In Trouble With CRA?

I have to admit I had tons of fun creating this CRA Monster for OnCore Bookkeeping’s monthly advertising campaign! If this image “speaks to you” then I’ve done my job well! … as I type this with a grin face. I wish you all a smooth and happy tax season.

In Trouble With CRA? OnCore Bookeeping can help

And I only have one last thing to say personally … thank God my income tax and GST filing is done, I’m an artist not an accountant!

If you’re looking for a great company to take care of all your company’s bookkeeping needs, contact OnCore Bookkeeping. They are a professional bookkeeping service located in Sherwood Park (#205, 2 Athabascan Avenue, Sherwood Park, Alberta). Or call them at (780)640-8244. I’ve known Lynn, the owner, for several years and I give her a big thumbs up!


Caricatures by Edmonton Artist Laurel Hawkswell

Caricature Drawing of a Fellow Artist

A drawing of a fellow artist! I met Bernd at the ISCA Convention (International Society of Caricature Artists) last November. Bernd is from Austria! I met so many artists from around the world, it was absolutely amazing! The variety of art styles was more than I could have imagined. If you do caricatures, I suggest you check out the ISCA website, become a member and head to the next convention!

Till the next time, drawing new friends from the convention is on my list of “free time” drawing. I don’t actually get free time, but ya gotta make the time every once in awhile!

Caricature Drawing of a Fellow Artist

Caricatures by Edmonton Artist Laurel Hawkswell

Canada Day Face Painting

A fun little kitty. Keeping it simple because of the long line up at CFB Edmonton for Canada Day. Notice the dampness hair on her ... it was a hot and sunny day!

I painted these two lovely ladies near the end of the afternoon. They loved it! 

They said that the lady on the left was moving after many year of being stationed at CFB Edmonton. She was going to miss her good friend! Again ... I love swirls, dots and swooshes! They're so delicate and add so much pizzaz

bodypaint for two women at Canada Event

Facepainting for young girl at Edmonton Garisson

Edmonton Artist Bodypaint and Facepaint Laurel Hawkswell

Fw: Face Painting at The Edmonton Garrison this Canada Day weekend

I'll be face painting this Canada Day at The Edmonton Garrison 1 - 5 p.m. I hope to see you there!
I may be doing more maple leafs than swirls!

Looking forward to celebrating this awesome country I am lucky enough to call home.

Edmonton Artist

Edmonton Caricatures

I spent the afternoon drawing at Holt Renfrew. It was great to be asked back since my last time there just before Christmas. It was neat to draw this lady because she was visiting Canada from Shanghai. She said that was her 10th caricature she’s had done. She collects them! I hope that mine can be among her favourite. I made sure to add a maple leaf of course!

I drew a lot of caricatures from photos on people’s phones so that they could give a caricature to their boyfriend or girlfriend. I added some subtle hearts along the bottom of their caricatures to add to the whole “Valentine’s” theme at Holt Renfrew.

The staff were really friendly once again. One of the ladies working there part time is someone I’d drawn at a food trade show late last year! I recognised her right away - in fact, I loved her caricature so much that it’s one of the ones that I’ve posted on my blog!


So, you see the board of examples in behind this lady in the photo …. there’s probably 11 photos on it. A few of the staff recognised one of the people as someone who used to work there! And then a young girl who was in the store recognised a girl in one of the photos! Really, what are the chances of that? What a fluke. Seriously, Edmonton isn’t that small of a city!

I enjoyed my day at Holt Renfrew and would be more than happy to go back. It’s got a cool vibe to it and I loved the quality food at the little cafe on the main floor of the same building.

caricatures by Edmonton Artist Laurel Hawkswell

Celebrating Hockey Back On, My Way!

NHL's Edmonton Oilers Annual Thank you card

Finally! Edmonton Oilers NHL Hockey is back on for 2013! Do you hear Canadians rejoicing?! A lot of people are happy NHL hockey is back, for many different reasons.  The Thank you card was designed with Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle and you (number one)!

This is an Edmonton Oiler Thank You card that I recently designed and now they'll be able to use!
I believe this is my 4th Annual design for their Thank You card. It used to be one that had to work for The Edmonton Oilers, The Edmonton Oil Kings AND The Edmonton Capitals.  Now it no longer includes the Capitals. Makes it easier in brainstorming when it needs to work for one sport and not two.

So, this is the Edmonton Oiler's version of the 2013 Thank You card to those people they choose to give it to.

Graphic Art by Edmonton Artist Laurel Hawkswell http://hilaurel.blogspot.com

web http://hilaurel.blogspot.com

wishing you the best in the new year

wishing you the best in 2013

I've had a very busy season and so I'm posting this a tiny bit late.

Hopefully you are still in the Christmas spirit like I am!

For Christmas isn't just one day to me. Spending time with friends and

family and showing kindness to others. I had a relaxing Christmas

spending time between both sides of the family. Hectic but great.

