Caricatures at a grand opening...

...of a new long-term-care medical facility. On a rare Monday evening gig, I was asked to draw the corporate staff, patients (of which there were only a handful) and medical staff--during a cocktail party/open house...I had a blast-as usual, both drawing and chatting!

Baby Shower!

I'm going to be a grandmother-- my daughter Charlotte is expecting a baby!
Of course, for her shower on Sunday afternoon, she had to have a caricature sign-in...which was a re-working of the graduation caricature I had done of her some time ago.

She was TOTALLY surprised, as the shower was thrown by her practically life-long friend Anna, on her OWN birthday, so Charlotte would be fooled into thinking it was Anna's birthday celebration she'd be attending....

She received many hand-made gifts. Creativity abounds!

Back in the pre-caricature mid-nineties, when I was a pastel portrait artist, Anna's mom Tammi (she's the blonde on the left in the right-hand doorway; Anna is the blonde seated in front of her) commissioned me to draw her five children. I was very happy to see it hanging along their beautiful staircase!

Pretty soon, I might have to get out those pastels to do a proper baby portrait of my grandson!

Wedding Reception

On Saturday, after drawing at the Christmas Bazaar, I made a three-hour trek down to near the Delaware beaches to draw at an evening wedding reception. The majority of my gigs are within a 50-75 mile radius to where I live, but I do make exceptions depending on the amount of time I am booked for. The wedding couple hired me for four hours of festivities, so I decided to get a hotel room for afterwards, to avoid getting home at 3:30 am (after drawing for a combined ten hours that day!).
I started out in the ballroom and then moved into a side room where I was more able to converse with the guests. I had a wonderful time drawing some VERY interesting faces! ( I always do, ;-)
Thank you, Christina and Bethany!





The following morning I treated myself to breakfast and a sunrise on the beach before heading home. All in a caricaturist's day's work!

Christmas Bazaar

For the last five or so years I have drawn at a local church's huge Christmas bazaar. This year was no exception, many people come every year to have their kids drawn...

One word: CHEEKS!

I told this little girl that her name would be a good one for an artist!
And when I remarked that I certainly couldn't use a marker to draw her delicate eyebrows, her mom told me that when she was very small, she had asked, "Where's my eyes-brows?" :-)

Two little kids with lots of attitude!
Below: the view from the easel. Merry Christmas ( a wee bit early!)

13th birthday party

On Sunday afternoon, I drew for a surprised thirteen year old and her friends...
Originally, her party was to be at 2 pm, however, her soccer team advanced to the finals and the game time was, of course, 2 pm! So her mom just had me come later, and brought her daughter home right from the game. Her friends (and I!) were waiting for her!
Since it was a small group I was able to do full-color, full body caricatures, and did such varied themes as acting, bowling, horse-riding, chinchilla-owning, and cat-owning! The mom thoughtfully provided frames for each guest, too. I heard from her the next day, and appreciate the feedback:
Thank you Emily for all your hard work yesterday! The girls LOVED their caricatures. This party seemed to have a life of its own after the multiple changes. I really appreciated your patience and will recommend you highly to anyone I can!

Irish Festival!

Even though I'm merely 25% Irish, (John is 95%!!!) that was plenty enough to thoroughly enjoy participating in a huuuuuge Irish festival held last weekend in Maryland. I brought both my airbrush and my artstix, and drew all sorts of green finery...and yes, the Guinness was flowing freely for lots of folks! (not me, though--I like Bailey's...and especially nutty Irishmen ;-) These two used actual pitchers for drinking vessels. LOL These adorable munchkins were drawn from photos, their parents asked me to draw them at a bar ;-D Above--some of my airbrush work. The lovely lady harpist had a photo of her harp on her phone, and I am happy with the atmospheric effect I was able to get for the background with my airbrush. The gentleman wanted to be "buff" to attract the ladies! :-) Irish dancing! Irish sports jerseys! More Irish dancing! Below--There's a caricature for EVERY age! Below--this little one's parents said she was an "Irish girl, made in China"... John's cousin Jay, (a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and mega-Irishman) lost a bet with a friend and had to wear a green Penguins jersey all day, but his true colors were underneath! Here are some more sights---and sounds---from an exhausting yet exhilarating day!

Digital commission--soccer team!

Here's a whole bunch of guys...a high school soccer team, plus coaches and photographers!

The cool thing about such a commission is that I can also easily provide a single caricature of each boy, since I paint each one on its own layer in Photoshop. That way, everyone gets their own, plus the group caricature. This was challenging, but ultimately very fun for me to see the finished product!

ISCA convention, part 4: Awards banquet

Another convention over, we caricaturists gathered to applaud the winners and socialize one last time with our colleagues...

I'm so glad my S.O. was there to enjoy it with me!
He took this nice picture of me with my wall:


Before the meal there was an art auction, to benefit ISCA.


In no particular order, here are some highlights of the evening:

Marlo's amazing work garnered her the Silver Nosey!

Here's one of her top-ten entries, of Beau Hufford, in the Caricature of the Year competiton, in which she placed an incredible THREE times (three different caricatures).

Me by Jacalyn Holman...

Three SUPER-funny caricaturists: Pat Harrington, Jert, and Mikey Shields.

Me by Miguel Aguilar, one of my Texan friends!

Mr. Dan Springer of Brooklyn, by me!

John by the wonderful Lar Desouza!

Me by my friend Rrrrrrrrick. I wish I WAS that cute!!!;-)

The annual "hot librarian" photo, in which a gaggle of glasses-wearing older women ensnare a younger male artist...this time it's Court Jones with Debbo and I. LOL
Below Court is with his friend and fellow Master Caricaturist (means they've won a Golden Nosey)Kage Nakanishi and his crew of artists from Japan, including the Bronze Nosey winner, Yuta Honma.



EVERYONE loves Jeff Redford!

Beast (Bob East) with my airbrush drawing of him, for the second year running. I can't even remember how he looked last year with short hair!

John with caricature by new friend Lorin Bernsen.

The happy Golden Nosey winner for 2009, Glenn Ferguson. No more Susan Lucci jokes!

With Johanna and Gwenda. Johanna won a 3d award for her figurine of Gwenda!

He's an artist! He's an agent! He's a Greek god! Actually it's just Mike Hasson...
My airbrushed caricature of Alisa Grodsky of NY...she really liked it!

Anne, Jert and Marlo....unmatched in fashion and outlandishness.

The beautiful Opdebeeck family...Jan, Emi, and Sakura. I got to hold that precious little angel!

Pat drew a teeny-weeny version of us this year, because I kept ragging him about having to frame the 24 x 36 poster he drew of us a few years back!!

The McCalls by me, and us by Paul McCall!

Finally, dear Sam Gorrie with me, and with her crocheted-caricature ducky, by Emi Sato, who won the top award for Oustanding 3D!

Next year, our convention will be held in fabulous Las Vegas. I'm happy about that because I love that city, and my good friend Celestia lives there so I can get in a visit, too!