MY HEAD IS IN THE CLOUDS: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

My head is in the clouds, always. Oftentimes when I look at clouds, I see images of things familiar. For example, in this cloud KING KONG jumped out at me, maybe from Skull Island?

KING KONG CLOUD

And in this cloud, DAVY CROCKETT, king of the wild frontier just happened to be sauntering by, hunting for bears?

DAVY CROCKETT CLOUD

Every time I watch evening fireworks, I see spiders!

SPIDERWORKS!

Methinks these cloud pictures are classic examples of PROJECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY. Yes! Of course they are! I am projecting my own thoughts (from my own experiences) onto the cloud stimuli! And not-so-strangely, I have been suffering such projective psychology for years and years and years!

But also, dear reader, I suffer the psychology of being delusional, some unreasonable ideas that I hold, I truly believe to be reasonable!

One such delusion is that I am immortal! And because I am immortal, my chronological age of 74 years is nary a factor in my physical health. This morning, for example, just before starting this blog entry, I went for a three-mile run (around Wascana Lake), followed by a one-hour bike ride (through Wascana Centre). During this past week I still managed to hit the weights in my downtown gym (DOWNTOWN FITNESS) at least four times, and I went to my Muay Thai class (kick-boxing) at my martial arts gym (ASCENDENT MARTIAL ARTS) which I do just once per week.

To continue my fitness bluster, anytime in summer, if the temperature hits 30 degrees Celsius or higher, I head to the outdoor pool (WASCANA PARK) and swim individual medley (IM) lengths. Every weekend I gear up in my very thick cold-water wetsuit, complete with mask, snorkel, and fins, and free dive in a gelid Saskatchewan lake.

Because I am immortal, I am still happily and full-time gainfully employed! For 23 years I was employed full-time as a high-school guidance counsellor with the public school system, while also teaching third- and fourth-year Psychology classes as a sessional instructor at our local university, and while doing these two jobs, ran a part-time private practice as a professional hypnotherapist. Factoid: I am still on contract as a full-time as a teacher-counsellor, designing and delivering a program, transitioning young offenders from custody into the community. And my private hypnotherapy practice is still thriving.

Because I am immortal, as I have been these past couple winters, I plan on keeping my winter gig as part-time alpine ski instructor and shall continue to do so as long as my love of skiing lasts, which so far as been a mere 53 years -- I started downhill skiing in the winter of 1972!

Because I am immortal, my plan is to be a part-time caricaturist from here to eternity. Since my youth I have drawn pencil portraits – I sometimes love to reminisce with my old classmates, most of whom were my models! Lately in my adulthood, I have now tossed my pencils and replaced them with Sharpies! Monochrome caricatures, I have decided, are the way to go! 

Here are some examples of what I have in store to amuse myself at least partway throughout my unending existence:

To continue in my delusion of having an everlasting life, I have decided I cannot be milquetoast when it comes to cultivating a sharp sense of opportunity when it comes to becoming a professional caricaturist. THE MANITOU BEACH BUSKER FESTIVAL was my first professional opportunity to show my wares.

“MAY WE FIND JOY IN THE MOMENTS THAT MAKE UP THE INFINITE, 

AND MAY OUR HEADS BE IN THE CLOUDS FOREVER!”

And for my American readers, 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, AMERICA! 

MAY YOUR DAY SHINE AS BRIGHT AS YOUR FIREWORKS!

 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT ... SENSE!

A PASSER-BY IN WASCANA PARK

It’s summertime and I am all agog to go busking! For me, busking has primarily meant slingin’ and strummin’ my twelve string and blowin’ my blues harp on a variety of street corners, hoping the passers-by will toss loads of coin and bills into my open guitar case. This summer, though, shall be different. This summer I’ll be drawing quick caricatures for those passers-by who are willing to stop and pose for five minutes, then pay me ten bucks for doing so.

I have, in the past, occasionally exchanged my guitar and harp for a pencil and sketchpad, then drew pencil portraits rather than strum and blow original songs. But this summer, regarding busking, I plan to park my guitar and pencil, pick up a Sharpie, then offer five-minute monochrome marker caricatures rather than twenty-minute pencil portraits.

