1st birthday, made in the shade...

Saturday afternoon found me in the cool shade of a backyard red maple tree, drawing caricatures for this little sweetheart's first birthday party:

I love drawing little bare feet!

Lots of kids, toddlers and babies at this one:

My client, Abigail's mom, had been drawn at an end-of-summer party I did a few years ago…and she thought of having me draw for her  baby's celebration: this is why I ALWAYS put my contact info on each and every caricature. Thanks for having me at your daughter's party, Danielle! :-)

Retirement Caricatures!

In June, there are always plenty of teacher and other school-district employee retirements. These two ladies will now be free to pursue a more leisurely life! :-)

These are examples of my  11 x 14 "Color Party-Style" caricatures done in my studio from photos. 

They start out as very rough sketches which I show the client for approval before finishing. 

I get a general likeness in the rough, but the specific likeness comes as I work on the final. After I get the approval, I transfer the drawing using a lightbox onto good paper, then ink and color away!

5th birthday party caricatures!

A beautiful summer's day in a pavilion in a park! What a great place to celebrate a child's birthday. :-)

Here's the girl of the moment herself. I also drew at her 1st birthday!

I had time to customize my "Happy Birthday" papers while I waited for guests to arrive:

Then my pens got busy!!

Happy birthday Malia! Thanks to your family for having me again! :-)

Engagement party caricatures!

These two are going to be married!

A dear friend of the bride's mom was the mastermind not only this for this digital caricature I did, showing the couple and their new home, (in quintessential American Gothic fashion) but also an elegant backyard party, (held in another friend's home) so the families could get to know each other. The groom's family came all the way from Manitoba! ( Yes, that's why he's holding a hockey stick :)

I was pleasantly surprised to see the caricature adorning the cover for DVDs, containing lots of wedding-type music (including a personal favorite of mine ;-)

The guests arrived and I started drawing! I used an orange background to match the lovely orange-yellow roses that were on the tables.

Afterwards, my wonderful client (last photo) made sure I had enough food to take home to share with my Other Half. Thank you so much, Melissa!! The whole evening was a pleasure. 

The only thing I forgot to do was get a photo of the future bride and groom with their digital caricature. 

Congratulations, Katie and Mike!!

Father's Day 2014 at Camden Yards

Father's Day is always especially fun to spend drawing at a ballgame, since so many of my caricatures are gifts for Dad:

Or, they're gifts WITH Dad:

By the end of the game, though, the kids were long gone and only couples were left in my line.  This gentleman asked if I could show his "fabulous profile" about to kiss his wife (on the left):

So my final twosome saw that, and asked for the same!!

Backyard Grad party!

After drawing at an afternoon party, I hopped on the turnpike and headed to an evening backyard party for a new high school graduate, whom I drew in her cap and gown:

You can see how the light changed from when I sat down to draw and the end of the party (and my time even was extended there, for which I thank the grad's mom :)

This couple was a hoot:

So I dared to get their reaction:

This was another Gigmasters gig, and I thank them and my wonderful client for another successful bout of caricaturing! Congratulations, Olivia!

Update 6-23-14: Just received some GREAT feedback from my client! Thank you! :)

We had a fabulous time with Emily at my daughter's graduation party. She was personable, fun and professional. Guests couldn't wait to have their portraits drawn. The drawings were fantastic. Emily even took the time to talk to my daughter about her own artwork. We thoroughly enjoyed having Emily at our party and I highly recommend her.

Bat Mitzvah caricatures!

A family gathered in a quaint, historic restaurant to celebrate this pretty young lady's Bat Mitzvah… and the party favors were my caricatures. :-)

I drew all the rest of the young ladies...

...and the ONE young man in attendance.

He had it on his Instagram page before the party even ended! 

I'm glad I added "#caricature" to my easel signage.

 I drew a few of the grown-ups, too.

The room looked over some very pretty grounds:

The live band, DNR, featured a lady singer with a warm, lush voice. I liked it so much I had to record a few bars (of course, it's a Beatles song :-) Since I couldn't film AND draw, the video is blank but I did get a photo between sitters...

Thank you to Heather and her family for having me! :-)

Tween birthday party!

A twelfth birthday party for fraternal twins, during a summer twilight, was attended by their fellow tween-girl guests!

Above photos, courtesy of the party-giving mom. :-) Thanks, Margie!

Since it was a small group, I had time to do deluxe full-color, full-body-with-hobby caricatures. Soccer was an oft-repeated request, but I also had two more unusual ones:

A mud-race on the left, and to the right: enjoying a strawberry-iced doughnut with rainbow sprinkles! When I was a kid, we called those "jimmies." Well. they were fun to draw!

After drawing the young ladies, the good-natured big brother got his done, with his sport (not soccer!).I learned that you can refer to rowing as "crew" but not "crewing." :-)

Then the mom, with HER favorite things!

Here's a view of most of them after I'd finished ( there's one missing, I think)

Thanks for having me, M & M! 

8th grade grad's party---family style!

Last weekend, I went from a whole 8th-grade class celebration to a particular 8th grader's close-knit family party the next afternoon:

 She and her family and friends were awesome! As I drew her color caricature, her friends all pulled up chairs and asked really good questions. :-)

Below: THIS was such a heart-warming couple, they've been married sixty-some years. And you can FEEL the love!

My wonderful client, who found me via Gigmasters, left this feedback for me:

Emily was amazing. Everyone loved having their pictures drawn and Emily is a very talented artist. Every single person at my daughter's graduation party kept on commenting how great Emily was and how they loved their pictures. I was very very happy that we hired Emily to draw for my daughter's party. You will not be disappointed if you hire Emily for your next party!!!!! Thank you so much Emily!!!!

Thank YOU! It was my pleasure! :-)

8th grade grad party…Cali style!

On Saturday night, I found myself on the Left Coast!!! (not really, but ;-)

The parents at a local Catholic School really outdid themselves with this fun theme:

My little spot was in "Venice Beach."

And there were some pretty funny expressions on these kids! :-)

Here's a view of the holding bench:

My parent contact sent me this feedback and photo the following day:

Hi Emily, I want to thank you for last night. Your art work is amazing and the kids really enjoyed the experience!

Thank you for having me! The cool thing about this and my other Saturday event, is that they both came out of THIS party (during the ice storm week---when I had no power for five days but still managed to gig it).  So, thanks to my Valentine's day client too! :-)