More Texan faces

This is Vincent, John's young accomplice in fooling me throughout an entire caricature sitting the other night. I still can't believe I didn't recognize my own fiance, no matter how heavily disguised he was!!

He had a great face to draw!
Here's a happy, cute couple who enjoyed hearing my whole 'incognito fiance' story:

Below is my BW version of an "I wanna be Michael Jackson" caricature:

Caught a father-son moment after I drew this boy:

All four of us caricaturists here are pretty d*** good, if I do say so myself. We have to laugh, because alot of people have been walking up to the booth and asking which one of us is the best. I always say, "We all are the best" but I wonder what a better answer could possibly be??

Thai sushi surprise!

I was in the middle of this mom-dad-baby caricature when I heard their family members behind me speaking Thai, which I am a teensy-bit familiar with--because my son George lives in Bangkok. (When he was home this summer, he frequently practiced his vocabulary.) I told them about my son, and they were so happy to hear how much he loves their homeland. I ended up drawing not only the triple, but also the parents-and a brother and his daughter, too.


My fiance John chatted with them while I drew. They ended up inviting us to their sushi restaurant outside of Dallas, Suzushi. The next night, Celestia, Lorin, John and I got off from the fair a bit early specifically to go have a fantastic sushi dinner. It truly was delicious, memorable and so nice to know that the art of caricature brought us all together! Thank you Pat, Herb, Harp and your whole family!




If you're in Dallas and you like sushi, you should go and have their GYU roll--filet mignon on rice. The last photo is John and I about to devour their Halloween roll...fantastic!!!
Um, I'm never eating a corny dog again!

Texan faces from the last several days!!!

I have been so busy (twelve-hour days, every day here at the Fair) that I haven't posted much, but today is Senior Citizen Day. They're not the most rabid caricature fans, so it's slow enough at the booth to share some of the myriad faces I have been drawing down here in Texas!

This lovely lady was showing her chickens at the Fair and asked for one to be perched on her shoulder. Fun to draw!

This hilarious couple were a hoot while sitting for me. I couldn't resist drawing her with THAT expression on her face!)

This lady was talked into a caricature by her daughter, and everyone behind me was commenting on how cute it was! I enjoyed getting all the earth tones and jewelry in this one.

One word ( well, two) CARE BEARS!!!!

This trio sat for me, and then came back and had me include their pet bird...from a photo on their cell phone!

Various cute kids ( and army men) abound not just in Texas, but anywhere...

Friends on the left, siblings on the right. :-)

This little guy's mom told me he had a cowboy-themed room, so we came up with this scenario. And he liked it!

Three-generation caricature!

And a happy couple!

CRAZY customer who turned out to be......

...more than I reckoned he'd be!!!


This fright-wigged painted pumpkin man was my final drawing of last night. He'd arrived with a kid (I assumed his son) in tow who videotaped almost the entire process of caricaturing him, never smiling and speaking hardly at all... and when he did, it was with a thick, twangy Texan accent.
At the end when I asked for a photo, he obliged by commenting on how 'purty' I was and laughing "Son, I might even leave yore mother fer her"-- so I sneered to Celestia, "I think he's hitting on me"!!!
So I said to him, "Ummmm, I'm engaged." He replied, "Lemme see yore ring!" I did, and then he said in his NORMAL VOICE, "That's a beautiful ring you have there." He knew BECAUSE HE'D GIVEN IT TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was my fiance John-- and both Celestia (who knows him) and I had NO IDEA!!! She did find out in the middle of the drawing when he TEXTED her!!!! I have never been so floored in my life. I thought he was in Virginia visiting his dad. Well, he was, he'd just left to drive to Dallas! :-)
The kid, Vincent, was connected to the facepainting booth at the fair (and they did a bang-up job covering all aspects that would have given him away) and he had a great time pretending to be John's son and getting it all on video! (plus he got paid for doing so!)
Afterwards, we caricature artists and one super con artist all went out for a bite and I was still kicking myself for a supposed facial EXPERT--- who got duped by her nearest and dearest. And I love him for it!!!
Below: Myself, John, Celestia, Paul, Lorin and Vlad.

Crazy Texan weather!

Saw some crazy swirly greenish-black clouds today preceding a storm, but we did get in some caricaturing today!



Celestia and I each drew 1/2 of this couple:

I just realized there weren't any good photos of the crack "girl artist" team up on my blog, so here's one:

I get good faces to sit for me!




Finally, a shot of us all being buffeted about!

More State Fair shenanigans

Big Tex says, "Get yourrrrr careeee-ca-ture heeerrrre!"

Yesterday brought more beautiful weather and more fantastic faces for us to draw. This young man is an aspiring artist himself (he had cool photos of his work on his phone) so I gave him some websites to order Copic markers and Prismacolor Artstix. Good luck, Chase!



The above two photos were my last customers of the night. Cabeza de Pollo and Funky Musician Couple = Caricature Jackpot!

Paul drew a young Michael Jackson fan AS Michael Jackson-- and he positively beamed when he saw it! (the sample of MJ over his shoulder is by Vlad.)

And Vlad turned his poison pen on me and produced this masterpiece-- of which I can only share a portion, due to the fact that the other person partially depicted would probably kick my a** were I to do otherwise...;-D

Our caricature crew here in Dallas..

That's myself, Vlad from Las Vegas, Paul from Buffalo, and Celestia from Las Vegas.

Check out our sample display (click to make larger). The comments we get from passersby make us crack up. "Oh look, it's the dollar bill guy!" "Hey, there's those people from your favorite show, honey, the one where she hits him..." "They make you the Joker!" and of course, "Oooooh, the Jonas brothers!!!"
This is my work table:

Raring to go today! I learn alot being seated next to such talented pros. We change our seating arrangement every day...

Day 2

A few of mine from today's crop o'caricatures:

The couple above were a few "firsts" for me. They were brother and sister; he wanted himself done in color, and her to be in black and white--and he wouldn't say why! And I've never written that word on a caricature before! :-D



Above: I thought this guy looked like Brett Myers, one of the Phillies pitchers; turns out he is distantly related to actor Mark Harmon! They sure do make a cute couple!

Above is my colleague Paul doing his fun style and getting used to a top feed airbrush as opposed to using a bottle-fed one. Below is Vlad finishing up a fabulous family triple and then their delighted reaction:


We have the best job (I say that ALOT!)

First Day of State Fair of Texas!

I've settled in down here in Dallas, along with my three colleagues, and yesterday was the surprisingly-busy opening day of the Fair. The first thing to do was to make some current samples:

It's hilarious to hear the comments when people see these two, they are a pretty polarizing couple!
Here are my very first customers of the fair, and the first airbrush pieces I have done in months. Luckily I haven't forgotten the technique! :-)





This photo was taken and then emailed to me by this little guy's mom. Thank you so much, I am glad you both liked it!:-) :-) :-)