Big Snowstorm. School closings. I shoveled my car out yet again. 2014 sure has been Snowy in New York.

The night that I drew these pictures of the customers that came into the Vine Wine Bar in Merrick, I was just hoping that the restaurant would have customers show up. They had already advertised that I was going to be there to draw Caricatures, and I wanted to do a good job for the venue. But I can't do very much if nobody shows up.

Whew ~ People did come out in this weather. The Vine Wine Bar is a classy establishment. Soft music, magnificent food (including chocolate fonduuuuuuuuue), a huge selection of alcoholic beverages absolutely lining the romantic setting, attentive service ~ actually a beautiful place to cozy up after this long snowy day. Here are some of the pictures that I drew ~ It was the night before Valentine's Day:

I'm a Party Artist. Always expressing my Happiness in being there. And I honestly am. This is what I want to do. This is how I connect with soooo many people. But

Sometimes I also feel insecure. Or tired. Or bothered. Excited. Tickled pink. Quiet. And it's very different to be working at a Party during Busy Season or during Slow Time.

During Busy Season, there's no Stop. Party after Party, Person after Person. Wow! But during Slow Season, I have time to do other things between the Parties that I work. Hula hoops, Finances, Friends, Gym. Dancing, Family, Cleaning....... So when I get to the Parties where I'm working, I'm suddenly surprised by the pen in my hand and the people coming in to the Party.

I would miss it if I wasn't invited. I would feel miserable if I didn't work. But in addition to being Happy to be there, I was also feeling pressure to make it happen for these people. Even after all these years as a Party Artist, I can still feel frightened. I try to turn from it, I try to pretend I didn't feel that little twinge, but I did notice it at this Party ~ twinges of insecurity. Even though I've already handled about a Thousand Parties.

Some people have the best ideas. When I told my friend that I make Butticatures, he suggested that I should also make CAR-icatures. Car Caricatures. Of cars.

Hey! I've already done that! I've drawn Caricatures of practically every thing at some point or other. Then, when a Valentine's Day client was describing her boyfriend's Strong interest in his car, well... This IS a good idea. I suggested a CARicature including 'his muscle car' (her words, not mine).

As she requested, now I've put together some Samples of CARicatures that I pulled from elsewhere in my blog. Makes me wonder about my previous clients. Like, whatever happened to the man who was 'driving to new adventures' in his Retirement Caricature. And whatever happened with the Coloring Book that I created for that other client. And and.... so many people in that we meet. So many interesting people.

When a client gives me a lot of instructions, it's sort of like working out a puzzle. This client, for instance, gave me some unusual instructions for his Marriage Proposal. I could feel that he was definitely excited, happy, full of Love for his Lady. But the things he wanted were not trite fill-in-the-blanks for Romance. I wanted to see his excitement from His point of view. Not tell him what he Should be wanting.

Before he flew in from England, he ordered his Proposal Caricature ~ planning on proposing at the Falconer Statue in Central Park. He gave me the following instructions for his Picture:

It's be be Fun. Romantic. Stand-out-ish. To resemble Them And NYC. Across the bottom, it's to say: their names New York City 27th December 2014 He's to be wearing Velvet Slippers (very important). No Socks. White Shirt. Bright Pink or Purple Sweater tied over his shoulders as in the reference photo. He wants them wearing what they normally wear. That would be sexy clothes for his Lady. Note her Eyebrows. AND AND he wants me to Include The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building AND AND King Kong!

Whew ~ No short order. How to do this? How to do this? Should I show them in a Bubble? Clear and protected, with a dark smashing scary city around them? No. That's not the City he would be experiencing. They're flying in from England, and staying at a quite upscale hotel. Expecting a sparkling good time. Here's what I came up with:

based on these Reference Pictures:

But then, Oh. Change in plans. They will not be here for the Proposal afterall. Client asked if I could email him the picture. So he would get it printed up in UK in time to propose on NYE.

Took me a bit to figure out what he was talking about. UK ~ that's United Kingdom. And NYE ~ that's umm, maybe I'll look it up later. I photographed the Caricature, sent it to myself in an email, downloaded it onto my Desktop, and Imported it into PhotoShop from the Desktop. So I could crop the background of my Studio off the photo.....

But then, when I opened his email to 'Reply' with the picture, I realized Oh. NYE. That's New Year's Eve! Uhoh ~ I'd better contact him. Because he had had me write December 27 in Ink.

We decided that I could just make the change on the emailed version. By doing it in PhotoShop.

On my New Computer. I had been given a much needed new Computer for my Birthday. It's a sleek new Mac. Much different than the PC I had been using. At the time that I had to handle this client's change in plans, I wasn't yet completely comfortable with my MAC. At the bare hint of a touch, pictures became transparent and the windows combined with each other. I had to do my own 'on the job training', so to say.

I flipped around the options, and I found a place where I could change stuff. Hmmm, I'll change this, I'll change that, I'll set it up this way best...... Success ~ I can now keep the pictures in separate windows in PhotoShop on my Mac.

But now what. My activities must have affected the Computer's ability to import pictures from my Printer into PhotoShop. I had written 31 on a separate piece of paper, planning on Moving it into place on the Caricature, and just covering up the New York City part. But it did not pop up in PhotoShop when I 'Import Picture from Device'. And it didn't show up in Documents, Downloads, or Desktop either.

I spent Hours trying to figure out how to Import Pictures from my Printer (Scanner). My client expects the picture to be emailed right away. It was finished on time. All I had to do was email it to him. What to do ~ What to do for my heart-filled Client ~

Aha! I hadn't yet done much with PhotoShop on my new Mac yet. But I quickly figured out how to add Text and affect it. Here's what I finally came up with:

It has a different 'flavour', but it was extra work that I was doing. Not part of our official Agreement. I figured out how to Import the Pictures later ~ on my own time. For now, this represents the experience. And isn't that what Art is supposed to do anyway?

Done. But then I had no job for December 27, 2014. A very busy time of year, but I had previously turned down a Couple of requests because I was committed to the arrangements I had made to handle this Studio Caricature in person. So, kinda time off. I ended up sitting in Starbucks with my IPad and my Client's reference pictures. I decided to Surprise him with a free Bonus picture. To help him deal with his feelings about his Girlfriend's changed plans. And to perfect' my Party Style Digital Caricatures at the same time.

I worked in Layers. First Layer was an Underdrawing:

On top of that, I did the Linework:

Here it is when I deleted the Layer with the Underdrawing:

Then I put in the home-colors:

I liked that. It's my style. I might even prefer it at this point ~ before the shading and the highlights and the extra playing. Easy on the eyes. Peaceful. But the following picture does make more of a Statement about the situation. So I felt happy to send it to my Client. An Engagement Gift from his Artist in NY.