For July, I’ve already booked two gigs as a caricaturist. This coming Saturday, June 28^th, I’ll be drawing at the MANITOU BEACH BUSKING FESTIVAL in Watrous, Saskatchewan, and after that, drawing caricatures at the OLD WIVES LAKE FESTIVAL, July 19^th, in Mossbank, Saskatchewan!

And how did I get from being a pencil portrait busker to a quick-draw caricaturist? Both the long and short answer is simply through practice, practice, practice, and more practice! Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are those who graciously volunteered to be my models my practicing five-minute caricatures:

ANOTHER PASSER-BY IN WASCANA PARK

Here are some staff from my favorite guitar shop, B-SHARP in REGINA, SK.

CRAIG (OWNER)

TYSON

JORDAN

MY BEST FRIEND LOOKS 20 YEARS YOUNGER!

MY COLLEAGUE

IN HER NEW HOUSE!

IN HIS NEW HOUSE!

Here is my first pet five-minute caricature.

"GEORGE" AT WORK

Here is my first photo five-minute caricature.

MY CALGARIAN ACADEMIC FRIEND

MY CALGARIAN FRIEND, AGAIN!

My second photo five-minute caricature:

MY DRIVE-THRU FRIEND

TAKEN AT THE DRIVE-THRU

Accustomed to the peripatetic nature of my traveling light and stealth as a guitar busker, I shall carry these same traits into my caricature busking. For my caricature buskspot, I will simply scatter on the ground around me, a few laminated pictures of some of those (above) who marched in my Chaucerian Parade.

For my caricature debut this Saturday at MANITOU BEACH, I am planning on some basic creature comfort and convenience for my buskspot. I will pack along a couple of lightweight canvas lawn chairs, where my consumers and I shall sit knee-to-knee while I sketch their visages. 

In the meanwhile ... I’ll just PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

 

 

CARICATURES: MY SHARPIE ALWAYS LIES!

 

SELF-PORTRAIT

Full of bluster, I fancy myself to be a planetary busker having the creds of busking with either my guitar or my pencil on streets in Ireland, The Netherlands, Morocco, and of course, Canada. In a line, I am accustomed to the bustle of streets, both foreign and domestic.

Coming into summertime, I’ve now decided to trade my pencil for a Sharpie, and foray into the art of caricature. Yes, I am a tyro, but I can draw faces. No arms, no trunk, no legs, no accessories. Just faces.

FACTOID: This seems apropos because I believe I’ve a good enough eye and the hand skills and to make the switch from portrait to caricature busking. I may be delusional, and I know the switch will not be with facile. However, with just a week of practicing drawing caricatures taking each between three to five minutes, I just recently attached a few of my practice pictures to my application for drawing caricatures at the OLD WIVES LAKE SUMMER FESTIVAL this July. Two days later, my application was accepted!

The OLD WIVES LAKE SUMMER FESTIVAL is scheduled for JULY 19^TH. Up and until the day of the festival, I will PRACTICE PRACTIC PRACTICE, in my effort to draw caricatures in under five minutes. (This I know from experience: The longer I take to draw someone, the more my drawing is expected to look like a photograph.)

Admittedly, I shall be sacrificing quality for speed. But this is a good thing because there is no artistry in perfection. Factoid: Imperfections create style.

The art of caricature relies on an exaggeration of distinct facial features. I have read that to be a successful caricaturist, not every detail on the customer’s face needs to be exaggerated. Rather, a caricaturist needs only to highlight or alter the proportion of the one feature that truly defines that person in the caricaturist’s eye. It could be the nose, it could be the ears, it could be the mouth. But really, no matter whose face I draw, I doubt I’ll have the heart to make fun of the person. Hmmm. But if I ever do, it will only be just the one feature on my customer’s face that I personally deem significant.

Factoid: Over the years of busking with my pencil, I have always bragged that “My pencil never lies.” Now that I will be busking with my Sharpie, I will confess that “My Sharpie always lies.”

I have decided, at least for now, that my caricatures will be non-exaggerated monochromes, drawn with a Sharpie black marker. And my measure for knowing whether the faces that I draw are good or not?

If I am pleased with the picture, most likely my customer, too, will be pleased with the picture.

