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

My Day Drawing at Holt Renfrew, Edmonton

Yesterday I spent the afternoon drawing caricatures in downtown Edmonton at Holt Renfrew! I wasn't even done setting up when 3 brothers wanted their picture drawn. That was the start of a busy day. I was unsure how the day would go. You know, people busy getting their last minute Christmas shopping done. I enjoyed drawing and chatting with a variety of people. The 3 grown brothers were going to give the drawing to their mom. There was another couple young guys who were going to give theirs to their mom as well. Funny that the younger bother didn't want to get it done so he went second. After he saw his brother's drawing he must have decided that it'd be okay because he was a really pleasant young guy to talk to (while I drew him). Another young girl is an international student at the University of Alberta. She asked me to pose for a photo with her and her caricature so she could send it to her mom in China. I thought that was pretty cool. Then there was the couple that sat down and right away told me that they were going to use their caricature for their wedding invitation. Talk about putting a bit of pressure on a girl to perform! They were pleased with it so that was good. I also drew some caricatures for some of the staff who happened to have photos of their kids or from photos of their phones. I finished off my time at Holt Renfrew drawing the management team. That was a bit of a challenge because the only photo I had to work from had their heads about the size of my baby finger nail. I guess I was pleased enough with the result but I sure wish I would have got close up photos of them. Pretty darned hard to draw details that you can't see.

Oh, the wildest thing . . . . a man came up and told me that he is a realtor and has been using the same caricature to promote himself. He said that he'd got it done in The International Marketplace in West Edmonton Mall many years ago by a girl. He was wondering if I'd know her. So he took out his business card for me to  look at it. I said, "That girl would have been me! You really should get an updated version. I think I've improved since then." He is now working with his son so yes indeed, I'll be doing an updated version for him!

I was really pleased at how things turned out at Holt Renfrew. The staff were really friendly and happy to have me there. And I got a lot of people picking up one of my business cards. I probably should have been shopping for last minute Christmas gifts but it definitely wasn't a waste of my day!