I thank all the allies who landed on the beaches of Normandy that fateful day over half a century ago....thank you!

A couple of delightful guests I was fortunate to draw caricatures in downtown Calgary today...most of my guests worked at the courthouse. Couldn't have been better, bright and sunny and smiling people to be drawn....thanks...you made my day!

Kelly Gannon, characters in Calgary, Calgary characters, Kelly G

Calgary Caricatures

I got lucky with the weather today...bright and sunny for drawing caricatures in downtown Calgary....one day drawing in the mountains, the next day drawing the concrete jungle.

Calgary Caricature Artist

My art friend Veronica Funk invited to draw at one of her classes....thank you Veronica! I've always admired Veronica's work and business acumen as she is both an artist and a writer. You can check out information on her at...   

http://www.veronicafunk.com/

Calgary Wedding Caricaturist

A couple of the delightful guests who all flew in from Toronto to celebrate a wedding in The Rocky Mountains. And of course, out of about 20 pictures...only two turn out! The guests were all professionals in the financial field....fantastic group to draw caricatures at a wedding for....thanks Peggy!! And thanks to the guests getting a ribbing about Toronto's most infamous character....Rob Ford..............

Kelly Gannon, calgary wedding caricatures, wedding caricaturist

Caricatures in Calgary

This year I've had more caricature events drawing young adults thean ever before. The right hand side is just one third of the guests I drew that day. These were for a graduation....because of time and budget, it was agreed that instead of me drawing their hobby, sport, future occupation....or bad habit, it was quicker to draw a thought bubble or very simple drawing to save time, I JUST completed all by the time school ended that day.

Kelly Gannon, caricaturist in Calgary, characters in Calgary

Turks and Caicos....one day part of Canada?

Talks are under way that PERHAPS one day, Turks and Caicos could be to Canada, like Hawaii is to The United States.....but remember, we have quite a dull government in Ottawa at the present, come to think of it, we havn't had an adventurous govenment since the railroad was built through Canada. I guess it would be a stretch for a govenment to perhaps think that over the years billions of dollars go to other countries from Canadians that want to excape our harsh winter.....would it not be better to take a chance on letting Turks and Caicos join us? We've turned them down three times before....but knowing Canadian governments, I think we're going to let this one slip through our fingers again....pessimistic? Yes...I think we're still stuck on the 3m's.....moose, mounties and mountains.......lift your sites Harper........

Caricatures in Airdrie

Yesterday had me drawing caricatures for a terrific family in Airdrie....a couple of birthdays coming up for the family! Thanks Rob and Shav!

Caricaturist in Calgary

Just a few samples of the girl athletes that competed in Calgary for the annual Lacrosses Championships. Though the history of lacrosse is difficult to trace, it is said to have been created in Canada by the Native American Indians...all I know....it's one tough sport to play!

Kelly G, Kelly Gannon, caricatures in calgary, calgary caricatures

Calgary Caricaturist

A fun event for me drawing for the finals girls lacrosse play-offs in Calgary....these young ladies really give it their best in these tough games.

Kelly Gannon

Every year for the last four years I've had the honour of drawing caricatures for the girls play-off lacrosse games in Calgary. It's an intense one for me as each team that wants one has only an allotted amount of time, so speed is essential. It's a full out eight hours of drawing and when finish, I can hardly stand up! But all worth it! Thanks Rhonda!

Here's my yearly shameless self promotion post. I was surprised to see my name in not one newspaper, but two. Thanks so much Veronica!

It was a rainy cold day at this caricature event a week ago held in Okotoks at a golf and country club....but the party goers didn't let the gloomy ouside dampen their spirits.

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. And that's why I succeed."...Michael Jordan

This post is for drum geeks....it would bore all others! A year ago I purchased a Trixon cocktail drum kit. Cocktail drumsets are making a huge comeback as they are portable, take up very little floor space and can still get the essential sounds that a small group requires, though it does take some work learning how to play standing up, but worth the learning experience if you've ever loaded up a kit in a Canadian winter at 2:00am when it's 20 below. The kit I ordered came in a black gloss, but why Trixon ever got the crazy idea of putting white lugs and hoops on them.....only Trixon knows. Here is the set out of the box.

I just couldn't stand looking at the white accents (they were cheaply made as well....nice going Trixon....).so I purchased all new lugs, rods and hoops. Because I used to re-cover drumkits a number of years ago, I had the experience of taking a drum and changing the appearance to how I wanted it. I ordered the drum wrap from Chicago (Precision Drums....great company to deal with!). Below are the shells finished....more on the whole set-up in another post, as the entire kit has been triggered through a Roland module....later!

trixon drumkit, trixon drums, stand up drums

Calgary Caricatures

I regularly draw caricatures at a cosmetics counter at a department chain here in Calgary and have to rate it at my favorite caricature event to work at! The ladies are always in an upbeat mood to get drawn, they usually work in the oil sector as the store is connected to large office towers owned by oil companies. So to my all time favorite events...thanks Dorota! ........Did I mention I love these gigs?...............

