The Roadside Artist

President Bush in a quick portrait-caricature sketch. Yes, once again I’m scraping the rust off of my charcoal sketch skills, this time with a quick impression of President George W. Bush, a la fair/event/party-style fast and furious art work.

This work is done in the quick and dirty style of a art fair / party sketch or caricature artist. With my ‘no erase/no return’ policy, this art work ends up somewhere on the continuum between caricatures and portraiture.

It really is NOT a political commentary.

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Portrait slash caricature quick sketch of American Idol’s Sanjaya sans mohawk hairdo. Maybe I’ll do that some other time. Keeping up with my charcoal work, this portrait sketch walks the line between portrait and caricature. Yes, I know his singing was…well, sub par? And many people wanted him gone a long time ago. But he was still the most interesting character.

I followed my policy, “no erasing, no repeats” - if were doing a formal portrait, I’d do many revisions, but this is the quick and dirty style of a special event/county fair artist. Because of this freeform, quick open style, this work of art falls somewhere in the continuum between a portrait drawing and a caricature sketch.

And that is just fine, as far as I’m concerned.

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A last minute decision to enter two paintings in the fair - thanks to pressure from family members - meant I would have to see something of the event, even though it’s a bit much for me.

I haven’t worked at the county fair in years, but they usually have a caricature or portrait artist somewhere on the grounds. Here he is…

Caricature Artist Booth At The Fair

He was charging the going rate for a caricature, a bit more for color images. I didn’t see him do a color portrait, but he did a lot of line drawings. His shading was pretty good, I can’t comment on the caricature because it wasn’t my style.

I’m glad he’s using his talent in any case. He used to be a security guard, I think, but he found something that suited him better. There isn’t a lot of money in it, I can tell you, but I’m sure he’s happy.

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