Sunday, February 28, 2010

Community fundraiser event

On Sunday afternoon, I was part of an event that warmed my heart. A community got together and organized an afternoon of fun, benefitting special needs kids. They had teams competing against each other with games like hulu-hooping and over-under-cup races, etc, and each team had an honorary captain...one of the kids. That's whom I was there to draw...


Here's the view from the easel:

And a little more disco music!

Mardi Gras-themed fundraiser evening...

Mardi Gras events are always fun--this was an auction-and-cocktails/hors' d'ouevres fundraiser held in a banquet hall for a private school. They gave me a wonderful location right up front to do my thing!

Lots of laughs at this one, I drew mostly couples...and I had a lovely assistant who took donations for the school and was very busy, so much so that they extended my time there by a half hour. :-)






Yes, they played disco music as the night progressed, just as the night before. I should keep track of how many gigs I get to hear the music of my early teens!
Some events even take the decorating into the rest rooms, gotta love that!

Drawing at a Slumber Party...

On Friday night, I was the entertainment/party-favor-maker as I drew at an 11-year-old's slumber party. The festivities were held in the family's toasty-warm basement rec-room. It was great that the snowstorms here in the Northeast finally abated enough to let some gigs happen!
The small number of kids allowed for full-color-with body caricatures, then I drew a group one, then drew the rest of the birthday girl's family (not pictured).

Had to crack up as the girls did karaoke while I was drawing, and knew ALL the words to "That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it"...The mom said to me, "It's even funnier because they don't realize how long that's been around!"

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sneak peek...

...at the next "Celestia and Emily: Girl Caricaturists in Texas" comic, which will be published in the upcoming issue of Exaggerated Features (the quarterly magazine for members of International Society of Caricature Artists).

Once again, Celestia and I collaborated digitally, from opposite ends of the country, to come up with a look at this year's State Fair shenanigans. When it's published (quite a ways off, though) I'll post it in its entirety here. Til then, you can ponder this snippet of one of the Fair's delicacies...

Friday, February 19, 2010

My page in the ISCA Artist directory

Just updated my long-stagnant page on the ISCA site. It's so hard to choose which samples best represent what I do, when there can only be a handful...
The whole ISCA website was revamped by member Dave Schwan late last fall, and I must say, it looks very professional and sleek now! The amazing caricatures displayed on its banner are by some of the best artists in our field in the world: from l-r, Jan Op de beeck, Sam Gorrie, Paul Moyse, Vin Altamore, Lar De Souza, Joe Bluhm, and Court Jones.

Yes, Freddie is my Macbook Pro's wallpaper. I had an even more flamboyant photo of him up before this one...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Campus Mardi Gras party!

On Sunday evening, it was my pleasure to draw for some college students and faculty who were celebrating Mardi Gras!



The young man in the last photo could do a mean Joker smile---he said people always told him that, or that he looked like Obama!

9th birthday party!


On Saturday, I was invited to draw for a nine-year-old girl's birthday slumber party...and she and her friends outdid each other with interesting themes! The most unusual was "Could I be drawn in in a strawberry patch?" so I drew the girl AS a strawberry!
The lone boy, the big brother, did an admirable job, smiling as a bunch of squealing girls had loads of fun. Happy birthday, Olivia!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Happy Presidents' Day!

Happy birthday, Abe Lincoln!
Ebony pencil sketch, 6" by 6".

The reference photo is a less-familiar, unbearded version of Lincoln taken in 1860.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Happy birthday, Sarah Palin (bleh)


She's today's ISCA birthday celebrity. I'm not a fan...but she sure is a good caricature target!

Update: Decided to add some color.....

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Blizzard outside, artist snugly at work inside...



...and I'm sure many other artists share this situation today! Can you spot my nearly-buried waist-high purple gazing ball on my lawn? And where is my driveway?? Time for a cup of tea!
Where I live, a record-breaking snowstorm is dropping another 2 feet on top of the two feet that fell a few days ago. I'm inside working on my usual dead-of-winter tasks: marketing, sketching, paperwork, studio-organizing, what have you. Just updated my long dormant Linkedin account:

Here's hoping the power stays on, it is supposed to get very windy later. I can live without the internet, but I like to have heat! :-O

Sunday, February 7, 2010

New man in my life....

...and he's my just-arrived precious little grandson!



Not even a week old yet and here's the first rendition of him by his grandmother (that would be me ;-). Took about an hour and a half in Photoshop. Definitely NOT a caricature, that will come later!
My daughter Charlotte and her s.o. Ian are his proud parents. He even came two weeks early to share the joy!