Kelly Gannon, caricature artist, Calgary characters, caricatures in Calgary

Calgary Weather

Sigh....it's May here in Calgary...this weekend before going to my caricature gig, I wake up to this......... Mother Nature......jokes over now.....puuulllleeeeaaaaasssseeee..........................

Caricature Artist in Calgary

A charity I will always support is Ronald McDonald House. An event I've drawn caricatures at in Calgary for years always turns out to be a well supported, terrific event. My "station" is just before some of the bouncy houses (the picture above shows about one-sixth of the premises). The families will soon pour into the event and I'll be one busy caricaturist for the entire day.

My family has had to use Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton and I must say, it is a must for some families that has a sick child. We were there only for a few days, but some families are there for over a year while a heart becomes available for their child...imagine a families income being cut in half..the Father living in another province and the Mother having to pay for a hotel room so she can stay with her sick child....please always throw some money in the containers in your McDonald's the next time you're there....you NEVER know when it could affect you.......................

Kelly Gannon, Ronald McDonald House, Calgary's caricature artist

Dr. Seuss, real name is... Theodor Geisel, had his first childrens' book rejected......27 times! He then went on to write 46 kids books, selling over 200 million books...."experts" are not always correct.................

Calgary's caricature artist

While the Comic Con has hit Calgary with more power than a winter storm, I was hired to draw at a party before The Comic Con parade. (yes...they have their own parade here!) I didn't include some of the more costumed caricatures as you literally couldn't make out their faces...these ones were.....tamer. I wish this lasted all year around...so much creativity all in one place.

Kelly Gannon, caricature artist in Calgary, Calgary characters, Kelly G

Just a couple samples that I have been asked to hang in a library, then give a talk to a group of young people. Instead of framing the cartoon-caricatures, I just bought foam-core, car pinstiping and hangers used for pants. ( I can see the puzzled look on your face now ). When the pictures were printed out, I put a border around them after gluing them to the board, I chose black for this. Then to hang them up, I bought the pant hangers, snipped off the wire part on top, painted it black, them used the clip part (to hold the trousers) to clip onto the board, added some wire behind it and now it has a different look to it. Below are just a few of the many samples that will be displayed on the walls.
Kelly Gannon

The pirate pics below will be on display in the library as well. I had to come up with an older look to the black frames and white matting, so first I took the matting out, poured coffee onto them, then rubbed the coffee grounds into them, then took a few brown Copic Markers and drew thin lines on them to simulate old wood...I think it worked. As for the frames, I took the black ones, painted them brown, then sanded them with a light grit paper so some of the black came through, took a small hammer and used the claws (back of the hammer) and banged it up a bit, then added some darker felt pen to the fram to also simulate old wood.

With these caricatures, for the display, I simply bought car pinstriping and applied to the matting and frame to add a zing to the caricature.
Kelly Gannon

Okay...this has nothing to do with drawing caricatures, instead, it's for anyone interested in weightlifting. I did something to my wrist lifting weights and it hasn't gotten any better after about five months....panic sets in then! Luckily for me, it isn't my right hand, or drawing hand, then I would stop lifting weights until it returned to normal ( if it ever would.).

But...I'm a great believer in when something goes wrong...it's usually a good thing. ( I know...sounds odd....stick with me bodybuilders.)

After much research and thought, I decided to change tactics instead of quitting. I bought a heavy-duty wrist brace that is reinforced with a steel band. Second, I thought about what kind of exercises I could do that would keep my wrist straight. Voila....more COMPOUND exercises. I had been doing far too many "isolation" exercises in the last few years and now am forced to get back to compounds.

So you know...."compound" exercises are the heavier ones that concentrate on major muscle groups, you can work a larger group of muscles in a shorter time, as well as burning more calories (takes a great deal of energy)....but....you need some serious energy, as it takes much more weight to lift to make it worth the effort. For example, today I worked my shoulders. These can be shoulder presses with dumbbells, military presses and Arnold dumbbell presses.

The "isolation" exercises work mainly one muscle at a time....maybe that's why my workouts were three hours long..

So.....the great lesson I was able to come out with after hurting my wrist and having to adjust my workouts with compound exercises was that I can have a more effective workout with less time involved. ( though, I will introduce the isolation exercises again after my wrist has healed.) I loved the feeling today of having my shoulders have that "good pain" feeling when trying to put my shirt on, and my wrists were no longer sore after the workout, and I knew I worked them far more doing these exercises than my old routine.....so something deemed to be bad, can be a blessing..................