Caricature Convention

For a few days I'll be off to Phoenix for a caricaturist convention. Yes....yes....we have those! I'll be back but if you have booking info or inquiries, I have my cell phone with me. Bon Voyage!

Remembrance Day

For my personal salute on Remembrance Day here in Canada, I think there is a forgotten group of brave men and women who acted as spies and resistance fighters. When caught, these brave souls had no protection from the rules of war...without a uniform, they were tortured and shot...(many times groups of innocent people were rounded up and shot as well ).

One such spy from WW11 is Krystyna Skarbek. A Polish born beauty, she left her new home in Kenya, to return to Europe and skied the Tatra Mountains from Hungary in -30 degree Celsius into Poland working with agents and resistance groups.

When captured, Krystyna purposely bit into her tongue make blood flow in order to convince her captors she had tuberculosis...they believed her!

She then fled to England but then returned to France to further her fight against the Nazis. There are so many accomplishments this woman has made that it would take hours to write this blog post. Though she made it through the war, in 1952 she was stabbed to death by a co-worker that was infatuated with her....he was later hanged for his crime.

It is thought that Krystyna was the inspiration for the character, Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film, Casino Royale. As with many spies, she never received the respect that she truly deserved. We salute you Krysyna and all the other spies from WW1 and WW11!

Mainstream Media

Wow....The American election is now over. No what "team" you were on, it's over! What I learned from this election is that mainstream media is no longer relevant! Neither is the opinion of some rock/pop stars...Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel, the other Jimmy, Stephen Colbert and numerous talk shows on both TV and radio. The worst offenders in my opinion were CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, CTV Canada and the tax payer funded Canadian welfare case...CBC.

We all know anyway that newspapers are better to line your birdcage with....so no argument there. This is a good sign as we now know that they can't influence us completely, which ever candidate you wanted in. So to my humble point of view, mainstream media should stick to proper reporting and forget the influence pedalling....

Calgary Party Caricatures

The last few days had me doing a couple different caricature gigs that were so different from each other. One was an event to raise money for women's cancer. The other was for a grand opening for an overpass in Calgary....five hours outside in the cold....:) But all was good, though I couldn't feel my fingers later on....:)
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Party Caricatures

Calgary Party Caricatures

A little over a week ago I had a different type of venue to draw caricatures in Calgary. It was at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino. Beautiful atmosphere and double beautiful staff!! It actuslly went better than I had thought, I was drawing caricatures in the lounge and once it started, it went steady, here's a sample of a couple of the fantastic guests I had the privilege to draw cartoon/caricatures for. Thanks Stephanie!
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Caricatures

Trick Roper Bud Edgar

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I normally don't draw many studio caricatures for many reasons, but The Trick Roper, Bud Edgar asked me to update his old one that I had drawn years ago. After I seen the old one, there was never any question.....I certainly didn't want that one floating around the internet....:)

Kelly Gannon, Trick Roper, Bud Edgar

Calgary Face Painter

Halloween is fast approaching. My Daughter Cara Gannon, the face painter has a couple openings Halloween day to get your one of a kind creepy Halloween face paint. ( she painter herself above....tough to do!). Cara's email is...   caralgannon@gmail.com
Cara Gannon, Calgary Face Painter

Calgary Cartoonist

Throw back Thursday! Wow...I drew these cartoons for a magazine (then they were never published....:) about 20 years ago. The drawing style has definitely changed over the last 20 years. These were drawn when I was drawing editorial cartoons for newspapers.....I can see how my style has simplified and definitely gotten...."cuter"....:)
Kelly Gannon

Calgary Party Caricatures

The guests at the event I drew last week at Fort Calgary rank right near the very top for fun, great people! ALWAYS a pleasure to draw caricatures at these kind of events!

Calgary Cartoonist

A fun retro cartoon I drew the other night when I just couldn't sleep! A sixties go-go dancer.....not sure where that idea came from! Guess it's my salute to one of the greatest decades of music there ever was....or ever will be.
Kelly Gannon, Calgary Cartoonist

I can't show any pictures, but I had the pleasure to draw caricatures a couple weeks ago for The Calgary Flames at a private event. The venue was a great atmosphere that I draw at quite regularly, done up like an African village with a night time display close by. I've drawn tens of thousands of kids in my career, but when the event was over, all the entertainers agreed.....the kids at the event had to be the best behaved group we have ever entertained! ( and yes....the adults were as well....:) Great kids! And yes....a great team as well!

Crowsnest Pass Caricatures

I was asked a couple weeks ago to draw caricatures for a government agency at the Crowsnest Pass in the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre. (more on that later...). I drew mostly kids as it was a family event with my daughter Cara helping me by face painting the kids. I really enjoyed this event, great staff, venue and even liked the drive!

