Nevada Rural Housing Authority Holiday Event

Good morning everyone, I hope you're having a fantastic Saturday. Last night, Michael Hopkins Caricatures was invited to the Eagle Valley Gold Course in Carson, City Nevada to participate in the Nevada Rural Housing Authority (NRHA) Holiday Event. It was an fantastic evening and it a pleasure drawing caricatures or some of the NRHA employees.

Driving to Carson City from my home in Reno, was an adventure in itself. The wind was blowing hard (from what I heard the wind gusts were blowing up to 50 mph!) and at times it was raining so hard that it was difficult to see the road ahead of me. However, I survived and after I arrived at Eagle Valley the weather calmed down and the rest of the evening was beautiful (inside the Eagle Valley Clubhouse:)

Here are a few pictures of the event, I hope you enjoy them and if you're interested in booking Michael Hopkins Caricatures for you next event, please contact me at (775) 276-0256 or email me at scribblesisme@yahoo.com.

7

Prospectors Club

Last night, Saturday December 7th, 2019, Michael Hopkins Caricatures, was at the Reno, Ballroom in (of course) Reno, Nevada, for the Prospector's Club celebration. I had never been to the Reno Ballroom before, in fact, prior to getting booked for this event, I had never heard of the Reno Ballroom. Well, now that I've been there, I'll never forget. What a magnificent venue! This place was beautiful and the person that organized the event, did a spectacular job. Also, the guest's attending the event were wonderful subjects. I enjoyed my time drawing there thoroughly and hopefully I'll get a chance in the future to work with these people again. Below are some pictures from the event, included a picture of the Reno Ballroom, I borrowed off the internet...

A New Focus

Greetings!

This has been a slow month for the Event Caricatures (although December is busy again), so I have been focusing on a couple of other things this month. First off, I have returned to ebay, as an outlet for selling my original art. Along with Fine Art America(where you can also order prints of my work), you can now purchase my original art on eBay. So far the feedback from eBay has been good and at the very least, my drawings are being viewed by people who have never seen my work before. Below are the drawings that I have for sale on eBay. Just click on the drawing to access it on eBay.

I also have been dipping my toe into photography.  Basically right now, I’m educating myself on the technical aspects of photography. I’m doing this because I’m fascinated with the art of photography. Being an artist, I believe that I naturally have the eye for photographing things that I find are beautiful. I’m not looking at photography as an outlet for gaining income (although if that happens I won't be displeased) I’m looking at photography as an outlet to capture what fascinates me and what I find beautiful. It’s the same reason that I create art, it’ll just be doing through a different medium. What do I find beautiful? I find aviation beautiful, the female form, cityscapes and nature. So we’ll see what happens and of course, I share the results with you.

Below are some images I have taken with my Samsung. I consider these practice until have a stronger understanding of photography

I love Aviation (and Elvis)

Besides art and trying to find that significant other in my life (still looking), aviation consumes my free time. I watch aviation channels on YouTube, I collect aviation related art and aviation paraphernalia. I have a job in the aviation industry and of course I create aviation related art. So is this an interest or is this an obsession? I believe that it’s an interest, a consuming interest nonetheless, but not an obsession. I have an obsession (Elvis Presley), so I know the difference.

(c) 2019 by Michael Hopkins

                                                        

                                     (c) 2019 by Michael Hopkins

(c) 2019 by Michael Hopkins

It’s a blessing that I work in the aviation industry, it feeds my creative addiction. My job also serves as creative inspiration for my aviation related art. So it’s no coincidence, that when I first started working in the aviation related industry in 2011, I also created my webcomic, Missed Approach.

Looking back, it’s also no coincidence, that the fire in my soul (that helped me create Missed Approach, turned into a mere smolder, when I left the aviation industry and started bartending. While bartending, I was often asked, “why don’t you start a webcomic about bartending?”  Easy answer..
I loathed bartending. It was a job that paid the bills. One can also look back at the time and see that my artistic creativity diminished

Unfortunately for most artists, until they are financially successful in the chosen field, they must work a side gig (a real job) until their creative side can (hopefully) one day can pay the bills. It’s a fact of life. The key to not destroying and crushing your creativity, while you are working that side gig, is to find a job that you can enjoy and at the same time, ignites your creativity. The good news is that I realized this prior to stepping off the cliff last summer. As such, since I left bartending and got back into the aviation industry, my artistic creativity (and not to mention, my happiness) has flourished once again. So I guess there’s a lesson to be learned. One needs to find happiness for their creativity to prosper (i.e., if you're miserable in life, if will reflect in your creativity or lack of..). 

