mark taro holmes shared this photo from a costumed portrait party that he had with his friends. i don't know if the other artists ended up drawing each other but here is mark's sketch of the model who did dress up, audra.
"more restaurant fun!" in this swap, lindsay drew her friend, claudia (on the left) and claudia was just finishing up her portrait of lindsay (on the right). "amazing," lindsay added, "how drawing is just like hand writing, each person's line quality is so unique."
when lindsay was out dining with friends, my hoisin swap with christine came up in conversation. as lindsay described it, their portrait party went "bonkers"! lindsay drew her friend, cliff, (above) and cliff tested lindsay's watercolors with his portrait of kelly (below).
finally kelly, "who is an artist in both the kitchen and the garden," created this winning portrait of craig (below).
andy (portrayed above) and john (portrayed below) swapped portraits. "john did a great job with my picture," andy added. "so many good artists here with so many interpretations of my face." as previously mentioned, it's a fun face to interpret!
i am very happy to announce the winners of the portrait party's happy birthday contest:
The Grand Prize Winners: Wendy & Cindy Woods
cindy and wendy have each won a portrait swap with yours truly. when our swaps are complete, i will post the results and mail the finished paintings to the winners.
The First Prize Winners: Juj & Witness
juj and witness will each receive one of my Poketo wallets.
The Boobie Prize Winners: Ron & Cindy Woods
cindy and her brother-in-law, ron, have also won the dubious boobie prize. i will send an illustrated music playlist to these artists. hopefully, it's a worthwhile consolation.
finally, everyone who participated in a portrait swap between march 15th and march 31st has earned a happy birthday postcard.
To Collect Your Postcards and Prizes, please contact me with your name and your preferred mailing address before may 15th. grand prize winners, be sure to send me a photograph from which you would like me to paint your portrait! thank you to the happy birthday jurors and to everyone who made the birthday party so much fun!
i didn't want to post the actual article until the issue was off the shelf but, for those of you who missed it, here's the wonderful story that ran last month in The Artist's Magazine.
this was ginko's (portrayed above) first portrait party. it gave her an excuse to approach laujinga (portrayed below) through illustration friday. they'd never met and only after getting connected did they realize they could both communicate in chinese. "love the way portrait party get people connected!!" ginko said.
when the urge to draw strikes, anything can become a drawing material. at one of our favorite restaurants, i used hoisin sauce to doodle this portrait of christine (above). the waiter was so intrigued that he borrowed the plate to show off around the restaurant. when we returned a month or two later, the same waiter brought our utensils, water, plates, and ~ with a hopeful look ~ another squirt bottle of hoisin sauce. "i think it's your turn," i told my wife. she drew this portrait of me (below).
here's an another exemplary portrait swap. newcomers take notes! john (portrayed above) shared his contact info and marie-dom (portrayed below) contacted him about trading portraits. they exchanged photos and here are the results! if anyone else would like to trade portraits, john is especially excited to hear from you.
the portrait party was featured today in the talk of our town column in the Miami Herald! thanks so much to joan fleischman who gave such care to the story, congratulations to all of you who were mentioned, and welcome herald readers!
i'm going to take a little hiatus from the portrait party this week. please continue to send your swaps! i'll resume posting them no later than april 15th (when i will also announce the winners of the happy birthday contest). in the meantime, feel free to check out the podcast that i did with danny gregory for his new book, an illustrated life. our conversation touched on everything from the true meaning of talent (in my opinion) to the origin of the portrait party.
