I am in my car driving around the tiny picturesque town of Fairhope Alabama trying to find the address I’d been given. This place doesn’t look right. I am supposed to entertain at a Christmas dinner party, but this looks like a hair salon.
If I don’t get out and check I am going to be late. But if I do get out and check and it’s the wrong place I am also going to be late. I debate with myself - should I bring my gear or not? What if this isnt the right place? Then I’m REALLY gonna be late. Which I have an allergy to.
I decide to unpack my rolling cart and I sling my easel and purse over my shoulder and head towards the door. Thankfully there is a ramp. A good sign.
Gingerly I knock on the door of what appears to be a small cottage. Inside I can see elegant sparkling silver and gold decor and a dozen or so people sitting around a large farmhouse-style table.
An older woman with a Marilyn Monroe haircut turns to me, smiles and crooks her finger for me to enter. Whew. This must be the right place.
“Are you Ann?”
“Everyone! Here’s our surprise!” She calls out.
I’m used to having to pivot like this so I address the room.
“Hi yall! I’m kathy and I’m going to draw your Caricatures today!”
An excited murmur ripples through the room. Ann gets up to help me find a spot in the corner and I set up quickly. I don’t get time to look around much but
It does occur to me that some of these people are … er…strangely dressed.
Anne sends me couples one at a time. The first couple is dressed up with the man in a sports jersey adorned with an Indian head, and the woman is wearing a satin outfit that reminds me of the tv show Dallas.
“Are you the Grisowlds from Christmas vacation?”
Yes. Yes they are.
“And is everyone here dressed as their favorite Christmas character?”
Yes. Yes we are.
I laugh. What a delight!
My first couple sits there repeating lines from the movie and I draw them with bodies and a background of the house with lights on every square inch.
Here’s how it turned out.
the next person to sit has a veil and long flowing dress and a baby doll dressed in swaddling clothes.
“Are you Mary?” I guess. She smiles. “Nice to meet you. I’m kathy. What’s your name.”
She laughs. “It’s actually Mary,” she says.
I laugh. “I guess there’s worse role models you could have. So I thought there were only couples here tonight. Where’s your husband?”
“Oh he’s such a jackass,” she says. “He’s in the bathroom”.
“We’ll let me get started with you then.”
I start drawing her veil and I ask her if she’s ever played Mary in a church play.
“No. But When I was a girl I used to dress up as Mary and pretend I was her. My mamma would get mad and say it was sacrilegious and make me stop. But I always did it again anyway.” I giggle conspiratorially with her.
Finally her husband sits down and I laugh out loud. He’s dressed as a donkey!
“I didn’t think you actually meant he was a jackass!”
The entire room bursts into laughter. I blush.
And how the heck am I supposed to draw this? I’ve already got Mary’s head drawn and the baby doll. Then I get an idea.
I draw the donkeys ears flopped over because otherwise they won’t be visible. And then I draw Mary’s husband as a sort of donkey -centaur, with her sitting on his back.
I finish up and show the room, and they erupt into laughter. It is perfect!
The next couple is the couple that hired me. They are Ann and her husband Jack. Anne is wearing a sexy Ms Santa suit. Jack is obviously the grinch. He even has a mask.
“Mask or no?” He asks. I tell him no mask. I’d rather see his face.
We chitchat and they answer trivia questions as I draw. There’s a dirty Santa/white elephant activity going on round the table as I draw, and Christmas trivia is a part of it.
“I know he’s the grinch but who are you?”
I ask Ann.
She names a character from the Jim Carrey grinch movie and then has to show me a picture in her phone. I don’t care for that movie and only saw it once, so I don’t know who it is, but I am polite.
I also realize this party is going to be over too quickly if I don’t do something. I’m actually TOO fast. They’ve only hired me for an hour (rare that I accept this but Fairhope is only 20 minutes from my house so I agreed to it ) and I’m already halfway through the folks but I will have too much time left over at the end at this rate.
So I tell Ann “since yall hired me, I’m going to give you something special ." I tell her.
"Whats that?" she asks
"Color!"
“Ooh l like this girl!” She says.
I break out my precious art stix that I reserve for the hosts of parties, birthday kids and brides and grooms. Why? Well, this rare and difficult to find art material is not longer made.
And so one stick can cost $20. My entire collection is priceless.
I add the priceless color and I’m STILL too fast.
But they LOVE it.
And it’s on to the next folks.
The wife is dressed in a Santa hat and pink tutu, and the HUSBAND, well, let’s just say
his favorite character was Ralphie from a Christmas story.
That’s right. You guessed it. He was dressed in a pink bunny suit!
I tell him he absolutely must go watch a Christmas story Christmas story. I tell him it was written and directed by the guy who plays Ralphie, kept a lot of the original cast, and is a great homage to the original. He is convinced.
I draw these two dancing together since I have no idea how else to put them together. I’m happy with how it turns out.
Now the food comes out and everyone is occupied with eating. I have one more couple to draw but they’re busy, and I have too much time. I try to time my drawings perfectly so they’re drawn out. Pun not intended. But it’s an important skill of a live caricaturist that most people don’t realize is something that is part of the job - stretching or compressing how fast I draw to fill your time correctly.
So I sit there with nothing to do for a minute. Which seems like waaaaay longer.
Thankfully Mary form earlier comes and whispers in my ear “If you’ll add color to mine I’ll pay you extra.” I nod and get started. This fixes my timing problem AND enables me to keep drawing while everyone eats so it doesn’t look like I’m not busy. Nothings worse than not being busy at an event.
I’m in the middle of coloring it when Mary drops a bill into my lap. I look down. It’s a $100 bill!
“Wow, thanks!” I say,
I remember a time when I was just dying to get my first $100 tip. I never had that happen when I was in Vegas. But since I’ve lived here in the south I’ve had it happen probably about 6 or 7 times. 2 weeks ago the dean of West Florida University tipped me $200!
And last summer GoPro event solutions a corporate event planner tipped me over $3oo!
I think people here in the south where I live now are more generous.
I finish the drawing and hand it to her. By now the places are being cleared. My timing looks like it will be perfect after all thanks to Mary.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a pic of the colored version.
The last couple are dressed as an obvious angel but the other person isn’t so obvious. He’s got on a green sweater with garland an ornaments sewn onto the front.
“Are you…a Christmas tree?” I ask
He is so excited. “No one else could tell what I was! Yes, I’m a tree!”
Now how the heck am i going to draw this one? But hey, I love a challenge!
I draw the woman in the angel costume tiny and towards the top of the paper.
Then I start on the harder part. Turing the man into a tree. How the heck am I supposed to do this?
Then I think of my new kitten and how she found the tree and promptly climbed it. She peeked out and it was so cute.
So I draw the guy similarly peeking out of the tree. it’s the funniest one of the night.
The last one, as usual, is the best.
Merry Christmas yall! I hope you enjoyed my story and drawings!
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If you want me to come to your next party wedding or corporate event and draw fast flattering and fun caricatures, contact me now! Spots on my calendar really do boom up quickly!
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