Be-boppin' block party

Yesterday, I was part of a block party that also doubled as a birthday party---it had everything from two bounce houses to pony rides to a balcony-sitting DJ to a petting zoo to face-painting clowns to a caricaturist (me) to, finally, a juggling magician who was quite amazing and funny....

The petting zoo was across the street.

The animals made house calls, too!

Now for some caricatures:

After my drawing time was over (the client extended it by an hour! :-) I was able to enjoy the next entertainer. The Juggling Magician really had a rapport with the crowd, and told them when asked the inevitable question, "how did you learn how to do this?", that it was practice and determination! Both qualities are needed to be a good caricaturist, too! Check out my video of him in action:

A friendly neighborhood picnic

Saturday evening's festivity was a neighborhood block party held in a backyard. Every year, a different neighbor hosts, and this particular year it was a family I'd drawn twice previously at Boy Scout banquets: (this is the one I just did for them, they needed a color version!)

Their family room had a whole wall of my stuff framed, I was pretty overcome on seeing it!:-) Wow, what a compliment!

In the yard, I had a tent to myself to work in. The tent next to mine featured the young daughter of the family running a tie-dyed shirt operation, and she ran it like a pro! I should have gotten a photo, but my head was in serious caricature mode...

Here are a few guests--I guess this neighborhood will all have family room walls adorned with my stuff!

Thank you for having me!! I have such wonderful clients!

Double duty drawing day...

I drew at two events today. The first one was a large health fair, the third year I have been invited.






It's rather difficult to draw a child whose face has been painted so exuberantly, but this one's mom assured me that it looked like her! Specifically, I have a hard time with the eyebrows; usually the paint completely covers and distorts them. And nine times out of ten, the parents say, once the child gets in my chair, "Oh, maybe we should have gotten her face painted after the caricature..."

After wrapping up at gig #1, I simply crossed town to go to gig #2, a block party only 2 miles away--- That was luck! Once I had a double gig day where the two locations were 100 miles apart!
The block party was pretty hectic, so I only got these two photos:


All the little kids were drawn, I'll probably be dreaming of big, expressive eyes all night...

Block party!

Also yesterday, I was part of a block party!




Too bad I forgot to ask this young man to re-make the face he'd wanted drawn when I took the photo!

Block party...

Well, you wouldn't think November would be a month for block parties, but there I was today, sitting in a suburban cul-de-sac, caricaturing away in the nippy air. Thank goodness for Under Armour, a brand of thermal clothing that really keeps you warm!