Post-prom

In the early, early hours of Sunday morning, after getting lost and being helped to my destination by no less than three far-flung friends on cell phones, I drew seniors at a post-prom. This school's prom is actually my longest-running prom gig; started doing it in 2002, I believe. This year, they changed the location of the event to a new fitness/wellness center, and my GPS and Mapquest both were waaaaay off. Sometimes directions to/in corporate parks are dicey! When I realized that, I called my lifelines in CA and Vegas, (it was after midnight here!) whose Iphones, Crackberries and Internet all helped somewhat. It ended up being the other artist at the event, who got me there only a few minutes late. Whew!!! Thanks, John Sprague!!
So after arriving and calming down, I got busy:






My fiance suggested checking unfamiliar locations with the Mapquest or Google satellite view....smart idea. Thanks goodness tonight's post-prom is already known to me!

Company anniversary party

On Friday evening, my caricatures were 1/2 the entertainment at a company's 20th anniversary party. The other half was the magical balloon antics and sculpture of John Cassidy, who maniacally plied his craft ten feet away from me. There were too many enraptured folks agog at our work between us to get a photo, but I did get a few sidelong glances at his "inside a giant balloon" routine. Check out his site here: Balloon Freak
Some amazing stuff!
This company had some greaaaat faces to draw!


I should mention that the man-woman ratio at this employee party was heavily slanted to the masculine side! The married couple above actually met on the job.




The funniest comment of the night, heard from the peanut gallery while drawing a portly gentleman, was "H R PUFINSTUF!!" That really made me laugh, because it's not one I always hear! :-)

Ladies' Pajama Party!

Last night, I was one of three artists drawing at a ladies's pajama party held in a hotel ballroom. It was actually an employee appreciation party/awards banquet for a corporate day care center. All the ladies had been given t-shirts and pajama pants, and many showed up with pigtails and slippers! They were served hearty breakfast fare--saw lots of fresh-made waffles floating by! Besides we artists, there were tarot-card readers and a nail-polish station (that one was next to me, and I got a few good whiffs!)
The ladies enjoyed our efforts:

Digital birthday caricature

Quick commission for my daughter to give to her rugby-playing boyfriend...happy birthday Dayne!

Mother's Day ballgame

After a brief catnap (it seemed like that) I was back at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon to draw at the Mother's Day Orioles/Yankees finale. I had planned on trying out my new Panpastels for this game, but the stiff breeze blew the sponges used with them out of my tray...plus the mental fatigue from the day before was just a bit too much--so I stuck with the tried and true... my Prismacolor Artstix. Panpastels will make their debut another day.





After I drew the above little girl, who had requested the Oriole Bird be in her sketch, my colleague Gary Smith leaned over to me and dryly intoned, "See me after class."
Hahaha--he's the authority on cartooning, so he informed me that my version of the Oriole Bird was just too Woody Woodpecker and his peak curved a different way. So the next one I did looked like this:


Here's a pic of the ever-photo-shy Gary with one of his masterpieces:


These sisters were one of the final caricatures I did during my crazy weekend. They liked it. :-)

Post-prom!

From midnight to three in the morning on Sunday, I teamed up with Rick Wright to draw at a high school post-prom held in a state-of-the-art Y. The organizer asked us to put up a poster so "people would know we were caricature artists" LOL!

(Bubble letters by me, calligraphy by Rrrick!)

Here they come:






Here's Rick conversing with one of his subjects, "What's your major going to be?"
I don't know how he had the brainpower at that hour to do that AND draw. (And he'd done a gig and a game previous to the post-prom too). I know I was on fumes by then and could only draw mutely!

O's!!!!!!

Saturday evening found me dodging a few raindrops while drawing at the Orioles/Yankees game. The other artists and I were rewarded with, not a rainbow, but this beautiful, very-Maxfield-Parrish cloud formation, as noticed by colleague Jerry Breen:
Here are some of the faces I drew here:

A rare (for me) profile drawing:

And finaly, two giddy teenagers:

I don't usually get to draw tongue-piercings and rude-word hats!(it's blurred, thankfully!)

Grand Opening

This past weekend was absolutely insane. Some of my nearest and dearest thought I was insane, too-- because from Friday evening's gala to Sunday afternoon's Orioles/Yankees game, I drew at five events...including a stretch of gigs that kept me awake for twenty-three hours. I LOVE MY JOB!

Saturday morning's event was the Grand Opening of a beautiful downtown-style shopping center. I was only one of many, many street entertainments.

There's my setup. I used my easel umbrella ( and sunscreen!) until the shade from the building arrived.


This little sweetheart ( below) couldn't stop smiling!!


The next two photos are a family:


And last but not least: more big smilers!


Update: The client posted feedback on Gigmasters (where I received this booking). Thanks!!! :-)
Emily was awesome. Professional, prompt, friendly and a huge hit at the grand opening.

Charity Fundraiser at Longwood Gardens

Last night, I had the very cool experience of seeing my digital Joe Biden caricature auctioned off, along with a pair of his cuff links, to benefit the American Lung Association (they went for $225!). Unfortunately, the VP was understandably too busy to sign his caricature---it had been emailed to him last week by the organizer. She told me that hopefully it still may happen for a future fundraiser. The gala evening was held at world-renowned horticultural gem, Longwood Gardens (which is very close to my home). I also drew during the cocktail hour, and met many interesting people! Here are a few glimpses of my night:

New medium/technique

My friend Marlo and I are serious art-supply-store shoppers. When I am in Philly, we make a habit of visiting the fabulous Dick Blick store there, which has ensnared us from our old haunt, Pearl's. Recently, she discovered an item that is a perfect addition to a live caricaturist's arsenal: panpastels. It's an improvement on the chalk-and-glove technique (mentioned a few posts ago) in that the pastels are in their own case, are low dust, and are applied swiftly with an applicator. I just ordered a set online and am now eagerly awaiting their arrival!!