Caricatures, Silhouettes and Illustrations by Leona Hosack

 I have been practicing drawing caricatures of dog owners and their dogs for an upcoming caricaturing gig I have in a week at LLBean in Freeport, Maine! August 24th is Dog Days of August at LL Bean! Click here for more info:  http://www.llbean.com/summer/images/DogDaysSOE_web.pdf  I've drawn dogs before many times, as well as people of course. But I haven't particularly drawn pet owners with their dogs in the same picture, though I did draw a lady with a pet rooster once! These people and dogs are all drawn by me from google images or made up- just for practice!   Practice, practice, practice! Here's a video on how to draw a simple cartoon                                    dog! Enjoy!

 I just completed a double caricature commissioned through my Etsy Shop. I was sent a photo of these sisters and went back and forth with the client several times sending her sketches and redoing them as she requested until the sketch was just what she wanted. Then I drew it in permanent black ink and added color with colored pencils, with a touch of white paint for the crowns and highlights in their eyes! A finished photo from my phone. The photo I worked from ! A teethy version of this caricature of the two sisters. You can see in the original drawing (above) that the teeth on both girls were more prominent and goofy. She requested a softening of the side of the faces and less emphasis on the teeth. The final color piece reflects this. I find that a lot of people, though not all, do not want teeth showing in their caricatures, especially at festivals. Sometimes it's just that they don't want to smile! But I love the smiles in the photo I worked from! So...

Drawing of Zoe I worked on this drawing of a cute dog at the Alfred Festival in Alfred, ME. The owner handed me her cell phone with a photo of her dog and I worked on it at my portrait booth.  I had to move quickly through it and finish it as quickly as I could! It took about 15 minutes! I also did this boy's pencil portrait at the Alfred Festival this year. Here are a couple of great videos about dealing with Aritistic or creative block. In this video by Katy Tafoya, I like what she calls automatic writing . I used something like that recently to take one of my current projects- a fantasy novel to a new level! Wonderful! This next video is by my favorite Illustration Teacher-Will Terry from Folio Academy.!He has lots of good things to say about artist or writer's block! Enjoy!!

This girl posed for a silhouette at The Farm Museum of New Hampshire! This Rooster posed too, but I have yet to do his silhouette! I had a great weekend! On Saturday I cut silhouettes at The Farm Museum at Milton, NH. Many families were there enjoying Children's Day! And many came over to get their silhouettes cut!  On Sunday I did Caricatures at a private party in Portsmouth, NH at a marina! On Monday I tried a new venue in York, Maine! Clayhill Farm Restuarant is holding a farmer's market every Monday and has invited me to be a part of it, so I hope to be found there each Monday from 11am to 2 pm! Great fun!  I did a Caricature of this couple at a Party in Portsmouth, NH A brother and sister at the party! My husband Larry manning the table at Clayhill Farm's Monday Market! Hope to be at Clayhill Farm's Monday Markets every week!

I did this boy's silhouette(above) and quite a few others as well! Fourth of July was rainy but fun and productive! I did Silhouettes at Strawbery Banke Museum (in Portsmouth, NH) for their American Celebration 4th of July Event! I showcased my new Silhouette sign that I painted myself! What do you think? This Fife and Drum duo sought shelter from the rain in my tent! I did their silhouettes in the rain!

Another Strawberry Festival in South Berwick, Maine has come and gone! This was my fourth year doing portraits at it! I've had a busy summer so far, with several graduation parties, a corporate picnic, and two festivals so far! On Friday, The 4th of July, I will be doing Silhouettes at Strawbery Banke Historic Community in Portsmouth, NH from 10 am to 5 pm! On Saturday, July 5th I'll be performing  in Portsmouth, NH with Salt River at Summer in the Streets, a concert series sponsored by Pro Portsmouth!  A pencil portrait I did of a cute little boy  at Strawberry Festival 2014 in South Berwick. Maine I did a caricature of this little guy! These ladies wanted their Caricatures done together! And with their sun glasses on!! Another caricature of a little one!! On Saturday, July 5th I'll be performing  in Portsmouth, NH with Salt River at Summer in the Streets, a concert series sponsored by Pro Portsmouth! http://www.pro...

I did a caricature of my oldest granddaughter Phaedra! Last Saturday, June 21st, was the Somersworth Children's Festival! It was held this year at the High School in Somersworth because of construction going on downtown. I set up to do caricatures, silhouettes and pencil portraits! I did mostly caricatures and a few pencil portraits, but no silhouettes at all this time! It was a beautiful day and I shared the tent with my daughter Anisa who did chair massage! Her daughter Phaedra (above) was with us all day and helped out whenever we asked her to do something for us, but she also got to enjoy the fun at the festival! I'll be doing Caricatures at a private party in Westbrook, ME on Wed. and on Sat. June 28th I'll be at the Strawberry Festival, in South Berwick, ME again. This will be my fifth year doing Strawberry Festival I think! And it's South Berwick's 200th Anniversary! This boy sat still enough and didn't mind that I didn't put his...