Ural wish list...:)

Ha....a friend of mine that is a motorcycle enthusiast invited me out to a motorcycle dealership to view motorcycles with him a few days ago.....I should never do that. In the past I've owned two motorcycles, but after a bit of a wipeout on the motocross one, I decided to have four wheels under me instead. When viewing these bikes I fell in love with the Ural bike complete with side-car. I know it looks like it's straight out of WW11 ( and used by the opposing side! ), but with my love of WW11 history, perhaps that's what attracted me to it. Even though the bike is manufactured in Russia, I have heard positive comments on the Ural......I should never look at something like this as it's been on my wish list since I viewed it.....damn!
Kelly Gannon

Keith Richards Caricature

I had drawn this caricature of Keith Richards a few years back, but totally re-vamped the whole cartoon as of last week. I had Mr. Richards in the period of say....20 years ago....when he wasn't totally grey and just a few less wrinkles. Keith Richards so far has to be my favorite personality to draw....LOTS to work with! And yes....I hope to see The Rolling Stones touring into their eighties! I seen them when they were on tour in their sixties....they were great!
Kelly Gannon

Drive By - Train - Cover - Trio Avenue

I had an invite to attend a birthday party this weekend at a terrific venue that was done up in a 50's design, complete with chrome chairs with red leather, black checkered floors and if you watched the sitcom "Happy Days," it would be like the diner on the show. The guests including myself dressed in 50's style attire. ( or what we all invision it to have been....actually only a very small percentage wore the black leather jackets....). I drew this wonderful lady and her equally wonderful husband and as we chit-chatted, something just hit me....I asked who her brother was and sure enough he is the keyboard player I did a series of recordings with last year. ( he's now in Arizona). ( I'm playing drums on the recording). 

Calgary Caricature Artist

Yesterday had me drawing caricatures for a birthday party here in Calgary with a wonderful group of teens! When this body situation is drawn for the guys, it immediately gets a smile....and a large one at that! :)

Calgary caricatures..

Calgary Caricaturist

I spent about 5 days up in Kananaskis Resort drawing caricatures of the families. Sometimes I worked in this room, and other times right beside the buffet! Torture! :) I never took many pictures as most of the guests were kids, but did get a couple. All in all, a fun time and when not working, I had a chance to go to the gym and relax....and yes....eat a lot!

BUDDY RICH IMPOSSIBLE DRUM SOLO *HQ*

Nothing to do with caricatures, but even if you dislike drum solos, hate big band music or whatever, you HAVE to admit after watching this, Buddy Rich is incredible! I had the honour of seeing Buddy Rich play live twice before his death.....I just about floated out of the auditorium! It's sad that young people don't get a chance to know Buddy Rich's music and talent, seems Neil Peart from the Canadian rock band "Rush" takes the spotlight....don't get me wrong, Neil Peart is a monster talent, but even he would admit....he's no Buddy Rich....he bows to Buddy's talent. What is beautiful about this is video is that he's wearing a suit....has a small set of drums and is advanced in age....oh Buddy...there will never be another like him!

Kananaskis Resort

Early tomorrow morning ( Wednesday), I leave to draw caricatures at The Kananaski Resort in Kananaskis Country. It's a pleasant drive, as long as travellers realize they are in the mountains with animals crossing the highway constantly and anyway.....why speed to get there, enjoy the scenery. (you can tell I've driven this route before....:). It's five years now I've been drawing caricatures for the families up there. I do have to return to Calgary to draw at an event, then back up, Christmas Day alone has me drawing two events at the resort. Luckily my lovely Daughter Cara will be doing the temporary airbrush tattoos up there. But to all...."Merry Christmas!"

Heartland TV Show caricatures

A week ago I had the pleasure of drawing a private party for the cast and crew of the television show "Heartland." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_(Canadian_TV_series)
The lighting made my camera, which is not good quality anyway, even worse....so excuse the terrible pictures...( my inexperience..:)

I wasn't too sure of the actors, but did draw the main actress Amber Marshall ( a sweety!). A great evening for me! :)

Corporate Caricatures

Saturday evening had me drawing caricatures in Calgary at The BMO Centre. Nice looking crowd! The agent gave us very small paper to draw on though....wow, that was tough, but manageable. I have a rule of thumb when drawing corporate caricatures.....keep things fun and cartoony, no need for extreme exaggeration really....but that's only me.

I did a caricature event last night in this beautiful hotel situated in Okotoks. Because I had to get through everyone...well, no pictures!