This young fella has a handshake that would break your fingers.......:)

The story behind the Interpretive Centre where I drew caricatures is an interesting and sad one at the same time. It was a small mining town located below Turtle Mountain. In 1903 it took about 100 seconds to have 90 million tons of limestone to come down the side of the mountain ( it's still hard to visualize that!). Around 70 to 90 people were killed during that horrific act, some bodies were never found. Below is a great turn of that century photo.

Calgary Face Painter

As Halloween quickly approaches, my daughter Cara has a couple openings left in the daytime to paint your face for that Halloween party you're planning on attending. To contact Cara, .....
caralgannon@gmail.com

Cruise Ship Caricaturist...Kelly Gannon

Throwback Thursday....About five years ago I had the great opportunity to have had the agency that handles Royal Caribbean Cruise lines and Celebrity Cruise lines call me to work around parts of the world drawing caricatures aboard their ships. This job was as close to Heaven on earth that I could get....:) I worked just two hours a day on "sea days" and had the "port days" off to go see the sights of whatever country I found myself in. It just doesn't get any better! :) Thanks Paul!!
Kel Gannon, Kelly Gannon

Calgary Caricature Artist

I had 3 fun gigs last week but am looking forward to this weekend as I'll be drawing caricatures for a professional sports team. I won't say who until after the event as there are rules involved at this one. :) The above cartoon/caricature of the delightful couple was drawn at a golf course event held in Calgary. Thanks Natalie!

Calgary Caricature Artist, Kelly Gannon

A wonderful event I drew caricatures at a couple weeks ago (that's how far behind I am posting....:). It was a themed event....1966.....a great era ( at least for music and television....AND cars). I only had a chance to get a couple pics......hurry, hurry....but it's all good!

Kelly Gannon

Calgary Face Painter

Calgary Face Painter Cara Gannon has another Halloween face paint design done up. To book a Halloween creepy face paint on Halloween day, email Cara at...   caralgannon@gmail.com
Cara Gannon, Calgary Face Painter

Calgary Cartoonist

I went to see a singer in a lounge a few weeks back and sure enough, the singer was so "visual," I drew a cartoon of him from memory. And yes....his show was a retro style show, thus the retro style cartoon drawing.
Kelly Gannon

Kelly Gannon...Calgary Caricature Artist

Here's a couple delightful polite young ladies I drew at Sunday's event. Generally the younger kids I now put some sort of "gag" and draw a body in, but at a little older age I found most don't want that......just a "head and shoulders" drawing seems to please.
Kelly Gannon....Calgary Caricature Artist

Creepy Halloween Face Painting

My Daughter, Cara, is a Calgary face painter and is now taking bookings for Halloween day to face paint in a...well....horror, creepy style! above is both Cara and a small sample of one of her many face paint designs. You can contact Cara for Calgary face painting at     caralgannon@gmail.com  And yes....she does cutesy, toned down kids face painting as well......:)
Calgary Face Painter

Wedding Event Caricatures

I had a few caricature events this Saturday....after my afternoon event it was hop in the vehicle, go through drive-through to get some fast food, change in the truck into a suit.....then on to draw at a wedding with wonderful guests! Mostly firefighters, 911 call operators and paramedics. Thanks Morgan!

The entrance leading to Saturday night's wedding had a bit of the decorations from the Calgary Zoo's spectacular night time show "Illuminasia." You can see the website that will show samples of what they look like when dark arrives....   http://www.illuminasiacalgaryzoo.com/#welcome

I couldn't see the show as I got out from the wedding after it had closed for the evening, but plan to go back as I draw caricatures at another event there in a couple weeks for an NHL hockey team private party....please do go to the website to see the fantastic light displays.

My fist gig yesterday had me drawing caricatures for a Ronald MacDonald House to raise money for parents of sick children to help lighten their burden by giving them a decent place to stay while visiting a sick child....such a GREAT cause! Please throw a few bucks into the money bin the next time you visit a MacDonalds....does the heart good!

Different Venues 2

Here's another venue last week I had the opportunity to spend four hours drawing caricatures at. I heard from staff that more than one customer complained about putting Christmas decorations up this early.....certainly not the staff's fault....:(

Different Venues 1

Last week had me drawing caricatures at eight events....all kinds of different venues, from inside to outside, classy to industrial, such as the venue above.

Here's just a few of the many kids I had a chance to caricature/cartoon today. I'm not going to use all the shading for a while because of the time factor... ( these kids stand in line in the hot sun for quite a while to get drawn...).  I kind of like the clean look to the drawings without the Prismastick shading. I have 9 caricature events in Calgary this week so I'll be able to determine if I scrap the shading altogether by the end of the week.
Kelly Gannon