Stampede Gigs

After having drawn at an event in the morning, Philadelphia caricaturist Emily Anthony and myself drove out to Priddis to draw caricatures at one of the most amazing resorts I have ever seen, I never knew something like this fairy tale property even existed in Alberta.

I really love drawing caricatures next to bands at events, but very much enjoyed the above band, The Honey Crooners, flown in from Victoria, BC. They recreated the sounds of the early Las Vegas strip entertainers such as Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr. and so on. Their website is    www.honeycrooners.com      plus....you just gotta love a band with a moniker like that..............

Stampede Gigs

Wow...I'm looking tired and grizzly, I guess getting up at 4:30am and getting from event to event in rush traffic is starting to wear on me. I did a drawing event with Beverley Mahood, a Canadian recording artist and actress....she has an upbeat style of music that has been a mainstay since the 90's when I would see her on CMT. Her website is   www.beverleymahood.com
Plenty more Stampede pics to come, though the weather this year insists on not co-operating. But I've had the good fortune to draw caricatures in many different kind of venues this year, as well as see some terrific bands playing at these events, and the formula wasn't just country music.

Calgary Stampede Caricatures

Another Calgary Stampede is upon us here in Calgary, and a busy time for Calgary caricaturists! The first day a corporate event was held in the grounds and three more today in and around the city. The below pic is of a jewel studded cow in an oil company's lobby admired by Philadelphia caricaturist Emily Anthony who has come out to Calgary to help draw at events. ( What woman doesn't want her very own jewel studded cow statue?) Tomorrow will be a busy day as well, with an airline event held at the grounds and another downtown party to draw at. Tough part is....waking up at 4:30 am.......

Canada Day Caricatures

Beautiful group of guests in Nanton! I drove out to Nanton to draw caricatures for Co-Operators Insurance today ( I was hired by Kel Studios Entertainment) to give back to a community that was affected by the devistating floods in High River. It was a sunny day today..perfect for drawing wonderful people in a park on Canada Day!

Wedding Caricaturist

Wonderful guests to draw!  That's how I would describe the guests at last night's wedding held in Banff at The Rimrock Resort. Lovely eclectic group as one side were rock musicians with a flair for the artistic side, the other side a group of professionals such as doctors and engineers.....congradulations to the Robson couple!! The young lady above came in from Taiwan for the wedding.

Banff gig!

I'm just getting ready to leave to draw at an event at this hotel in Banff for tonight....called The Rimrock Resort. I'd had another event this morning to draw at but because of the floods in Alberta, this event took priority. Though it's only about three hours away in driving time, I'm leaving five hours early as only one lane is open to traffic.....then when I arrive it's a seven hour gig.....I think I'll sleep well when I arrive home....early tomorrow morning.............

Fab Friday!

Today's "Fab Friday" goes to the women that I do caricature events with...the face/body painters of Calgary...in my humble opinion, some of the best anywhere! These pics are from a calendar that is now published, and for sale! There are of course seven more of them, I kept these pictures at low resolution for obvious reasons, but the calendar is done in a glossy finish of high quality pictures, taken by a professional photographer not far from where I live. If you would like to purchase a calendar with these pics and many more of equal quality, just email me and I'll get you in contact with the right person. To Melody, Kayla, Amanda and Lucie...you are all truly amazing at what you do!!! 

Caricatures!

A caricature event held at a private school in Calgary. Thanks guys for having a sense of "ha ha.".......you get through life a bit easier with it! Thanks Cole and Thomas! Have a great summer!

Bank Caricatures

Well.....his girlfriend WAS there!!! Love drawing at a major Canadian Banking institute that I've been doing for about four years now....great customers! Thanks Merle!

Caricaturing Kids!

A couple of delightful young pre-teens caricatured from an event in Calgary I drew at Sunday afternoon. I remember when I first started drawing at events, I was quite hesitant when trying to capture a likeness of a young adult as their features are not fully developed yet. A lot of caricature artists still make the young adult look about 10 years older than their actual age....there are tricks. I was so fortunate to get a chance one summer to work drawing caricatures in Disneyland, California and my manager told me many of the little tricks to make the child look their age....thanks Tom! Terrific event by the way...thanks Cara from Kel Studios Entertainment!

