Silhouettes at Boot Barn Grand Opening

This past weekend, my scissors and I did a two-day grand opening event at a store new to Delaware--Boot Barn. I designed a rope oval with the Boot Barn logo for the backing cards, and the customers were as pleased as punch to get their very own silhouettes cut, as part of the festivities. There was also live music and refreshments.  Fun days!

Here are some of the results of my snipping: this was the first day....

And these were from the second day:

Milestone Birthday Surprise Party Caricatures!

This gentleman was given a surprise party yesterday, by his lovely wife, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. Two crazy coincidences, connected with it, amazed me: the first is that, because I had to go the long way around to use a very lengthy ramp (I pull a small cart with my easel and supplies), I arrived at the door at the same time as my client and the birthday boy! Unbeknownst to me, they had pulled up and were entering, in the time it took me to walk around.... he even held the door for me and my cart! Of course, I knew he had no idea who I was or why I was there, so it was fine. I waited in the lobby while they continued in, to the cheers of their awaiting guests. The second coincidence was, during the festivities, my client graciously included birthday salutations to any guests who also had March birthdays. Well, my gigs are not about me, so of course, I did not mention I'm a March birthday girl also. At the end of the party, I asked the guest of honor whether his party was held on his actual birthday. He said no, it was a few days back....of course, it was my birthday too. They all sang happy birthday to me!!!!!!!  :-) What are the chances!!! (Yes I know, 1 in 365!!)

Thank you so much for having me, it was a lovely afternoon at the country club!

1st Birthday caricatures with a touch of the Irish!

 This little guy had a lucky St-Patrick's Day-themed birthday party, held at a very popular Irish pub/ restaurant, that included my wee caricatures! Shamrocks galore!

Didn't get many photos other than these, because at this event (which came to me via The Bash) my mission was to get every baby, toddler and small child drawn--so that all the guests would have a party favor. And I did in fact accomplish this, drew about 26 children in two hours. Yay me! 

I did of course dress for the theme :-)

This mural in the private party area really brought back memories of my days caricaturing in this stadium. 

Thanks for having me!!!!

College student caricatures--at Black Cultural Center!

 On Thursday afternoon, I headed to the anniversary party of Swarthmore College's Black Cultural Center, which has been going strong for 52 years on campus. The director had been caricatured by me at a birthday party last year, and she thought it would go over well with the students-- it did! :-)

I usually use 8.5 x 11 paper now for events where I know I will be doing mostly single faces and/or printing a logo. ( You can see that at the top of my papers). The shading is  all done with marker (Copic Sketch markers in black and gray tones) and only the backgrounds get done with Prismacolor Artstix.  

The building itself was historic, and very suited to its purpose! The walls were lined with giant photos of student groups in front of the mansion from years past. 

Kids had fun dancing it up after I finished drawing. :-D

Thanks for having me!!!

Windswept wedding caricatures!

On Saturday, I drove through a crazy March snowstorm complete with howling high winds to get to a wedding reception...but it was SO worth it! Look at this happy bride and groom!

It was held at a very cozy and charming wedding venue, ChickBerry Farms in Sussex County, Delaware.

 The groom had quite a logistical hiccup, in that he had picked up the wrong pair of pants where they'd been altered for him, and ended up with a pair that was entirely too large when he got into his final wedding attire! Luckily, there was enough time to retrieve the right pants, but OF COURSE I had to draw the droopy overlarge ones---so they can laugh about it forever after!

This was the first wedding gig where I've been unmasked since 2019! 

It was so great to be able to converse with guests as I drew them, and they could actually hear me! 

Here are some views of my time there:

Have to add, the DJ Sky Brady was marvelous! He acted as emcee, singer, comedian, and music-player. And did them all extremely well. He's the guy with the Rod Stewart hair and microphone in his caricature. ;-)

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that my little lightweight Ikea drawing table had finally bitten the dust. So for this gig, I reverted to my old French easel, which is actually better for lighting placement. They had a whole long table for me, which worked out because then I had room to lay finished caricatures for pick-up at reception's end:

 

Want to see a couple of reactions? Here ya go:

This afternoon, the bride emailed with feedback:

Hey Emily!

Thank you so much for the pictures, the kind words, 

and most of all - the AWESOME caricatures! Everyone was absolutely raving about you. 

You exceeded our expectations 100%. Thank you so much!!!

Thank YOU for having me, Jenna and Michael!!! I really love my job!

Sparkly 40th Birthday Caricatures!

This birthday girl REALLY sparkled! So I'm glad I had a silver Sharpie pen with me! :-D

Her 40th birthday party was the second time I'd drawn caricatures for her family...the first was for her father's retirement party. Her mother definitely knows how to throw a fantastic party! 

Here are a few of my drawings:

Had a nice spot right near the bar...

..but it might be the last hurrah for this particular easel. It's an Ikea laptop table that my husband adapted for me, and it's lasted a few years... but the adjustable-height-leg part isn't adjustable any more.  Stay tuned here to see what I end up with for my next gig. :-)

Thanks to Sharon for booking me, and keeping me on longer to accommodate more guests! :-)

Gritty caricatures at Flyers game fundraiser day!

For the many years I've been drawing caricatures, oftentimes the clients are the major sports teams in Philly...the Eagles, (football) the Phillies, (baseball) and the Sixers (basketball). Well, I've drawn at home games and events in all their various venues...but somehow, I never, ever got to do a Philadelphia Flyers (ice hockey) game. That changed, on Saturday! The team was providing some free goodies for fans as part of a fundraiser for their charity, which benefits all sorts of worthy causes. 

It was a lot of fun drawing the crazy Flyers mascot 'Gritty' on ALL my caricatures---and folks really responded happily!

Silhouettes at "Beary Loved"--a Valentine's Day event in Boyertown, PA

 A balmy Saurday afternoon is rare for February--unusual, but very much enjoyed---especially because it made a wonderful event even better. "Beary Loved" was a town-wide Valentine-themed festivity that folks could enjoy in all sorts of ways, including getting a silhouette from me!

I was situated in Studio B Art gallery, along with caricaturist Courtney, (whom I had just worked with on the previous evening!) and a harpist, Cindy DePietrio, who enhanced the romantic atmosphere by playing just outside the front door and luring folks in. :-)

Courtney had never seen live silhouette cutting before so of course I had to do one for her!

Here is a map showing just how many fun things were made available by Build-A-Better-Boyertown, who certainly know how to show off their unique and historic small town. I was even able to shop before I started cutting silhouettes, and was able to get my husband's Valentine gift next door. 

Now for some silhouettes... 

Most were of couples, of course! So I cut them as a joined heart-shape.

Thanks for having me, Boyertown! :-)

And happy Valentine's Day!

Father-Daughter Valentine Caricatures

On Friday night, my skills were added to those of SEVEN other caricature artists, drawing for a sweet Father-Daughter Valentine event at a local hotel. We were actually back for the first time in two years, of course, due to the still-lingering pandemic. Every guest there (probably close to 200 people) got a caricature, snuggled in a heart-shaped design. I know I personally drew 29 of them, because a sign-up sheet was used for each artist (something I normally don't encourage, but it went well). 

Here's a sampling of my drawings:

I did many twosomes, but also plenty of larger daddy-daughter groupings:

LOL these are about half my output for the evening---not bad for two hours. 

I used all markers for these, both linework and shading were done with Copic Sketchmarkers. 

Here's a shot of all the other artists (my apologies to Deb who was at the far, far end from me, so not a good pic of her)

Thanks to David for the gig!