Here is a little Christmas card art I did... wishing you the best in

the new year too!

Caricatures at a Birthday Party

Oh what fun I had drawing this young guy! Loved his hair! The trick with drawing curly hair is to NOT draw every curl but just every odd one and keep the edge the definition. Too bad he wasn't smiling with his mouth open so you could really see the similarity in his smile.

If you notice that there is no drawn out frame in this one like I usually do. The party hostess was scanning in all the drawings so she could make a grouping of all the boys at the party. After she'd scanned them all I added in my usual frame and signature.

What advantage is there to having me at your party drawing caricatures? No need to hunt around for stuff for gift bags … the kids leave with a caricature. Parents love it when they bring them home.

Caricatures by Canadian Artist Laurel Hawkswell http://hilaurel.blogspot.com

Caricatures at a houseParty

I drew caricatures at a few different house parties, a party for neighbours, a party for family and a party for friends. Here is a fun one! He thought it would be a blast to do it with his awesome hat on. I always like drawing something different and the hat turned out neat I think. That's the one interesting thing about living in Canada in winter time …. hats are a fashion statement. Sometimes the wilder the better!

Caricatures by Canadian Artist Laurel Hawkswell http://hilaurel.blogspot.com

Painting CFR Windows at The Westin Hotel Edmonton

Edmonton's Westin Hotel's Window Painting for CFR

 Window Painting for CFR at Edmonton's Westin Hotel's

It's CFR (Canadian Finals Rodeo) time again in Edmonton, where cowboys

and cowgirls from all over come to compete and show their stuff. The

Westin hotel in downtown Edmonton has had me come in for a few years

now, to paint their windows celebrating the festivities. They always ask

that it be less cartoon and more realistic.

While I was there painting, I over heard some conversations where I had

to do a double take....some of the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian

Football League were sitting a few feet away from me. I couldn't help

but listen, whether I wanted to or not! Being an Edmonton Eskimos fan I

was both excited that I was seeing some football players but they were

going to be playing AGAINST MY TEAM in a few hours! One of the people

that work at the hotel told me that most football and hockey teams stay

there when they are in the city to play. Kinda cool!

Edmonton Artist http://hilaurel.blogspot.ca/
Edmonton Window Painting http://hilaurel.blogspot.ca/p/windowart.html

FACE PAINTING at company picnic and birthday party.

FACE PAINTING!

On the weekend I was at two events, a company picnic and a birthday party. 

This girl’s face looks pretty cool even if I do say so myself! It’s a bit freaky how her nose kind of disappears amongst the blue and white dots. Have you noticed yet that I love swirls and white dots! Can you tell that I had a blast doing it?! 

This girl’s arm was fun. She said, “Surprise Me” and so I asked her what kind of things she likes. Yup, she likes dogs. She was really happy with it and so was I. I have it written right on my face painting sign, that if they don’t want to pick from one of the image choices on my board that they can just say, “Surprise Me”. I try and do something different each time. I’ve discovered some new, fun stuff that way and gives my imagination a workout.

Edmonton Artist

Wedding Reception Caricatures

As the bride said to me on Saturday night while I drew her caricature, “We thought caricatures were such a great idea because people are giving us things but we wanted to give them something back!” 


Capturing special moments is something alright and as you can see, people of all ages enjoy getting their caricature done. Caricatures at weddings a great addition because not everyone likes to dance or dance the whole time. 


Such interesting people stories I get to find out as I chat with the people sitting in front of me. “I’m the mother of the bride...”, “You know, she just recently found her birth parent recently and she is here meeting the rest of the family for the first time...” People are truly interesting. I should figure out some sort of scientific study to go along with my caricature events. I should approach the government for a grant for this study! Hmmmmmm .... !

drawing caricatures at the MS Society of Canada BBQ

    This week I had the privilege of being invited back to draw caricatures at the MS Society of Canada [Edmonton and Capital Region Chapter] Annual Summer Barbecue (Celebration in the Park) for their client's at Hawrelak Park.  I always see it as a privilege and a compliment to be asked back year after year.  It was a warm night and great to see and draw some familiar people.  It is my hope that one day I won't be invited back to a MS Society picnic because a cure has been found and there'll be no need for such a society.  Till then, I will gladly be a part of their annual picnic...

    That evening I drew a couple girls who are here in Canada on a work visa from Japan.  How cool is that?!  Such interesting stories I come upon when I'm doing caricatures.  So glad I could give them a momento of their time in Canada.  They were so nice, wanting me to pose for a photo with them and their caricatures.

Japanese girls caricature

    I also drew a group of ladies that went by the name of "The Swizzle Sisters", not sisters, just comrads.  I'm not sure what The Swizzle Sisters do exactly.  Could this possibly be something similar to "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"!?

