Posted in Block Party, celebration, tagged Jasper Indiana, Strassenfest on April 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Jasper, Indiana is the place to see and been…at least during Strassenfest.
To continue the previous post…
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Posted in Block Party, celebration, tagged Jasper, Schnitzelbank, Strassenfest, Umlaut on April 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Jasper is a town about an hour South of Bloomington. If you happen to find yourself there because you made a wrong turn off the highway, you may think you’ve been transported to a Bavarian village. The street signs are in German. Here, State Street is called “Staat Strasse.” So, Strasse means street. The annual festival where these disciplined, hardworking, law-abiding descendants of Germans allow themselves to make some major noise is called “Strassenfest.”
Jasper people have names with lots of Umlauts, like Kluemper and Buechlein, which I helped them pronounce. If it’s not the Umlaut, it’s the “sch” and “tz” clumps of consonants that catch your ear and eye. For example, a restaurant called “Schnitzelbank.” Say it. Have a Kleenex handy. Gesundheit!
I had the fortune to participate last August. (A little late in posting this, wouldn’t you say.) Over a three-day weekend I drew and practiced my German for a total of eleven hours. I was set up under the authoritative, majestic columns of the courthouse in the center of town. The columns may have been majestic and authoritative, but my drawings, not so much. With these jovial, good-natured Jasper folk sitting in front of me, my marker flowed easy and, well, jovially. Let’s just say it was a blast!
Thank you, Heath!
More pictures in the next post.
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Posted in Block Party, celebration, Kids party, Picnic, Technique, Therapy, tagged End-of-June picnic, Indianapolis, Post quarantine party on July 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Imagine a front yard as big as a city park for neighborhood joggers: twelve times around and you’ve done your 3 miles. To find such a yard in Indianapolis is thrilling enough, now add the post quarantine exhilaration of sharing this open greenery with a hundred and fifty ball tossing, laughing, chatting, singing, eating, and dancing newly liberated folk of all ages. It’s an annual End-of-June bash for members and friends of a near-by Catholic church. End-of-June? Yes, indeed, some people will find any time of year, any month on the calendar as an excuse to have a wonderful get-together.
I shared a tent with a face painter and a balloon twister. Smaller kids stood in line with a parent to have their wishes realized: lots of balloon dogs and star wars headgear and then vivid colors of a kitty face or a unicorn forehead.
School age kids were curious to see how I would portray them. I never draw children ha-ha-funny. I want to please them and, knowing that they themselves draw, I hope that my drawing will spark curiosity about how this expressiveness is achieved.
I only got to draw four adults. You can see that here we get some ha-ha-funny. Drawing adults is very different from drawing children. I love the psychological nuances of this business. When they see their drawing, adults will laugh out loud. A child will say, “Thank you, I like it.”
It was a wonderful afternoon. Thank you, Chad!
All contents copyright (C) 2010 Katherine Hilden. All rights reserved.
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Posted in Block Party, celebration, Friends, tagged Hagerstown on August 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Best work, Block Party, celebration, Friends, Promotion, Technique, tagged Goodkind, Growing Power, Jim Beam Apple, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Record, Red Tractor, Wentworth St on November 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I had a tent to myself, with extra chairs so that people waiting in line didn’t have to stand, and I drew steadily for six hours with only one short break. Wentworth Street was jammed with people. http://milwaukeerecord.com/city-life/relive-beet-street-harvest-festival-with-these-photos/
One of the pictures on this site shows a red tractor and you can see it in the background of my photos of the people I drew. This was my first year participating in this event. The Goodkind organizers said I’d be invited back. So next year you may see pictures of me in The Milwaukee Record. Yeah! I’ll be famous in Milwaukee.
The sponsor of my tent, btw, was Jim Beam Apple. Not being much of a bar hopper, I thought Jim Beam had progressed to making wholesome apple juice. Had to look it up: it’s whiskey made from apples. http://www.jimbeam.com/en-us/bourbons/apple. Next year at this event, I hope to get a sip. Just a sip; takes concentration to draw caricatures.
What’s particularly interesting to me is that the donations made in my tent all went to a charitable organization that teaches city people how to grow their own food in the city. That’s wonderful. We need more Growing Power. http://www.growingpower.org
Thanks Lindsey and Katie!
Too many drawings to post from that afternoon. Here’s a sampling.
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Posted in Benefit/Fundraiser, Best work, Block Party, Caricature, celebration, Friends, Picnic, Shower, tagged Bay Vew, Beet Street Harvest Festival, Goodkind, Milwaukee on November 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The caption for this drawing could be, “We made up at the Beet Street Fair.” When they first sat down in front of me they were nasty, nasty-funny. About nothing in particular, it was a general stand off, as in “are we breaking up or are we getting together again.” They told me that this on-and-off is how it goes with them, they love each other but always fight. You can see, I got some of the growl and the I’m-not-talkin’-to-you in the drawing. By the time the drawing was done, in about eight or ten minutes, their mood had warmed up to something close to happy. What is it about caricatures? Or was it the October sweetness in the air? Or just plain Milwaukee?
In mid-October Goodkind and two other bar/eateries put together this big street fair in the Bayview neighborhood of Milwaukee. It was a delight! What is it about Milwaukee? Every time I drive up there for a gig I come back wondering why I like those people so much. They’re at ease, funny, self-confident and good-looking. They can be stylish-edgy; when they show up in un-repentant hippie overalls, they come across as ironic, still stylish-edgy. Mind you, I’m not fishing for more gigs up in Milwaukee…it’s a long drive. But still, what is it about Milwaukee?
I enjoyed everyone who sat for me that glowing October afternoon. I have the pictures to prove that the pleasure was mutual. Here’s documentation of a few of the more riotous moments. More in the next post.
http://goodkindbayview.com/beet-street-harvest-festival/http://goodkindbayview.com/#six
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Posted in Block Party, tagged block party, North Riverside on August 16, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Big! Two city blocks, including a street. The place to be and to be seen. All very casual and enthusiastic. I drew fast in those two hours. Here’s a sampling.
This was a repeat performance. It’s always gratifying to be called back year after year. Thank you, Teresa!
All contents copyright (C) 2010 Katherine Hilden. All rights reserved.
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Posted in Best work, Block Party, celebration, Family party, Grand Opening, Kids party, Promotion, tagged Duncan Kids Academy, Madison Ave on July 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Duncan Kids Academy opened another center, the one on West Madison, and celebrated the occasion with a block party and open house. I had done two of their events before and was delighted to be asked back for this major expansion. The very little kids get fidgety as they sit on mom’s lap while I draw them, but it only takes about a minute for me to get the features down on paper. So, the child doesn’t appreciate what I do, but the parents absolutely love having these drawings for the child’s room. I drew forty-four children in three-and-a-half hours. Here are some of them. Thank you, Rich and Christine.
http://www.duncankidsacademy.com/
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Posted in Best work, Block Party, Caricature, celebration, Friends, gift, Retirement, Technique, tagged going away present, Naperville, The Blockheads on September 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
That’s what they call themselves, “The Blockheads.” They all live on the same up-scale block, are all successful in business, are all above-average good looking , and own big dogs. They are intensely sociable. When one couple was retiring and planning to move to their country house in (where was that?) Kentucky, something had to be done. A party had to be thrown and a caricaturist had to be called in to draw everybody.
So that’s what I did. I came to the party and sketched everybody very quickly. I took notes on color of eyes, etc, and on their interests. Then, back in my studio, I assembled the heads on a large piece of paper and finished the drawing in color. It’s a well-practiced process, works very well.
When Jeanne, the organizer of The Blockheads, got the finished drawing in the mail, she emailed me: “…we can’t stop laughing.” A pretty nice going-away present, if I say so myself.
So that’s what I do!
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Posted in Art appreciation, Best work, Block Party, Kids party, tagged art party, birthday party, Journee, Round Lake on March 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
At Journee’s birthday party yesterday only seven friends were able to make it: snow, too much snow, 
and the plows couldn’t keep up. But I’m glad I found this cozy, neat town house in the winding roads because these girls were very excited. The theme of this super well organized party was art. Journee loves art. The girls, wearing their new party-favor aprons, painted at the kitchen table. I was set up in the living room, where, as you can see, I drew every one of them as artists. They loved it. Happy Birthday, Journee!————————
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Caricatures Chicago and Beyond 