Oh this lady was having Fun at the Party. I usually try to draw everyone once before I would draw anyone a second time, but this Party was okay about it. So some people were drawn more than once. I particularly like how some people choose to make someone else feel very special ~ by asking to be drawn together in a group. A little more difficult for the Artist to pull off, but sooooo worth it:

Ah yes. People. And all their attitudes. What we go through. I particularly liked the attitude of this Communion-boy. Felt so easy-going happy and content'.

Wowwhee ~ Well, blow me down. I had chosen some photos at random from this blog to practice just nice quick Caricatures. More uniform ~ everyone's in practically the same pose. I had thought this quicker approach was going to look amateur, but boy was I surprised.

Easy for me to do, yet they were still Fun. The Caricatures aren't as Wild, the style isn't far-out, there's an almost guaranteed 'nice look' to the face, but they still use my Real Art Skills. The Real Art of harmonizing my vision with the expression in front of me. And best of all, they're easy for me to do. Did I say that already? And quick!

Nothing wrong with the Original Caricatures ~ I just chose these photos because I wanted to see 3/4 view of the face. I used only 2 Black Markers ~ a Charpak and a Tombow. Simple.

I thought I would have been ashamed if I only drew like this at a gig. So I approached the exercise with Humility. Perhaps I shouldn't focus on how Wonderfully evolved my Artistic Visions can be. Perhaps I shouldn't be looking for 'applause'.

So I drew nice plain pictures ~ imposing what I see onto 'fill-in-the-blanks'. And I was so surprised to see that I would not be ashamed of such 'nice' pictures at all. By applying the skills that I had developed while drawing those thousands of Wild pictures, I see that my ability is actually enhanced with these nice pictures. By being willing to step back, I actually lept forward in my Artwork. As well as leaping forward in my ability to love others.

I had only been making simple pictures at Events when a guest or client asks me for a plain less-exaggerated picture, when a guest or client doesn't seem like s/he can laugh at his/her self-conscious worries. But now I see that these pictures are just as good as the more exaggerated ones. 'The moving finger writes' at a gig. Another picture. Another picture. Another picture. Sometimes the more exaggerated ones look better than these nice ones. And I'm so surprised that sometimes the ones drawn with this plain approach actually look better than the more exaggerated ones! And all the time, it looks like these nice pictures would be sure to make our Party guests happy.

I have thousands of wildly exaggerated pictures that I haven't posted yet, but I hope to also start making full parties of nice pictures. I can go back into them if I want to make them 'fancier'. I can add Shading or Color or Background. But the base, the actual Caricature ~ this nice stuff looks like it will be great at Parties too.

Just some simple pictures drawn at a calm Communion. This was an unpretentious Party ~ everybody knew each other ~ close-family.

Made me wonder about the sense of self that we develop within our own families. It seems to be something that is encouraged for a good solid childhood. What I really liked about this party was how un-self-conscious the people were ~ how comfortable in the group.

But would we feel more confident with ourselves if we only stayed within our close-knit family? Because we would be automatically accepted as One of the Group? Or perhaps less confident? Because we would only know the opinions of one family? Would our child-personality be our label for Life? And most of all, could we change as we grow?

Based on my own experience, we get whatever family we're born into. Whatever circumstances that is. And we grow and develop within those circumstances. Some people are born into neatly trimmed gardens. Some people tossed out like wildflowers. Others have to find their way through a dark forest. But it all comes down to the same thing. To find out why Our Creator made us the way we really are.