Another holiday party...with people who are friends by now!

Every year, I'm welcomed into the holiday party of a vocational training center, and their smiles just make my day. It's one of my favorite events in my whole calendar...

Trust me, these drawings look like their sitters!

Below: my bedecked easel--I put strings of lights on it this year. 

Merry Christmas! I'm going to try to catch up on my blog before 2013!

Christmas wedding caricatures

Gigmasters connected me with a lovely bride and her handsome groom this past weekend...(photo was taken on my camera by the wedding photographer, for which I say thank you!) (and to Megan and Eddie, thank you for having me and extending my time!)

The reception was warm and lively, and I had such nice interactions with so many of their friends and family who came to visit my easel for a caricature...first, the new Mr and Mrs: ( in color, of course)

Then some of their nearest and dearest:

At first, I was outside the ballroom for the cocktail reception, so I had a good view of the procession:

Here, I have to say how nicely I was treated by the staff of the venue, Spring Mill Manor. I'd arrived quite early, and hour and a half before I was to start, from my previous event that day (an outdoor grand opening). After I was set up, they took me into their office, sat me down and got me a cup of hot tea, and some tranquility after my hectic afternoon. Thanks Joan and company, I really appreciated it!

Below: the beautiful tree in their grand entrance hall:

Just breathtaking!

Hanukkah luncheon

Sunday was the last day of Hanukkah and I was invited to draw at a family luncheon. It was kind of hectic (there were lots of grandchildren) but I managed to get one photo, of one of the adult couples...

Caricaturing....OUTSIDE... in December!!

Yeah, I go the extra mile in the pursuit of live caricaturing...

...doing a five-hour event in high-forty-degree-F weather this weekend. Luckily, it was sunny, but it wasn't much help to my poor, ungloved drawing hand. The marker isn't the problem, it's the artstix that I can't use if my fingers are encumbered.
The occasion was a grand opening in a shopping center. As you can see, my easel and I were right in front of a purveyor of chai-tea-lattes. :-)

Little surprise from Gigmasters...

Got this in my email this morning:

It's to recognize all Gigmasters performers who received five or more "5-star ratings" from clients in the past year. They have been a reliable source of events for me---in fact, one of my upcoming gigs this weekend is through them.  Thanks Gigmasters!

Irish fest---video

Last month, I drew at the big Irish festival in Maryland again---and you just can't beat drawing to live music, especially if you are far enough away to hold a conversation with your subject! Here's a snippet of my day there:

Wait til you hear what the LAST song on my video happens to be...it's NOT Irish...

ISCA con 2012: Likeness competition

Every year at the annual ISCA convention ( just held in November in San Antonio, Texas) there is a evening's competition specifically for party artists. Because of the nature of live caricatures,  (entertaining personality + speed and quality of artwork) it's difficult to run, much less judge such a competition.  Two lines of chairs were set up, one for the artists and one for the sitters (who were made up of artists not entering). Thirty minutes were given to see who could come up with the best party/retail type caricatures, which were then put up on each artist's section of ballroom wall.  Voting (by all members) for this category was held immediately afterward. The winner was the delightful Ali Thome from our mutual state of PA, ( yay!) second place was Kira Layli Moore, and third was taken by Mac Garcia, who was one of my sitters. Below: my six people whom I completed...
(Mac is middle row right.) Yes, we caricaturists think this stuff is fun!

FB caricature pages

Weekly caricature competitions have sprung up on Facebook like weeds...and I haven't had time to participate in any of them for ages. There used to be only Caricaturama Showdown 3000, which I regularly entered in the past. My motives were A. practice and B. having samples for my portfolio. One colleague of mine, at the recent ISCA convention, entered the portfolio competition--- and his consisted only of pieces he'd done for Caricaturama.
So, now there is Bookface Caricature contest, Awkward Faces, Traditional Caricature Art contest, etc. etc. etc. Some pros around the world enter these with very elaborately rendered pieces, and I always wonder how they find the time...and there are also plenty of newbies trying out the artform and hoping to learn something.
Anyway, since my portfolio was nonexistent this year, it's back to doing small sketches for these competitions. I don't want to spend more than an hour on any of them. Here are a few recent ones.

Pencil sketch-Rosario Dawson

Marker sketch-Fred Astaire.

Another pencil drawing--Ella Fitzgerald. They are all going in the same sketchbook. 

Contest winners!

Way back in August, when I was drawing on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey. I ran a little contest on my FB page. Entrants had to post a photo of the caricature I'd done for them there. I pulled a name randomly in September, and then...procrastinated. Admittedly, it's been a busy year for me, but still! The winner and her husband waited patiently, and have now received their airbrush caricature just   in time for the holidays.

Here is a link to a rather good article about artistic procrastination, but it applies to other types as well.

Doodle of Paul...

My friend Rick messaged me that a FB caricature competition page, Bookface, was doing Sir Paul McCartney last week, so I threw in a quickly dashed-off marker drawing---of how he looked when I first discovered the Beatles (by watching a Hard Day's Night on TV in the late 70's...)