    Another caricature at the BBQ, I remember doing was a gentleman that right at the end, several ladies said, "Please do his, please do his ..."  I have to admit he was a handsome man with a great smile, great features to draw and he was nice to boot!  Found out afterwards that he was the boss.  Good thing I didn't know that ahead of time, I would have been too nervous.  I was tickled pink that the caricature turned out pretty awesome.  There's almost nothing better than hitting a caricature right on the mark, at least in my world anyway.  After an event is over, I often wish that I had a photo of every caricature that has made me smile that day.  If you're ever around watching me do caricatures, you'll see that I often smile during the caricature,  that's me thinking to myself, "Oh I love this one! It's so them! YESSSSSSS!"

Always have a great time doing caricatures, IT NEVER GETS OLD...

IT NEVER GETS OLD...  Always have a great time doing caricatures! Tonight I was drawing at a young girl’s birthday party. It’s interesting, the first person is often apprehensive and then after they see the first one done, then they get excited! Then, the lineup starts and doesn’t end it seems.

Edmonton Artist
caricatures

My Favourite cookbook - cover artwork

I did this artwork for the cover awhile ago and the cookbooks are ready!

If you (or anyone you know) is interested in purchasing a cookbook the cost per book is $15 (all proceeds being donated to the Patient Financial Assistance Program at the Cross Cancer
Institute, Edmonton, Alberta), and if they'd like it shipped to them, the postage is $3.60...total being $18.60. The cookbooks have over 400 tried and true family favourites.

Contact Info for anyone that would like a book
Angie Marklund
myfavoritecookbook@yahoo.ca

My Favourite cookbook - cover artwork

Edmonton Artist

I love my Sharpies!

A Sharpie is one of my favourite tools!

What do I use to do all my caricatures? It’s simple .... Sharpies! 

If you’ve found the perfect pen, why try others? 

I personally should have a share in the Sharpie company OR at the very least, get a thank you letter from the company. 

I don’t know how many I’ve bought over the last several years but I’ve loved each and every one of them. 

So go pick up a Sharpie and a piece of paper and make some magic!

A Sharpie is one of my favourite tools!

Edmonton Artist

one of the best pieces of art I've done...

The Masterpiece...

I personally think this is one of the best pieces of art I've done ...
This girl is close to my heart. I look forward to hearing about her future accomplishments. Hey, I'll keep you all posted!

- shaved her head to raise money for the BC children’s hospital
- put on a bakesale after the 2011 earthquake in Japan to help with relief efforts
- volunteered to cook breakfast before school at the Gospel Mission
- organized a “Help for Haiti” event to raise funds and awareness a year after the earthquake
- did many bottle drives to raise money for a clean water project in Kenya
- sold fair trade bracelets to raise money for drought relief in Eastern Africa
- collected food outside of grocery stores to donate to the food bank
- participated in a 24 hour vow of silence to raise awareness for child exploitation
- did a 24 hour fast to raise food for the local food bank
- currently planning a charity concert to benefit building a school in Ecuador
- going to Ecuador this summer for a volunteer trip to go build schools

WOW!

This girl is close to my heart. I look forward to hearing about her future accomplishments.

caricatures for company Christmas party for Wolseley Canada

Another successful company Christmas party for Wolseley Canada. What fun to do caricatures for these fine folks!

Edmonton Artist

edmonton caricatures

Oilers/Oil Kings/Capitals Annual Thank You Card

Oilers/Oil Kings/Capitals Annual Thank You Card 

I was assigned the task again this year with coming up with a new design for their Thank You card to those who go the extra mile for the Oilers, Oil Kings and Edmonton Capitals.

Always a challenge to come up with something that works for all three teams. Done for another year!

Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oil Kings, Edmonton Capitals,
Annual Thank You Card

Edmonton Artist

World Animal Day Caricature to take home and enjoy

Edmonton Valley Zoo World Animal Day
Date: Sunday October 2, 2011
Time: noon-4pm

Join us at the Edmonton Valley Zoo to celebrate World Animal Day 2011 and enjoy an amazing array of activities for all ages!

Enjoy the active animal games including the Leapin’ Lemur Inflatable or A World of Animals Scavenger Hunt.

Stop by for some Amazing Animal Face Painting or enjoy receiving a World Animal Day Caricature to take home and enjoy. For a change of pace, “Get Closer” with animal encounters and educational talks, or join in the Musical Enrichment Parade to present a stimulating treat or surprise to some of the animals that call the Edmonton Valley Zoo home.

Edmonton Caricature

After all of this excitement, take a break and enjoy making a World Animal Day Craft or enjoy your very own World Animal Day Cupcake (while supplies last!).

You’ll also have an opportunity to visit the Endangered Animal Touch Table as well as have a chance to win one of the huge prizes in the World Animal Day Prize Extravaganza.

Mark this date in your calendar, this is a must attend event!

For more information:
Edmonton Valley Zoo 13315 Buena Vista Road (87th Avenue)

Edmonton Artist