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| ROCKGLEN MOTEL MANAGER |
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| ROCKGLEN MOTEL MANAGER |
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| COMMISSIONED DOG CARICATURE |
The two caricatures atop this blog entry are the motel managers in ROCKGLEN, SK CANADA. I stayed in the Rockglen Motel while on a diving adventure in nearby Fife Lake. These two motel managers were brand new to the business and in three words were AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME! And the pooch pic below them was actually commissioned by a past client, a client for whom I drew a pet caricature a few years ago!
Anyone
who knows me knows that I can draw. But I must confess, dear reader, that most
of these people who know I can draw, do not know that I cannot draw a house or
a horse, a tree or a tomato, a bug or a bird. Faces. That’s it. That’s all I
can draw.
And
anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE BUSKING. There is nothing, NOTHING, more
fun than slinging my guitar and harp on some business corner or street and
busking for an hour. Busking in my home city has always been simple and easy
(“simple” and “easy” not being synonyms). But when I left my city to go busking
elsewhere, elsewhere in Canada and even across the pond, my busking became even
more fun, more adventurous, but not that simple.
In
my home city I simply meander down the lane, just a five-minute walk to my
favorite buskspot, SHOPPERS DRUG MART, and strum my twelve-string while blowing
my harp. Or sometimes I take a little bit longer and saunter up the main
street, a 20-minute scramble to my second favorite buskspot, VALUE VILLAGE, to
frail on my banjo while blowing and bending my harp.
But
busking in Regina got a bit boring. This same ol’ guitar hammering and harp huffing,
prompted me to head as far west as possible in Canada, to busk in Victoria, B.C.
And what a rush that was! So much so, that I decided I to busk in Europe and
even Africa.
Over
the years I have busked in The Netherlands, in Ireland, and in Morocco. And
because I have busked in these foreign (to me) countries, I have oftentimes dubbed
myself as a PLANETARY BUSKER.
Also
in these same countries, I have busked with my pencil and sketchbook. And
because I have double-busked, so-to-speak, in these places, I have referenced
myself as a planetary busker in both regards. But in these past few years, I
have tended to caricature busk more than guitar busk.
I
have preferred drawing with my Sharpie over that of picking strings on my
Seagull for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s easier to pack along a pencil
than a guitar. And secondly, I fancy sketching peoples’ faces to be a little
more highbrow than strumming and puffing with my guitar and harmonica.
This
fancy may be delusional but is based upon numbers. Guitar buskers in any city
I’ve been, seem to outnumber caricaturists according to my count, somewhere in
the neighborhood (pun intended) of around one hundred to one!
These
unscientifically researched numbers that I am presenting are qualitative rather
than quantitative, because they are based on my personal acquaintances. In my
city alone, I know, a hundred or so other guitar players. But in real time,
like right now, I know only two other caricaturists on the planet, never mind
in my city. I know my friend, Dustin, who is an excellent caricaturist and who
also happens to be a guitar busker. And I know Erin, a professional charcoal
portrait artist in a nearby town. Erin does not play guitar.
Also,
in a qualitative fashion, the numbers speak for themselves. If drawing
caricatures were easy to do, then more people would be doing it. The numbers
seem to dictate that it is easier to thrum a guitar than it is to draw
someone’s likeness. Factoid: Even when I am addlepated, I can still
strum my guitar. But if I’ve any angst whatsoever, I cannot draw.
Such
logic presenting my hoity-toity action caricaturing over thrumming is
admittedly ex parte. It is just my personal opinion, and that’s all
that it is.
Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are some random folks I drew (for free, not busking) when hanging around CENTRAL PARK, REGINA, SK CANADA.
When my mood is right I quite like retreating to a local park and drawing anyone who wants to be drawn. In such circumstances, rather than charge my usual ten dollars per caricature, I charge zeroth dollars in the rationalization that I am just practicing my speed with the minimum drop in quality. When actually caricature busking, I always tend to sacrifice quality for speed, taking a maximum of ten minutes to draw anyone's caricature. Yes. Ten dollars for ten minutes.
In other words, when I am on a caricature busk,
my fee is a buck a minute!
