Is That All You Do?

My buddy Albert Pyle over at the Mercantile Library asks me each year to do a caricature of that year's speaker for their annual literary dinner invitation. It's one of my more satisfying pro bonos because he always invites my wife and me to the dinner and makes sure we meet the subject. One year we sat with Salman Rushdie; last year I drew Annie Proulx.

I agreed again this year and was midway through my vacation at the lake when I remembered the project's deadline was upon me. Googleless, I borrowed a couple of Calvin Trillin books from the nearby library and drew the caricature from a book jacket while standing in the post office, then stuck it in the mailbox with a descriptive address (Mercantile Library, Main Street somewhere between 4th and 5th Streets, Cincinnati, OH 45202).

By the time I got back to town Albert said the invitation was at the printer. I'm pleased with how it turned out. There's something to be said for not overworking an assignment.