Wedding Caricaturist

Saturday evening had me drawing caricatures in Calgary at one of the most beautiful weddings I've drawn at. Because of the mandatory evacuation orders for downtown Calgary because of the severe floods, the original venue which was to be held downtown was no longer accessible to the wedding planners. Quick thinking by all came up with a great venue for weddings, a venue which I draw private parties for The Calgary Flames hockey team in, one of my favorites...Spruce Meadows, a world class horse jumping park. MANY kudos goes to Samantha and Joyce from Urban Vogue for all their hard work in such short notice.       http://www.urbanvogueweddings.com/about-us/

A world class corporate/wedding band was brought in from Vancouver to entertain the guests     http://www.famousplayersband.com/

Check out Famous Players Band....this band is THE BEST event band I have ever heard....maybe a little bit too good as I had a hard time concentrating on drawing while listening to unbelievable music!

Even my "work area" had a nice look to it!! Thanks Kathryn and Geoffrey!! Congradulations!

Calgary Floods!

Calgary was hit with the storm of the century...though it lasted over the last week or so, areas in Calgary were completely flooded out as were surrounding towns. Police had mandatory evacuation notice to 100,000 residents, one of them being my Sister. The Calgary Stampede is only weeks away and The Saddledome along with all it's Jumbotron equipment is submersed in water. Million dollar homes were ruined and residents were made to leave immediately. Some small towns on the outskirts were completely evacuated, some had all the residents evacuate to a shelter as the roads were closed. I had four great gigs this weekend and so far two are cancelled, one the venue has changed as it was downtown and no vehicles are allowed into downtown Calgary, and the last event...who knows, I'll hear tomorrow as tonight will be another heavy rainfall. I'm a little worried as next week I have a seven hour event at The Rimrock Resort in Banff and hope the roads are open. We all think this only happens in third world countries, I think city planners are now going to look at certain aspects a little differently now. I really pray that people that lost so much of their assets can recover quickly from this disaster.

Fab Friday!

Fab Friday has to go to Chip Foose....Wow...I just love it when he starts a drawing on his show "Overhaulin.'" It will irritate the "digital geeks" of the art world to see how Chip uses only Vellum paper and Prismacolor Markers with the odd shot of paint and even a Bic pen to capture a picture that has movement and all done "traditionally." I can't count how many studio caricature jobs I've turned down because the client wanted a certain model of car included in the picture, it takes a special talent like Chip Foose to achieve this...and he's fast!

I also love the fact he can tear apart a car and rebuild and paint it to look brand new, and his business acumen is on top as well......my Fab Friday goes to Chip Foose!

Party Caricatures in Calgary

Drawing party caricatures in Calgary is always interesting as I never know which venue I will be at from week to week. Last evening's venue drawing caricatures was at Flames Central in Calgary....a beautiful venue for events and live bands. The guests I caricatured were from all over Canada in a closed to the public event. As Stampede Week is right around the corner, the theme for the event was cowboy....it was great practice drawing guests with cowboy hats on, a practice I only do for 10 days a year. My view (though I never had time to watch the band) was off to the side of the band....really enjoyed listening to them while drawing, I much prefer a live band over a DJ any day. I took a quick shot of the ceiling display in the above pic...there were many more logo's on the ceiling but couldn't fit the pics in my camera. The last time I drew here was for a corporate event with top notch Philidelphia caricaturist, Emily Anthony where the company brought in Creedence Clearwater Revisited, members of the orignal 60's band.
Kelly Gannon, caricaturist in calgary, calgary sketch artist, caricatures calgary

Calgary Kid's Party Caricatures

Yesterday's caricature event was held in Airdrie for a doctor. A couple of the "Young Turks" in attendance at the event. This is the age I really like drawing as they usually have "hat hair" which is always fun...thanks guys!
Caricatures kids party in Calgary, Kelly Gannon

Caricatures In Calgary

Friday's event was a large one, there are about the same amount of tents on the other side, I just didn't have a wide-angle lens. At first I was to be drawing caricatures outdoors, but soon the weather changed from "not bad" to "miserable!" This was actually a challange as, though it's my own fault not bringing a jacket, my hand was shaking so bad from being cold I thought the caricatures would look like they came out of a bad fax machine......

A terrific group of engineers and accountants were caricatured in Calgary at a corporate party...thanks to all!

Caricaturist in Calgary

Tuesday evening had me drawing caricatures in downtown Calgary at The Hiatt for a corporate event. ( you get the picture now that most of my caricature events in Calgary are for the corporate sector). A bubbly group of professionals were on hand to get drawn that night. Thanks to all!