Car Show

My Son Chris and I attended the car show here in Calgary Sunday....hmmmnnn, just a bit disappointing, you're better off going to a show and shine and not pay the ridiculous parking prices that The Stampede Board seems to think as reasonable. This is NOT to take away from the beautiful vehicles that were there, they were top notch. For example, there is a beautiful Corvette behind me....but in this car show they only had a couple Corvettes.....??? To The Calgary Stampede Board, perhaps set your standards and sights a bit higher.Below are a few of my favorites and again, all cars were beautifully done. The car behind me....well, that would be my dream car...:)

I put these beautiful cars on this sight as when it comes to creativity, skill, art and artisans that do what most of us can't, this to me is a piece of art equal to any painting I've seen out there.

Calgary Caricatures

Saturday evening had me drawing caricatures at a 50th birthday party with a great, fun group of guests. My camera was dying so only a couple of pics turned out....I must start using my phone to take pictures from now on.

Kids Caricatures

A week ago I had the opportunity to draw kids at a church social gathering....and of course, most of my pictures never turned out....I must get a new camera or start using my phone. Because of the relaxed atmoshere and time limit I was given, I had time to draw a few bodies to go with the caricatures.

Jeremy Hotz

I drew this caricature of one of the best comedians out there, Jeremy Hotz. My Son and I had a chance to meet Jeremy on the weekend and what a wonderful personality he was! He liked the caricature I drew of him (or else he was a great actor!), signed it for me....then asked me to give him my autograph...how fun was that! :) If you get a chance to see a Jeremy Hotz show...DO! I've seen many comedians and he ranked at the very top, my throat was sore the next day from laughing so hard......

A fun photo-op with Jeremy after the show with my handsome son Chris...(JUST in case you're wondering...Chris is the young fellow in black....:)

Calgary Face Painter

A shout out to a Calgary face painter I worked with on the weekend, Cara Gannon, for your events, parties, you can contact Calgary Face Painter Cara at    caralgannon@gmail.com

Cara Gannon

Caricature Signature

Sometimes I see a caricature artists signature scribbled at the bottom of the page with no way to make out what it says, I'm guilty of this as well! But to show the importance of writing your name neatly, which luckily I did in this case, this young lady that framed the caricature I drew of her has hired me for two events coming up....we never know who we're drawing and with the power of Google, they can get ahold of us quite easily, which this lady did....thanks Alane!

Kelly Gannon

Re-Cover Your Drumset

Absolutely nothing to do with drawing caricatures, I know, but inbetween caricature events I've been busy re-covering my drum kit. I've re-covered approximately 20 kits throughout the last couple decades and still love seeing the kit with it's new look! First the new covering is ordered from Chicago ( right now the exchange rate will give you cardiac arrest....), after careful measurements. Precision Drums is a very good company that I've delt with over the years.

After stripping off the old wrap and carefully removing the badge and grommet (though you can buy new grommets ) first "dry fit the wrap to make sure it doesn't go past the bearing edge. It should overlap a couple of inches in length before glued.

Then tape the wrap tightly around the drum using painters tape to keep the wrap in place. Make sure the seam is placed inbetween the lugs, on the bass drum, have the seam placed at the bottom, the tom toms have the seam placed on YOUR side of the drum kit when set up so it's not visible to someone looking at the kit from the front.

I use contact cement and lightly sand the area to be glued first. Then take a sharp object such as a long nail and poke from the inside all the holes to be drilled. From the outside of the shell, drill the holes.( if you drill from the inside, it will push the wrap outward and bits of wood will fall inbetween the wrap and shell.

Place the lugs back on....take off the tape.....look at your new drum kit...take pictures and bang away to your heats content!

Show Home Caricatures

Wednesday had me drawing caricatures in Calgary at a lottery show home. The home above is priced at 2.4 million dollars. Anyone reading this that doesn't live in Canada may not know we here pay dearly for our housing. The guests below were designers and media folks....all fantastic folks!

The fellow with the beard gave me permission to "have fun with the caricature"......so I did! All in fun.

Kelly Gannon

Editorial Cartoonist

When drawing caricatures in Calgary at corporate events, I'm constantly asked what I used to do before being an event caricaturist....and that is....an editorial cartoonist. After trying to get into papers, then successfully getting into them on a regular basis, just shy of four years, I wanted out. My feeling about newspapers now are that they're great for lining the birdcage. Having to read everyday about narcissistic politicians everyday really takes a toll on your outlook on people. Some nights I was up until 2:00am to finish the cartoon in order to meet the deadline ( for me it was 3:00pm), holidays were spent sometimes drawing in the bathroom of a hotel room drawing while my family slept. Then dealing with....uggghhh....editors, though one of mine ( Fort McMurray Today) was TERRIFIC! Thanks Darrel! I now see why every editorial cartoonist I've met is...well....miserable..... THEN....by chance I flew down to Florida for a convention, and there were "party caricaturists" drawing there....looked interesting! It stuck in my mind....then another trip to Disneyland, and sure enough, theme park caricaturists were drawing guests there ( eventually I landed up with a job at Disneyland drawing guests and my boss was the same guy that years before had drawn myself and my family!:)

So one day I woke up...decided I didn't want to deal with newspapers, and read about creepy politicians ( which I still have the view is the majority of them ) and quit my papers....and a wave of peace came over me that I made the right decision.Though it is a bit of a rush to open a newspaper, and see something that you created from scratch and hard work, though it looks easy. But...that was about 15 years ago....the "party caricatures" are now my focus and all is well in that world....:)
Kelly Gannon

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...