Corporate Caricatures

Ready to walk into a corporate event to draw caricatures and I love the entrance! This week had me drawing caricatures at three events until the weekend, then another busy Saturday and Sunday. I still received two more Christmas bookings on Wednesday and low and behold, I was able to squeeze them in perfectly. This event was all engineers and road planners, and yes....they were terrific to draw! Thanks Paige! ps....you'll have to excuse the terrible photography...I tried using my phone on these ones....I certainly won't win any awards with these...

Pomchi

Our little pooch is getting comfortable in his new home....but wow....his energy! He's a cross between a Chihuahua and a pomeranian....I think the Chihuahua side of him took over, but how can you stay mad at a face like this....only about two hours....

Party Caricatures in Calgary

Some wonderful, fun guests I had the pleasure of drawing caricatures in Calgary for last night....thanks! When the guests are like they were last night, it sure makes my job easier to do, if only I had this crowd every event I draw at! :) The event was held at Fort Calgary, a building built in 1875 by The Northwest Mounted Police....I read when hanging was legal in Canada, there were "folks" hanged there.....:( Thanks again Karen!

Christmas at the Gannon's

Creativity comes in different forms, such what some may think is simple Christmas design, but it's harder than one may think! :) My Wife did these Christmas displays above ( and many, many more) for our house this year. One year I tried decorating the tree....it looked like Stevie Wonder had a go at it.....the job is now relegated to someone who knows what they're doing....my Wife! Great job Maizie!

Jack Davis turns 90 today.

The GREAT Jack Davis turns 90 today! You may ask, "who is Jack Davis?" In the cartoon world, he is most any cartoonist's inspiration for doing what we do. The old MAD Magazine being Jack Davis's introduction to all teenage cartoonists who devoured each issue with his incredible cartoon style in each issue. The magazine no longer has cartoonists such as Jack Davis or Mort Drucker anymore.

Jack Davis work hit us all with the same impact as The Beatles did, both being from the 60's. Though my work doesn't resemble Mr. Davis, he was my inspiration for getting into my job. I'll explain....:) I tried to emulate his style when I was an editorial cartoonist, (as did many other cartoonists), then tiring of newspapers in general, I was looking around at other opportunities as a cartoonist....nothing came up!

I heard that a caricature association in the 90's was having Jack Davis as a guest speaker in Cocoa Beach, Florida.....that was it, I hopped on a plane (when air travel wasn't stressful), and headed down there. While there, I seen all these caricature artists drawing guests in mere minutes....something I could never do at that time. With thousands of drawings later, I thought I was ready to draw at my first "live" event and from there it took off.

So in a round-about way, again, Jack Davis had an influence on my career! So with that, I say....Happy Birthday Jack Davis!    ps....yes....he was a wonderful person to meet!

Studio Caricatures

I learned my lesson on this caricature assignment. First off, I don't do studio CARICATURES, but ALWAYS welcome studio CARTOONS.....there is a huge difference. When the client contacted me, he asked about CARTOONS, so I said yes, gladly will do them all. But I met with the gentleman, and he certainly was a gentleman, and after describing the job, I quickly realized he meant CARICATURES....NOT cartoons......a LOT of work, right at Christmas where I'm doing about 5 gigs a weekend and , for example am doing 3 caricature events just on the week days....then it's up to Kananaskis Resort to spend right up to New Years Day drawing caricatures for the visiting guests. I had the option of dropping out then, but he was such a nice person, I decided, what the heck...who needs sleep and food anyway.....So my lesson learned is to make clear if the drawing will be a cartoon...or a caricature.......:) There's plenty more but am too tired to post.....:)

Christmas Parties

The crowd is listening to speeches.....then it's my turn to try to entertain them!

It was tough to draw "doubles" with the tiny paper my agent supplied, but it worked! The venue was beautiful to work in...The Calgary Glencoe Club....and yes....free parking! :)

Calgary Kids Party Caricatures

The Christmas season has me drawing caricatures here in Calgary for many company family Christmas parties. Here's a couple different venues from last weekend, as you can see, because of the size of the venues, there's plenty of kids that will be attending.....which means, head down.....and draw! What I like about these events are that they are always in the morning or afternoon, leaving the evenings free for the adult parties.......:)

Calgary Party Caricatures

I had the opportunity to draw caricatures here in Calgary at a venue I've never worked at before. It was a smaller, more intimate event which is exactly what I love working at! Here's just a couple samples of one of the five events I drew caricatures here in Calgary at....:)