Backyard birthday party

On Saturday afternoon, I was part of the fun at a double-birthday party for a two-year-old and her four-year-old sister. Their yard looked like a little amusement park!




Here is the above couple's reaction: :-)

I drew the birthday girls and their mommy and daddy in a family caricature, but all at separate times, so I never got a photo of them all at once...

Company Picnic

I can't remember ever letting my blog posting slide for a week, but there was lots of non-caricature stuff that needed some attention...
So here's a big catch-up post.

On Friday night, my gig was a company picnic held in a minor league ballpark:

Orioles magic on a Sunday afternoon

I finished up my weekend drawing at one more Orioles game...
This couple were spending their anniversary weekend away from their small kids, and while I was drawing them all they talked about was how much they missed their kids!!! Awww!


These two lovely young ladies were at the baseball game, but their hearts are in a lacrosse stick!

I decided to video a few sights and sounds. Baltimore is the birthplace of the national anthem, and during its singing, they do this:

O's evening game

After my gig, I wandered over to Camden Yards for an evening O's game, and arrived early enough to get this photo coming in:

and this photo upon leaving:

In between, I drew:


Cheerleaders seemed to be the theme of the night---did several. With this little girl, after I'd finished the marker portion of her caricature, her mom announced, "We're going in the store while you color it...we'll be back soon!"
???????
So I took this photo while they were shopping! ( And they did come back, although I was wondering!)

Retirement Community Celebration

On Saturday afternoon I strayed below the Mason-Dixon line a bit, to draw at a huge tented party for a resort-like retirement community. Along with me and my caricatures, there were a lady barbershop quartet, a three piece wandering brass band, a car show, boat and balloon rides, and lots of food and friendliness...




This family was very keen to have the grand-daughter's facial piercings shown next to her elegant elderly grandmother!

8-8-08 Wedding

On Friday night, I attended and drew at a wonderful young couple's wedding reception, held on the fortuitious date of 8-8-08. My sign-in caricature of them had a peach background (the wedding theme AND the bride's nickname!) and I drew hordes of guests during the reception, seated right next to their beautiful cake. Weddings are just so much fun to do!

Check out the reactions of these two dear ladies, long-time friends and very contrasting styles! :-)


Update 8-25-08. I received a very nice thank-you from the bride~

Emily,
I cannot tell you how many people have said how wonderful you and your caricatures were and how much fun they had! You did such a fantastic job and Dan and I are so happy you were there with us to celebrate!
We can't wait to send them along with our thank yous and hopefully more people will want to do this at parties!
Amanda

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!!!

Yet another caricaturist colleague...

I am working on several digital commissions this week that can't be shown yet, so here is another quick sketch of a fellow NCN member--Bertrand, from France. This is again done with the gray Pitt brush pens, and an additional light blue Prismacolor marker.

8-year-old's birthday party

Yesterday, I got a lot of practice drawing sports themes at a young boy's birthday party--everything from football to baseball to soccer to tennis! Here are most of the kids; as it was a small party, some even went for doubles!

I drew but did not photograph the birthday boy's sister and her friend--they preferred the boyless princess environment of upstairs :-) Mom and Dad got one too, and I even drew the grandparents for their 50th wedding anniversary from a photo.


From the no-time-to-prepare-gig this past spring that taught me to carry paper and bags in my trunk, now I know to add a box of mats to my emergency gig supplies. This would have been the first gig that requested them---and upon arrival yesterday, I realized the personalized mats I had made for this boy were still in my studio!!! No harm done, they'll be mailed tomorrow, but lesson learned!

Update, 8-6-08: I received a very happy thank-you note from the client, and she also posted a wonderful positive feedback on my Gigmasters page, as this was my first gig through them since joining a month ago...

Dear Emily,
Thank you for taking the booking! We all enjoyed watching you draw all of us. The kids are still talking about you and their caricatures!
I will keep you in mind for our Christmas gathering if you are available. It would be a great gift for the clan. I have already raved about you to several co-workers and friends. Many thanks for helping make Hunter's day special!

Thank YOU for having me!

More Firing Squad colleagues...

I attempted a somewhat simpler style of sketch for these three artists...Dave, Pete,and Lou, with varying levels of exaggeration.