Fourth graders end-of-year party

On Friday afternoon, I got to draw a whole classroom-full of cheerful fourth-graders. It was made possible by their two awesome homeroom moms, who invited me to come---both to do something nice for the kids AND their teacher, who was finishing up his first year in the classroom.

I had quite a rapt audience AND they asked good questions!

Here is the teacher's caricature in progress:

Even the teacher across the hall came over to get one!

Had to laugh at the custodian's closet that I passed on the way into the school:

This gig was special because one of the homeroom moms is a friend of mine from high school days, and she took the great photos above. Thank you Connie!

Another little bit of backstory: After being asked some time ago about my availability on this date, I didn't hear anything more about it...til two days ago, that it was a "Yes!" When I got the call, I was in Baltimore doing an O's game, with plans to meet my Other Half in Atlantic City that night for a short break. The timing worked out nicely, so that I was able to draw the kids on the way home from the beach! Luckily, I had my easel and an "emergency gig kit" (my own paper and supplies) in the car.

Another eighth-grade graduation celebration

On Wednesday night, I found myself at another eighth-grade graduation celebration. This one was held in the all-purpose room at the school...

 While I was waiting for everyone to come in, the awards ceremony was audible over the loudspeaker--they still have Presidential Fitness awards! I know they had those during the Nixon era, because I won one...these days, I think only my drawing hand is athletic. ;-)

After the awards ceremony, the families piled in for a nice buffet dinner and I started drawing kid faces--the new graduates, some siblings and the seventh-grade helpers:

As always, thanks for having me!

Eighth grade graduation-dance

On Tuesday night, I found myself in New York!

Well, not really. ;-) It was a sophisticated, New-York-themed, eighth graders' graduation celebration held in their church basement. The parents did a stupendous job of decorating...

the city scenes are shower curtains!

Here's a couple of the kids:

There were twenty-nine students that I did in two hours here. The parents opted for mats, so I customized them with "Class of 2011" instead of the paper as I normally would. A parent helper bagged them for me and whisked them away so the kids didn't have to deal with them at the dance. Later, I got to see where they went----into gift bags for each kid:

The bathroom decorations here definitely stood out. First, the boys' room:

Glow in the dark graffiti!!

The girls' room was all Breakfast at Tiffany's:

Finally, a little snippet of the atmosphere:

Kids today love this song...and sing along! ;-)

6th grade Luau party

Yesterday afternoon, in perfect weather,  I drew sixth-graders who were saying "Aloha" to elementary school...

The kids had all sorts of indoor and outdoor activities to choose from. My lei'd easel managed to avoid being the target of water balloons!  I was right outside the all-purpose room and heard the strains of 'Cotton-Eyed Joe' for the nth time in my caricature career...  ;-)

There were a few teachers in the mix, too!

I kept track of numbers at this gig. I had 56 pieces of pre-written paper, (School name- 2011 Sixth grade ALOHA!) and did all singles but for one quadruple, (seen above) two triples, and two doubles. That means I did 65 people in four hours, at a rate of 16.25 faces per hour...that's one every three minutes and 41 seconds. 

Middle-school kids year-end party

(THIS IS MY 1000th BLOG POST!!! How do I know? The Blogger dashboard told me; I definitely didn't count them. )

This afternoon, I drew at the year-end party for an after-school program at a middle school....

I love middle schoolers. They're at that weird age between childhood and teenagehood. I also drew the occasional sibling or parent--both in this photo.

Below: the video!

School "prep rally" event...part 2

This afternoon I travelled to the land of tall buildings to draw more kids who were prepping for standardized tests:

This one had a larger number of students than yesterday, so I was cranking them out as fast as I could. Reactions were big smiles from both kids and parents!

It was too busy to take photos, but I did get these two little munchkins toward the end. :-)

School "prep rally" event...

This afternoon, a school with some lucky students decided to "fill in" some fun with standardized-test preparation! I was invited to caricature the kids as they took short breaks or ate lunch. I had a blast, too. Here are a few of them!


Tomorrow, I'm doing it again for more students. :-)
Hooray for weekday gigs!

Summer day camp diversion

On Friday, I spent the afternoon with a group of excited kids who sat on the floor and watched as I drew each classmate. There were 45 students of varying ages and a small group of adults who wanted to be drawn, so I dispensed with my usual shading technique and got them all done in a little over two hours! The really cool thing was, when I suggested that copies be made of the drawings for the kids to color, they went and did it right then and there!!!

8th grade Formal-- at my alma mater!

Last night, I drew the entire class of eighth-graders for a small parochial school's graduation celebration. The really neat thing about it was that I attended and graduated from this school! The festivities were held in the same church basement where I danced and wore my first pair of high-heeled shoes...
This gig came about not because of my ties there (I don't live in that area anymore) but because a colleague was not able to do it, so she recommended me.
Before going in, I'd wondered if anyone I knew from back then would have a child the right age to be graduating. Sure enough, I recognized one mom who'd been in my younger brother's class, whom I hadn't seen in thirty years!!
I enjoyed a pleasant kind of deja-vu the whole time, thinking of how the kids I was drawing had all just spent eight years in the same environment that I had, a place where I'd done lots of art-related efforts. (I will post more on this aspect at a later date--going to hunt for my sketchbooks from that era!)
Without further ado, here are my photos from the evening.

An entire section of the utilitarian cafeteria was enclosed as an airliner...when you stepped in you were in all sorts of exotic locales...




Many of the girls discarded their shoes and had on little footie socks that matched their dresses, as this young lady did.

At the end of the night, most of the 28 full-color, full-body caricatures were on tables, so I climbed up on a chair and got some shots. It took about 2 1/2 hours to do them all, and this time the boys were game at first; the girls waited to see how I drew the boys before they all got in line! :-)

Freshman Formal....

On Friday evening, my friend Bob Miele and I were the caricaturists for the third year running at a Freshman Formal held by a middle school. Last year I remember drawing mostly boys, but this year it was the girls who were lining up!




The school thoughtfully provided a clothesline both for display and so the kids didn't have to carry their drawings around.
This gig went quickly for me because a traffic jam caused me to get there five minutes before our timeslot! Usually I try to arrive half an hour beforehand, so I'm not rushed setting up.

Family/Alumni Day at a private school...

On a damp, chilly Saturday afternoon, kids (and dogs!) sat for caricatures at an outdoor Family and Alumni day at their school.
Unusually, I had to use my easel in the 'tabletop' position. The floor area under the tent provided for me was totally taken up with a long table. I didn't care for the added height I had to work at, but on a positive note, my sitters' chairs were at a perfect distance from me. So many people sit down and pull their chairs right up to me, not realizing that I don't need to see them THAT CLOSELY!!

The dog was shy about posing for the photo, after having sat calmly for the caricature!

May Fair!

On Friday night, I sat outside at an elementary school's May fair, alongside three other artists, and drew kids..lots of 'em.