The girlfriend wasn't too thrilled with my first caricature of her boyfriend. She didn't get the golf club on his head gag, so I did a second one with just him being a chef. Though I sent a preliminary sketch for approval this time, and it was okayed before final painting, she and her sister still seemed less than enthusiastic when it arrived by mail. Oh well...can't hit a home run 100% of the time, and at least they paid for both.

My sister Shauna had a close encounter with a bear while hiking on a trail somewhere in the Teton National Forest with her son Justin, so I thought this year's birthday card should reflect her rather frightful experience, also perfect because her BD is so close to Halloween.

My oldest daughter has been living with a family near Pisa Italy as a nanny for their little girl. She has been loving her experience and has had some awesome personal growth, so for her birthday I sent this painting which I felt represented her transformations as a maturing young adult.

Commission caricature for a birthday party.

I was commissioned to hand paint some team logos and cheerleaders in the sports room at the Palm Restaurant in downtown LA.

These are ten 4' X 12' panels I painted for my daughter Lauren's grad night at Temple City High School.

I was a bit miffed seeing the final outcome, knowing bodies were going on the mural, just not that they would cover over pretty much the whole thing.  Many hours trying to be artsy on the dang things, when I could have saved time and effort just painting the top 4 feet!!

This was the comment board for the grads to write on.  Not too bad considering I drew and painted the panels freehand and upside down.

The ladies wanted the hotdog to look three dimensional, so I got the painting assignment.

I have been commissioned to paint four sport team logos at the Palm Restaurant in downtown LA: Dodgers, Clippers, Lakers, and a Cardinal banner. The big wigs also want a painting of two Laker girls and a 6'x9' mural on some double doors. First they wanted the Laker girls to be generic. After I sent a sketch they decided on two specific poses with two specific Laker girls, who almost look identical. So much for diversity. As for the mural, they wanted sketch ideas for a Staples Center/La Live scene, and a simpler downtown at sunset scene in silhouette. They wanted them cartoony, and I suggested a night scene of Staples because of the cool colors and they agreed. After working some hours on the sketches, I scanned and painted them in Photoshop, which took quite a while because of my limited expertise in said program. I emailed them and received word some time later that they LOVED them, BUT felt them too colorful compared to everything else in the restaurant. All that time and effort totally down the toilet and of course, no extra pay for more time and sketches.

This is why I love my caricature gigs...go in, draw for a set period of time, get paid extremely well for that period of time , and then get out!! No fuss, no muss, no changes, no complaints, paid for overtime if they request it, finish and move on to the next one.