Inspired by... Pee Wee!

Yes, artistic inspiration can come from anywhere, and I count Paul Reubens as one of mine!
This man is a creative genius, and has harnessed other amazing talents in design and music (Gary Panter, Tim Burton to name just two), to support his vision of Pee Wee and Puppetland. John and I were so thrilled to be able to go to "The Pee Wee Herman Show" in Los Angeles this week, starring my hero and many of his friends --Jambi, Ms. Yvonne, Chairry, Randy, etc, etc, etc. I even brought my PWH doll that I bought in 1988 for my son's third birthday....(you'll get him back someday, George!)
Of course, seeing him LIVE was a big kick. I gave my PW caricature to a security guard who said he'd try to get it to one of Paul's security detail to give to the man himself. ( Course, I don't have high hopes it will happen, but it was worth a try).
As for the show itself, it was a mix of the old Saturday morning Playhouse show and the original stage show from the early eighties, with some current observations thrown in. I'd go again!!! :-) ( meaning I hope he tours!)


They were pretty diligent about not allowing photos or video-taking, so I only got two photos during the actual show, and this snippet of the overture --ANOTHER big thrill for me!!



Update 2-6-10: I just found this link to a video of a special after-the-performance happening the night we went to the Pee-Wee Herman show!!!

Caricatures at Oriole Fanfest

It won't be baseball season for another two and a half months, but Baltimore feted its team today with its annual Fanfest...autograph signings by the players, meet and greets by the team's behind-the-scenes people, auctions, kids' games, face painting, photo ops with large birds, and...wait for it.....you guessed it, caricatures!!!
In no particular order, some fun faces from today:

This couple were so funny, she was bubbly and really wanted a caricature; he didn't. However, I got him to smile for me once--which was all I needed. Look at his face here, after he'd seen it!




The lady in this couple told me she was absolutely besotted with the Oriole Bird ( team mascot), and could he be in their caricature? I said, sure! Then I drew her and the bird, after which she got up to go get a drink. When she came back ( I'd plotted with her hubby and got him to make that face in her absence) and saw it, she roared with laughter...

Above: Dan Ginter and Jerry Breen work the massive crowds... ;-)

It only took five years of drawing at the occasional O's game or event to get a photo with the Oriole Bird!!

Happy birthday, Janis Joplin!

Another for the ISCA forum.
Half Micron pen, half digital.

Leno vs. Conan

I'm on Team Conan. Can you tell?

Digital 70's Freddie Mercury...

I am still learning the ways of Mac and Photoshop, and the combination is a wonderful one. This piece wasn't done for any particular reason except that I wanted to...Thanks to Nick Cross for helping me get my Wacom Intuos working perfectly with my Mac (the driver that came with my tablet was out of date and prevented it from opening the application if I shut down the computer).

Happy (belated) birthday, Elvis!

Digital. I am lovin' my Mac (as opposed to MacLovin')

Cover for homemade DVD...

Did this digital today to slap in with a long-overdue DVD of my photos from the Texas State Fair, to send to my friend and colleague Paul. The lavender background is sort of an in-joke. Click here and here to see why... :-)

First gig of 2010...

..was a little girl's slumber party--for her and her seventeen closest friends!

I managed to draw them singly in my usual manner...plus the birthday girl's little brother and his friend...then create a giant 18 x 24 group caricature...all in two hours!
Here's a closer look at the big one:

It was hard to remember to write '2010' on them. Hopefully the '2009' habit is now worn off!

Happy birthday, Rowan Atkinson

Well, Mr Bean's birthday was actually a few days ago. I drew him anyway, for the aforementioned ISCA forum's celebrity birthday thread. I want to TRY to keep up with Jan this year!

Prismacolor pencil on Canson paper.

Happy birthday, Jimmy Page!

Ebony pencil (and a couple of Prismacolors) on a scrap of grey Canson paper, for the celebrity birthday thread on the ISCA forum.
Cccccccrunge!

Sketch of Didier!

Yesterday's post included a challenge to my readers to see if they could identify the background image in my photograph, with the winner getting a sketch from me. After quite a few wrong guesses, mostly on my Facebook fan page, fellow artist Didier Loubat of Montreal figured out it was the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album. So here he is...digitally!

How unlikely is this??

My mother still reads an actual newspaper and cut this out for me. Yes, I am a caricature artist....and a Pisces!

Who can tell me what famous image ( well, a tiny fraction thereof...) is behind the clipping? Whoever comments first-- correctly---on my blog or FB fan page-- gets a free digital sketch of themselves, by me! :-)

The only hint I'm giving is that this image is well-known enough to be printed on the blanket underneath the clipping.

New year, new resolutions...

..and I have already begun them! First thing is to revamp both my blog and especially my website, updating it to my current work.
I've found that I am really enjoying my digital commissions/illustrations and want to emphasize that more this year, so my Wacom Intuos and Macbook Pro will be glued to my hand and lap for the foreseeable future!
This photo was taken this morning with the always amusing Iphoto in my studio, with my hand-painted "Caricatures" banner in the background. The story of how that came to be a window valence is kind of crazy. Back in the nineties, when I was just starting out, a good friend gave me one of the older, very heavy EZ-UP tents to use at fairs and festivals. After a couple of years of use, I left it at one all-weekend fair overnight, at half mast and weighted down with concrete blocks. That night there was a fierce storm, which mangled not only mine but the whole row of tents there. I found the fabric top for my tent waaaaay down the parking lot and salvaged the part you see here. (After that, I bought a lightweight tent and never leave it anywhere overnight!)

Happy New Year 2010!!!

And I rang it in at a gig! :-)



I was hired to draw caricatures at a very warm, friendly, family New Year's Eve party that included relatives, friends and neighbors galore. All ages were represented and I got to stay on longer to draw many of them...:-)




Of course, first all the children were drawn, then the teens, then the adult couples. I had a great time chatting with everyone. The little kids sat on the floor around me and watched entranced... in fact, when I first arrived, as I was setting up, one of them asked me if I 'could draw good'. I told her it was my first day on the job and her mouth fell open!! Then her friends all cracked up and ribbed her (smilingly) for falling for it! :-)

After I finished drawing, I snapped these few photos of those I could round up, then the hostess graciously asked me to stay and celebrate at midnight with them!



Here's to a wonderful new upcoming year! Thanks to everyone for reading and enjoying my blog!

Update: 1-4-09. My booking agent for this party received some nice feedback:
Wanted to let you know that Emily was AMAZING! Huge hit even with the resistant teens. Thanks again!
Hostess, New Year's Eve bash

I just love converting 'resistant teens' to caricature fans! :-)