Ever have some idea posted on your wall for years before you get up to it? I sure do.

Last Thursday, I finally got myself out to meet the Berndt Toast Gang. Joe Visichetti had invited me years ago.

No camera! There I was with people that I'd only heard of, and I didn't have a camera. My cellphone (camera) wasn't working for a change - the company said they'd send me a new one in 5-days, but that's a different story.

Anyway, here I was, lunching with the Berndt Toast Gang. No camera, I did what I could. I drew their pictures!

Here are a few of the people I drew:

Dan Danglo. He did Story Boards. Worked for some of the famous studios. Worked on things like Felix thet Cat and Mighty Mouse:

I talked with Dan for quite a while. Found out his approach for quickly getting his ideas to come to life.

And there was Jerry Jurman. He was the first person who welcomed me when I showed up. Jerry has made some of the most excellent photographs:

I wished they had us all at one table. But maybe this was the best. Because you really got a feel for the different personalities at the table. Still, I wish I could have talked to Stan Goldberg (who does Archie) or Bunny - who does the Lockhorns:

And here's a full-figure sketch I did while Roberta Fabiano entertained us:

Makes me feel like I should be going in to something else - like cartoons. But we can get so scattered. I'm happily busy round the clock doing Caricatures, Face-Painting, and Balloons. Sometimes other work when it just lands at my doorstep. I'm good with illustrations, signs, logos, portraits, oil-paintings, story-boards.... But to seriously pursue each thing is a separate career. If I was to do any of them, it would be Illustrations. I naturally love to tell a story with my pictures.

What a strange day I had yesterday. What a world.

First I got caught in the worst traffic ever - all the way from my place in Wantagh to my Caricature gig in Short Hills, NJ. The web said the trip would take 1 hour and 15 minutes. But it took me 5 HOURS ! From the moment I got on the parkway in Wantagh until I got over the George Washington Bridge, the traffic was so heavy that I was glad when we were able to creep along at 5-miles per hour. (Things like this remind me that I don't have to answer for myself because I'd charge a travel-fee or that I factor in 'fluff-time' between gigs.

And Bloomingdales - cross my eyes! My section at Bloomingdales had 'rap' music! At Bloomingdales! Turned out that they were testing a new line of products.

Here's a photo of my set-up. I like how I incorporated the mannequins into my setup (the blue backpack is usually hidden under a table or behind a curtain, but this time I made it look like a prop for the mannequin:

Then I was surprised. When I'd stray from doing straight faces, I actually got good responses from the fun Bloomingdales customers. Turned out that they were just nice wealthy people - WHO WERE OUT TO HAVE A GOOD TIME ! Just pleasant people who were open to having fun:

Then, tired from the long day (after not sleeping much the night before - last-minute Studio pieces with outrageous deadlines), do I go home? No. I had been invited to see the Arkhams at a bar in Brooklyn. Just a personal outing, but as usual, I occupied myself studying some ideas for Caricatures. And that meant that I ended up drawing some of the people there. In the dark bar.

Will the Fun never end?

Well, kind of. Last weekend I worked for the Montel Williams Foundation. It was an event in which people walked in the Park wearing t-shirts that said something about giving 100%.

When I arrived, I recognized the famous tv personality. He was very approachable (and busy with other people - I had to respect I had been hired to draw the guests. To do a job.) So we just passed a few words. And his Frisbee landed right near me while I was setting up. I tossed it over to him, and could have swooned when he said that I did that very well.

I wish I would have the sense to take photos of the famous people that my job brings me in contact with. This time, though, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Montel Williams in the background of one of the photos I took of my Artwork:

Actually, though, I was a litl disappointed with the pictures I drew that day. I was tired and they stationed me right in the hot sun. I got decent likenesses, but I wasn't as wild and showy as I would have liked:

I love how Art is so in the moment. Like life. The decisions that we make, the things that we do or say - all in the moment. My Artwork is always affected by my Reality.

Finally going through a pile of papers here that have been on my floor since I went to St Louis and California. (That was months ago!) I like what I was into then - gotta get back to it. Instead of focusing on Quickness - how fast can I get something that works - I was focusing on 3-dimensionality and exaggeration.

Here's a man that I saw in the airport. I drew him one time - it's good. Then I exaggerated more. More:

I also found a set of 4 pictures. The first one - the plainest, most 'realistic' one (as though a picture could be 'real' - It's just a real picture. The person is the real person!). Anyway, here it is:

Then I took a simple step at exaggerating her more:

Made the mouth area bigger, but to make it look even bigger, I decided to smallen-up the eyes/cheeks. You know, comparison. Something only looks big if it's next to something that's small:

I didn't like that one. Losing something in the likeness of the woman. I even remember her now.

It's because I made her too angular. So I had drawn her a 4th time. And this one was goooood:

At least in my opinion. In my opinion, I think that that 4th picture is the best of this group. But it depends on what you're looking for. It's been my experience that some people like to see the big exaggerations because they want to have fun. But other people prefer the first one (which is easiest for me to do) - because they want to look 'normal'. Plain. Like everybody else - where nobody has anything different (as though that was possible - how would we recognize each other??). Or they prefer the first one because that's all they're up to in their Artwork. They remember trying real hard to make a picture look realistic. And not having pursued that goal, they don't know how easy it is to simply apply the techniques - things like shading and basic face proportions.

But to people who know how to do that already, to us, it's so easy it's almost academic. So we are more interested in seeing the artist's interpretations. Sometimes deep statements, sometimes just fun because we don't honestly know the people that we're drawing.

So just for fun, I'm also posting this other picture that was in the pile: