Grad party with digital caricature sign-in

Yesterday, I attended my daughter's friend's backyard graduation party. Of course, my gift was a sign-in caricature! When I arrived, the happy graduate ran around getting people to sign the mat immediately!




I drew the other attending graduates too, and Christine's soon-to-be-a-newlywed sister and her fiance.
Congratulations, Christine! :-)

Sweet 16 pool party!

Then it was off to a sunset Sweet 16 party for a poolful of teenagers. When I started drawing, they all got out of the pool and pretty much watched me as I drew all the guests, then the birthday girl's brother and his friends. They determined who was next by whose hair had dried the most!!
There were quite a few artists in the group, so they had questions for me that were less common than "How long have you been doing this?" :-) The birthday girl even took a photo of each of her friends with their caricature.






By the time I got to the birthday girl, it was full dark, so we went inside so I could see my colors! Happy birthday and thanks for having me! :-)

Graduation party!

The first festivity on my two-gig day yesterday was a backyard-barbecue high school graduation party. The hostess had kindly set up a tent just for me and my caricatures, and thankfully the sun finally returned after lots of rain all week. I drew quite an age range at this one-- the little kids went first, then the high schoolers, some adults and then finally the lovely graduate herself!





I originally intended to draw her "thumbs up" about graduating, but it looked more like hitchiking, so that's what it ended up being--to her college, in Pittsburgh! :-)
Congratulations and thanks for having me!

Employee Appreciation party

Due to an all-day downpour, this 'would have been outside' employee party had to be held indoors. The venue was a beautiful senior-living community, and some of its residents were even volunteering to host fun activities for the employees! I was seated next to an elderly gentleman (who reminded me of my late dad) who was the dealer for some sort of card game-- he had too many players for me to see WHAT game it was! The DJ also had everyone dancing behind me. I drew as fast as I could to get through the many people who wanted a caricature, so not many photos. However, there were lots of smiles and guffaws on a dreary afternoon!

Corporate Cocktail Party...

A nasty, rainy, unseasonably cold June evening found me circumventing a huge traffic jam on the way to my gig (my GPS is one of my favorite things ever!) Upon arrival at the country club where I was to draw for a company cocktail party, and seeing THIS view from the main room, I was told that the event was...outside???! Well, you can't blame anyone for thinking an early evening in June would call for sweaters! The guests gathered under a cathedral-ceilinged patio and enjoyed the bar, the games, the balloon-twisting clown, and my caricatures. Once everyone loosened up, the ladies were the ones who were game to be drawn, and the men had to be cajoled into it...

Graduation party!

My final (and closest to home) event of the weekend was a high school graduation party for four fine young men, all good friends, held at one of their homes on a pastoral horse farm in Chester County.




After enjoying a meal poolside, I headed for the barn loft, which had various entertainments going on. Air hockey or ping pong, anyone? They also had a continuously-playing video montage of many photos on a large projection screen. I'd previously drawn all four boys' caricatures for sign-ins, which were situated by the door: Here's how they looked later on: More smiling faces next to my easel! Last but not least, there's Ryan (the grad whose family so graciously hosted the party) and his girlfriend. Thank you for having me!!!! :-) :-) :-)

At this party, and the previous two, I was able to tell my caricature-ees about my new Facebook fan page, "Caricatures by Emily" ! (I am only able to do that when I am not representing another company or agency.) It'll be interesting to see if anyone finds their way to my FB page. :-)

2nd post-prom in as many days

After drawing at the wedding reception, I packed up and drove two hours to do another post-prom---one I have enjoyed doing for the last several years. When I pulled up, to my surprise, I ran into my friend and fellow caricaturist, Patrick Harrington*--whom I had no idea was going to be there! We also had the always-hilarious John Sprague* on hand. It's fun to work as a group, because everyone's styles are so different.
This event's theme was County Fair. Pat and I set up under a tent:

The ladies' room had everything but straw on the floor! Patrick told me the mens' room was decorated as an outhouse and was very dimly lit! (?)

Here are some from my pen!






*Hopefully these two knuckleheads will have blog posts of their own from this gig!:-)

Wedding Reception

On Saturday evening, my caricatures and I were privileged to be a part of a lovely wedding reception, held in an elegant historic mansion: I set up in a wide, airy hall, near a string trio, who played all during cocktail hour and dinner (the guests were spread out in intimate dining rooms off the main hall).

Listening to this was quite a change from my early-morning gig next to the karaoke! :-)


The bride and groom, who were both warm and wonderful people, met each other in a Starbucks! :-) And now for some caricatures!
I absolutely can't believe the groom found time to post feedback on the Gigmasters site about my work, but he did already!
Emily was absolutely terrific, from the beginning of our process. Very friendly, responsive & accomodating, and she performed brilliantly at the event. Emily was a huge hit for our wedding reception, and we're so glad we hired her ! --

Paula and Dania, the pleasure was all mine. Thank you for having me-- and I am so glad you and your guests enjoyed it! :-)

Rock and Roll After-prom!

This morning's after-prom was a real blast from the past. The theme was vintage rock and roll from the sixties, seventies, and eighties! (It was pretty obvious that the parents running this one were re-living their own prom era!) Check out this spectacular entrance, it even had dry ice spewing out the door! I particularly liked THIS decoration: Here are some of the faces that were a total treat to draw: The ladies' room was all about flower power: This after-prom had me seated right near all the action--the Guitar Hero and Karaoke-Video set-ups! I could barely hear but kids wanted their names written on their caricatures anyway.
Awwwwww: