The View at Mount Adams, Cincinnati

Forget Paris. Forget Rome. The Côte d’Azur? Santorini?  Don’t make me yawn.  For a real party, take me to Cincinnati.

The View at Mt. Adams is the place to see and be seen.

It’s on Celestial Street. Indeed!

We were celebrating the retirement of a top executive of an international firm.

The design of the restaurant itself is formal.

But for this party the sartorial message was upscale casual. Why not?  Since upscale is your element anyway, come as you are: elegant and relaxed.

I enjoyed drawing these people. Can you tell,  they enjoyed it, too?

The party went from 7 to 11.  The hilarity around me made me reach for magenta a lot.  The executives got plaid golf shorts, bellybuttons galore.  Then as the evening wore on  more flesh got exposed.  In the drawings only!!!! Please, blame the markers.

More on this party and drawing techniques in the next post.

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Valentine’s Day Party in Danville

This Valentine’s Day celebration was held in the party room at Danville Nursing Home for the residents there. All but two residents were in wheel chairs, some had oxygen tubes.  I mention this merely to set the scene a bit, since I am only posting pictures of my drawings, not the people.  But you will immediately recognize my approach here:  I drew everybody young, energetic and glamorous. I was rewarded with quick giggles, some admiration of my technique and “you made me look the way I was when I was young.”  Right, Richard, you got it.  That was my take on this crowd. Nursing homes are always rewarding to work in.  I always learn and go home with things to reflect on.  Thank  you, Pat, Kerri and Jesse!

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Victory Center in Melrose Park, Illinois

This is the end-of-summer picnic at a retirement community in Melrose Park, a SW suburb of Chicago.  I’ve done this event for years and have drawn some people several times, like T-Bone and Ron. Repeat performances don’t get boring, not at all. It’s great to be able to greet people by name and to be recognized with a smile.  The jazz ensemble is always excellent.  I love drawing the great age differences from really little to very advanced in years. And of course, the stylish pre-teens!——–

 

Thank  you, Brenda.————————————————

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Laughter therapy for medical types

And now up to Dawson’s in Brownsburg for the retirement party of a General Surgeon & Chief Medical Officer at a teaching hospital nearby.  Medical types work very hard at, you know, life-and-death matters.  They need to laugh out loud every now and then. So, naturally, to make that happen the son found me.

The guest of honor’s alma mater was Butler and he’s still a devoted basketball fan. You can find him in the gallery below, dribbling crosscourt.

But I’m leading with some lab people, who came out funniest of the whole bunch, don’t you think?

Thank you, Michael.

  

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Victory Center in Melrose Park

At large summer festivities there’s often a face painter. Face painters have become very  skillful and imaginative.  Though I encourage people to get there caricature first before they go over to the face painting table, they often forget or ignore that and then come to my stand with a painted face that looks like a mask.  In that case, as followers of these posts know by now, I draw them in profile.  That way I can at least approximate a likeness.

But when I saw this woman I broke the rule.  She’s obviously an older woman, a resident at the retirement home actually, and her demeanor was gentle and dignified.  But her cat face was so funny and endearing, that I decided to go for it.  I simply drew a cat with her face.  She loved it and said she would send it to her kids.

I did a family day at this retirement home about three years ago  and this year I recognized some of those  faces.  That’s always fun.  One of the residents is Mr. T-Bone, who always wears his black baseball cap with that name on it. He remembered me, too.

The Soul Entertainers Band, led by Carlton Moore, was excellent:   (219) 688-1117.

https://katherinehilden.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/christmas-party-at-the-melrose-park-victory-center/

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Business Meeting at Dave & Buster’s

Dave & Buster’s in the Hawthorn Mall is categorized as a “sports bar” but as far as the eye could see, at least my eye, it was all about video games, humongous ones that popped and shrieked. On the periphery, surprisingly enough, there were sound proofed meeting rooms.  This is where the upper echelons of an international pharmaceutical company held their all-day conference to discuss marketing  and other business nuances I don’t understand.  I was called in to draw four panel members, one of whom was retiring to his home town in Japan and was to receive my drawing as a going-away gift.  I walked in at the designated time, sat down inconspicuously and drew the four heads in a few minutes.  Then I disappeared into the adjacent room, drew in the bodies and slid it into the frame that my host had provided, complete with the mat that the team members had already signed.  The $20 frame was sturdy and elegant.  What a great gift idea for the man who has everything!  Thank you, Dax.—————————–

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Grandparents Day in Lake Zurich

For this grandparents day at the Silverado in Lake Zurich we had perfect weather, one of those glorious September days that feel like half summer and half fall. I drew kids and staff. A most enjoyable afternoon! Thank you, Michelle.
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The Blockheads in Naperville

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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KitchenAid Demonstrator Retires

This drawing was commissioned by a KitchenAid office in Wisconsin as a gift to a colleague whose specialty was demonstrating the use of these machines in television programs. She was retiring after many years and hundreds of television programs. The juggling motif comes in handy in a case like this. It allows me to show that this person is energetic and enthusiastic even though in her tv demos she was standing behind a counter and the KitchenAid machines were also just standing there. Bo-o-o-ring, not allowed.
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Ripped Off Sleeve

Chicago Police Officer retires. He loves his job, loves Chicago, loves his Harley. He is shown ripping off the sleeve with the CPD star to reveal a tattoo on his bicep: #1 Tact Guy. Now, I don’t know what that refers to. Is “tact” short for “tactical,” or was he the most tactful guy on the force? Or is tact a tactile part of the Harley engine? No matter, this was fun to draw. Anytime you come up with an activity to put into the drawing, the work will be stronger than, say, having someone sit at a desk with a lot of awards around him/her. Oh, please, give me a ripping idea and I’ll tactically ride with it.
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