do every year, along with seven other artists. A Project Grad means hundreds of high school seniors have their graduation, and then are bussed to a big college campus to celebrate in style all night long! I was seated between hilarious exaggerators Patrick Harrington and John Sprague, and some of their crazy scritchings must have rubbed off on me; I overheard one girl say my drawings were " mean AND cute" !!! Below is a view of the crowded room of caricature fans, and a shot of the table where drawings were left for pick-up later: I hope Patrick and John post some of the videos and photos they took, because this particular crowd is always very appreciative of more outlandish caricatures. Videoing reactions is a challenge for me to pull off (think walking and chewing gum) but here is one that made me giddy, too!

1st birthday party

Yesterday afternoon, I drew at the first birthday party of a cute little girl who was the sister of three older very-boy brothers. It was held at a Pizzeria Uno restaurant, and when I arrived, I was given the choice of inside the party room or outside on the adjoining deck. I chose inside, since I was sure it would rain if I dared to sit outside! (It never did rain, either...)
So I set up and commenced color drawings of the kids!



Funnily enough, I got to see some of the Phillies-Orioles game (the two MLB teams for whom I have caricatured at games) on the big screen right above my sitters!

I wish I had gotten a photo of the scrumptiously beautiful birthday cake, as it was made by one of the moms in attendance. Check out her website: Karen's Cakes
Mmmmm!

Company picnic...where I was rained on AGAIN!

Rain, rain, go away...this has been the rainiest season I can remember in awhile! Yesterday, I drew at an outdoor company picnic under a pavillion, but was seated on the outer perimeter so my subjects could sit at the picnic table. Two hours into the gig, a quick sprinkle turned into a torrential downpour and everyone scrambled to get under the roof! The last hour was a moist, soggy affair, but it didn't dampen anyone's spirits. Here are some photos taken before the drenching, including a blow-up surfing contraption I'd never seen before:

Another graduate digital caricature...

This young man's caricature was commissioned by his grandmother, who referred to him as her "gorgeous grandson"-- so that's what I named the file as I was working on it.
It's to be used as a sign-in and party favors at his party somewhere in New York, so I hope to see photos from the client. :-)

Graduate digital caricature...

My niece is a fan of anime and old classic cartoons, so I tried melding that type of flatter style wih my more usual painterly look for her digital caricature gift on graduating!

O's vs Mets. And it rained AGAIN!

Everytime I draw at Camden Yards, it seems, it rains! Wednesday night was no exception. We started out under the stands, then it cleared out a bit, so we moved to the regular spot on Eutaw Street-- then it sprinkled off and on for the rest of the evening. Oh well, the Mets fans (who are very infrequent visitors to this ballpark, being their team is in the NL, not the AL) were quite fun to draw (and to listen to!)

She said she liked how I drew her boobs.


This guy's name was Floyd...that's my CAT's name! As a fan of unusual names, I know I haven't drawn anyone called that before.

Digital graduation caricature..for my daughter

Among the oodles of graduation caricatures I have done so far this year, the nearest to my heart was the digital one I did for my own daughter. She graduated with honors last week and here is her gift from her mom:

It is a match in style and size to the one I did of her friend, who is also her roommate this fall at college. I plan on getting a double mat for the two caricatures and then painting the college logo on it for their dorm room.

Congratulations, Madeline!

Graduation party!

Today, this new graduate and her sister enjoyed mugging for the caricature artist!

Yes, I also drew her smiling in her cap and gown. But it's not often pretty girls want a caricature like that!
I also drew lots of her family and friends:


June still has more graduations in store for me, it's amazing how spread out they are during the entire month. :-)

Another 8th grade graduation

On Wednesday evening, I had the fun of drawing a very small class of eighth graders---only twelve of them---in two hours, at a nice restaurant. Frames were provided after I drew each one, and everyone enjoyed dinner and dancing.

Eighth grade graduation/dance

Last night, I drew at an eighth grade graduation celebration. As there were only 25 students, time allowed for color, full-body caricatures. Here's representative photos of one girl and one boy (boys were definitely outnumbered in this school!)
Congratulations!!

Digital "Leaving the Company" Caricature

This gentlemen has some devoted friends at his workplace! They ordered this going-away caricature for him, which will be given to him today at a luncheon being held in his honor. I combined his interests of hunting and fishing, and one of his co-workers came up with the sentiment, which ties the whole thing together. I hope they get a photo of the honoree with it for me!

Update 6-10-09: The client did just that--here's the photo:
"Here is Bob with his caricature. Everyone liked it and it was the ideal send-off gift! Thanks!"