I know from personal experience, that attempting to eke out a living as a guitar busker can be very tough. I am thinking caricaturists have more opportunities, permanent jobs in theme parks, loads of freelance opportunities for corporate gigs, big weddings, birthday parties, and such.

Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are those who posed for my ambitions of becoming a nobby and planetary caricaturist:

MY COLLEAGUE

MY COLLEAGUE

MY NEIGHBOUR

MY NEIGHBOUR

OWNER OF MY FAVOURITE SCUBA SHOP

MY KEN FOR DRAWING CARICATURES SHALL BE A BAPTISM BY FIRE AT THE OLD WIVES LAKE SUMMER FESTIVAL THIS JULY 19^TH.

MY THREE-MINUTE SELF-PORTRAIT

 

 

MY PENCIL NEVER LIES: FROM PORTRAITURE TO CARICATURE

 

SELF-PORTRAIT

For these soon-to-be summer days of street busking, I have decided to draw caricatures rather than draw my traditional “my-pencil-never-lies” portraits. Typically, my pencil-never-lies portraits take me 15 to 20 minutes to draw, whereas my caricatures just three to five minutes. This translates to four pencil portraits per hour versus ten caricatures per hour, at ten dollars a pop. (Hmm. $40 per hour compared to $100 per hour.) CHA-CHING!

And what are the differences between my pencil portraits and my caricatures? In a line, caricatures are my pencil portraits jacked on steroids. Note, that most caricaturists exaggerate the most noticeable facial features when drawing their subjects, whereas I tend to draw more realistic than an exaggerated cartoony fashion. My notion of caricature is to make my clients smile, not make them cry. Even though people with naturally exaggerated features are much easier to draw than those having the look of the boy or girl next door, so far, I have not exaggerated anyone’s nose or chin or whatever. So far …

For drawing caricatures I use a marker, and for drawing portraits I use a pencil. In this short period of transition from one to the another, I have discovered that drawing with a marker leaves little or no room for error. A marker stroke is permanent; an errant pencil stroke can easily be erased. Even so, drawing with markers is much quicker and much cleaner than drawing with pencils. 

Here is an example of my my typical pencil-never-lies portrait drawing.

Now this next picture is my very first attempt at drawing a caricature live:

MY CO-WORKER, BRIAN

Here is another attempt at a live caricature:

MY FRIEND, LORRAINE

And yet another attempt:

TOO MUCH LIPSTICK MAYBE?!

Walking through Prince’s Island Park in Calgary, Alberta, by happenchance I bumped into a professional caricaturist.

ROB MILTON - CARICATURIST

And Rob Milton drew me:

And then I drew Rob Milton:

“There is a resemblance,” he stated. YIKES! (I thought I did a great job!)

From long ago I have learned to realize that people do not know what they look like. And after drawing literally hundreds of my-pencil-never-lies portraits, the longer it takes me to draw people, the more they expect it to look like a photograph.

Drawing clients live on the street can be, both literally and metaphorically, a hair-raising experience. Years ago, at the Farmers’ Market in my home city, a woman screamed at me that I did not capture the essence of her daughter in my pencil portrait. Another time in Marrakech, a ten-year old threw quite the tantrum when he looked at his likeness that I had drawn. (His dad was totally on my side and brought three more of his children over for me to draw!)

In moments of bluster, I love referring to myself as a “Planetary Busker.” I say this only because I have drawn pencil-portraits of people on the streets in Canada, Ireland, The Netherlands, and Morocco. I really am a planetary busker! (More bluster.)

Of course, I would be remiss not to mention, that my busking is a mercenary enterprise. I sling both my guitar and my pencil on the street for the money. And this is why I have decided that being a caricaturist is the way to go, and like I alluded to earlier in this essay, TIME IS MONEY!

Here are a few caricatures I drew a few years ago, back in 2020 when I was considering adverting to caricatures, but never did. These were drawn from pictures (obviously), which I consider to be rather meh when compared to the never-ending kinetic excitement when drawing live on the streets.

Yep. Caricatures shall be my defining zeitgeist from this day forward! Here is hoping the quality of my caricature drawing improves before my next blog post. And I do know the only way to become a successful and sought after caricaturist is to PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!

And here is my last practice caricature for today:

 THREE MINUTES!