I’m sure there are exceptions. Scholars would say, the most notable exception was, Vincent van Gogh. History books have told us, that he was not a happy man when he created the greatest masterpieces of all time. That is the prevailing belief. I disagree. Through years of being fascinated by his art, I believe that he painted what made him happy. He had found his happiness and shared it with us.  However, the “scholars” have chosen to focus not on what was in his heart, but focus instead on history's observations of a man who did not meet their definition of joyful person. 

People who are not creative, should not judge the creative.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

"Hello my friends! I just flew in from San Francisco, California and boy are my arms tired!"

I know...that joke is even older than me (believe it or not) and I’m no Henny Youngman (now I’ve really lost you).

For the sake of honesty and truth in "media"...I just drove back from San Francisco, California (actually Stow Lake @ Golden Gate Park) and boy is my bum tired! 

However, it was worth it!

I was invited to draw caricatures at the One Year Anniversary Celebration and Fundraiser of Beyond Rescue! https://www.gobeyondrescue.org What an amazing organization! We met some really wonderful people and their loved ones! Please check out their website to find out more and support them in anyway you can! 

Also, thank you Corina Beczner of Vibrant Events https://vibrantevents.net. We appreciate the opportunity!

Enjoy the pictures by Photographer Stevey https://steveyphotos.weebly.com  from the event below!!

Just Saying...

You can tell, when you have found your calling in life, by the fact that you really don’t want to do anything else. Which is a wonderful thing..trust me.

However, I also believe that when you are working somewhere (that is not your calling), whether it be for necessity (you need to pay the bills) or the fact that you’re just too comfortable and too lazy to go after what you really want in life, the littlest things irritate you and you actually seek out these irritants. When this happens, this is your mind’s way of telling you to get off your butt and go after what you really want in life. Unfortunately, most of us ignore what our mind is telling us and we give into the irritations that we have searched for. When this happens, you become what the scientific community calls, Homo Whiny Ass Bitchy Employee Neanderthalensis. You can tell you are at this stage in your development, when you find yourself saying things like…

• "Management don’t care ‘bout nobody!"
• "I get written up fur breaking da rules that everybody breaks!"
• "This companies so (insert curse word here) cheap!"
• "I got me four job offers this week and I’m so outta here (yet, you’re still here)!
• "I’m so tard of this here place!"
• ..and so on…..

All of these may be ligament complaints, however if you don’t have the wherewithal to do something about it (get off your butt and change your situation), JUST SHUT UP!

By participating in these daily, "bitching out loud" sessions, you’re just making the situation worse. You’re especially making it worse for the other employees around you, who are just trying to make the best of their situation. They actually may like where they’re working. Maybe they just want to do their job, the best that they can, enjoy their day and go home. But, NOPE!!….they have to tolerate your whiny ass bitching sessions, EVERY FREAKING DAY!!!

Do the world a favor, fix your situation or keep your miserableness to yourself.

Just saying….

Private - No Social Media

Things are going exceptionally well here and I hope everything is going well for you.. 

This past weekend, I was at  Lake Tahoe for a private corporate event, to draw caricatures. Unfortunately, I was not able to take pictures like I normally do. The gig was booked through a 3rd party Booking Agent and after discussing the event with him, he seemed to be very reluctant to the idea of me taking pictures and posting them on social media. Which is fine, since he’s the one paying me (and without this agent, I wouldn’t have had the event this weekend), so I played by the rules. Still, the fact that I wasn’t able to take pictures, left me with a bad feeling. However, that’s life, and we move forward…

I did take some photos of my drawings and a couple Lake Tahoe (which was gorgeous as usual) Please check a few of them out below.

I was also thinking about Vlogging my trip up to Tahoe. However, my phone kept overheating, while I was trying to video the trip. So alas, it didn't happen. One of the days…

By the way, I have a new side gig (i.e., a second job until the caricatures create enough income so I need a second job). I’m working at Reno/Tahoe Airport, fueling airliners. Hopefully, this is my last side gig. Anyways, this job gives me a chance to be involved in my second passion, aviation. So that's cool and for now, it'll do..right? Below are some pictures I took, when not actively fueling aircraft. Enjoy and have a great day!