This was done in about an hour, using Faber Castell PITT pens (brush tips) in several shades of gray, some Microns,  a  veeeeeeerrrrry fine point Japanese brush pen, and a couple of Prismacolor markers (mauve and orange to be exact.) I'm really backed up on my blogging...lots to share when I get time.

2012 Irish Festival

The day before heading to the ISCA convention in San Antonio, I was caricaturing my little (25%) Irish fingers off at the annual Irish festival...

Wait! She's NOT Irish!!  I had a run of faces who were just Irish-for-the-day :-) This young lady is an exchange student from China, who wanted to be drawn doing an Irish jig. She showed me how to write her name in Chinese, and I added it at the top.

Wait! SHE'S not Irish, either! But---she has a typical gingery, pasty-skinned, Guiness-loving guy for a hubby! ;-)

Now for some actual Irish dancers:

This couple, for me, were so much fun to draw. First of all, they wanted an airbrushed one (the rest are all artstix.) She was wearing green eyeshadow and lots of bling. They had a crowd of family members watching, and quite a happy reaction when I showed them. 

I happened to see her later, and she was still clutching their caricature!

Here's a little sample of the vibe:

That's the kind of music to get your toes tappin'. Also, this is the ONLY gig of the year where my snack food of the day is "champ". 

Caricatures for FB

Every once in a while, I like to check my FB fan page to see if any of them are using my caricature of them as their avatar:

It's a nice feeling to see that my drawings have an online presence!

Thirty in Two

I had a weeknight gig this past week at a local university...it was an event called "Picture This" where the students were treated to an evening of caricatures, two photobooths and a green screen set-up. Since it was a low-key event, I decided to take photos of all my drawings...so my head count is accurate. Thirty BW faces in two hours. :-)

Below: 10 % of them! 

And here are the other 90%...click to enlarge.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

ISCA convention 2012

Just returned from the annual convention for the International Society of Caricature Artists, held in San Antonio, Texas, this year. My entry in the Studio piece competition received second place honors!

It's a mixed media, interactive (you can PLAY with it!) piece, of the British Royal Family, as paper dolls. Their clothing (except Harry's, his clothing was not included ;-) is magnetic. I will have a post about how I created it soon.

Right now, I am in the midst of adding photos from the con here on my Caricatures by Emily FB page, and hope to have some commentary here soon about that, too. Thanks to all my colleagues who voted for my work, it's MUCH APPRECIATED!!! :-) :-)

Christening portrait

It's not often that I attempt portraits, but this is my result, done for a christening the Other Half and I attended last weekend...

 It's airbrush, marker, and colored pencil.

Here, it's being passed around to sign, next to the little angel...

This is how it looked after everyone but Mommy and Daddy had signed:

The service was held in a historic church on Manhattan's Upper West Side...St. Michael's Episcopal:

Many of the stained glass windows were done by Tiffany:

Another treat wasn't visual, but aural:

Here is a link to the organist. What an unexpected pleasure to listen to him play this!

This is what he says on his website: 

"...the spark that fueled the fires to explore all musical styles as a musician and not just a critical listener began with John Belushi.  Yes, Mr. Belushi couldn’t have known that when he came onto the SNL stage in the mid-1970s dressed as Beethoven, sat down at the piano, and morphed the all-too familiar strains of Für Elise into a boogie-woogie that a little boy’s soul in Eastern Kentucky was reeling from the religious experience taking place inside him.  I saw the light indeed and knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life." 

I saw that skit as a kid, too. Love hearing how other artists find their passion! 

USA Election: Who's it going to be?

The mudslinging is OVER---Today's the day we find out!

These two airbrushed caricatures were done as samples while I was at the State Fair of Texas. Celestia drew Obama, and I drew Romney---as equally guilty of running mean-spirited campaigns.  We figured it'd keep our own political persuasions amibiguous. Whatever ours happen to be, many Texans who ambled by (with an opinion to voice) had only one take on our drawings: 

"Obama's digging his own grave, and Romney's helping him"!!

Not too much longer, and it will be all settled--no more campaign mail or unsolicited automated phone calls! (That's what I'M waiting for!

Video snippets from the State Fair of Texas

Here's a look at some sights and sounds, in and out of the caricature booth this year. All four of my colleagues make appearances. :-)

Happy Halloween 2012!

Happy Halloween from Frau Blucher (pencil sketch) and me (gig outfit :-).

Texan Families

Some folks make it a tradition to be drawn every year at the fair with their families...

The last time I drew this couple, they were still just that (see photo on her phone!). Now they are three!
This threesome was a hoot to draw...Cosmetics and hair!

These two were almost three, so I included them here. ;-)

These two are also returnees, with a new baby whom Auntie took once I finished drawing her and her brother...

Dad cracked a smile when he saw this!

Son took off before I took the photo, but kudos for being in a caricature with his parents!

More families whose members wandered away before I got a photo with them...

Dad has some killer eyebrows here! 

Another returning family, this year they were all Captain America.

Finally, a business family, crammed them all in there!