Hi Lorenzo! Hi Paola!

Art - brings the world together - Fun.

This photo was sent to me from Lorenzo and Paola in Milan, Italy. I didn't have a camera with me on the day that I drew them right here in NY. But they remembered and sent me the photo when they got back home to Milan. I think the picture captures how much fun we were having at that time.

I want to remember this little girl - not just because I enjoyed drawing a Beautiful Caricature for her, but also because of her self-control. Here's what happened:

The Girl's Mother asked me to create the drawing. I told her where to sit, and I started the Artwork. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary - If I'd've thought about it, though, I would have noticed how calm and easy it was to draw her. That's a pleasure, but not all that unusual for girls of this age.

But then, near the end of the experience, the Mother asked me if it would be all right if the Girl ate some of her ices.

"Sure," I said. "As long as I can see her face at the times when I look up from my drawing, it's no problem at all."

"Good," the Mother said. "Because I know she's dying to have some of her treat."

"Really?" I said. "You mean she's been sitting here all this time, just holding her treat, and not eating it because she thought it would interfere with the Artwork?"

Yes - that was what was happening. I had no idea that she hadn't been eating demurely whenever she wanted. This little girl, what, 6, maybe 7 years old? This little girl had the self-control to sit so beautifully and wait. Not only for her picture, but even for the sweets that she was holding right in her hand.

Wow - Her fine features, her fine hair, and she might have been one of the finest people I've ever met.

Art is supposed to be Fun.

The game is different in each setting. It's different to draw at a Party than it is to draw in my private time. It's different to draw in a restaurant than it is to draw in the studio.

Here are 2 quick fun sketches that I drew in the car today. Quickly.

I was really on it today. Had a lot of business stuff to cull through after doing some real intense Yoga head-shaking, so there wasn't a lot of time to really develop some finished pictures. But I knew it unquestionably. I knew that I understood exaggerating. And how to draw what I see. Just didn't have a lot of time to do it. But I am There! A leap from struggle and learning to MASTERY!

Here are a few quick 'scribbles' that show my understandings.

In the first one, I revisited a color technique that I had been so pleased with before (but I had lost touch with it for a while.)

In the second one, I easily saw and developed the clean line-art to be as 3-dimensional as an overworked-shaded thing.

In the 3rd one, there are people that I drew while waiting in line at the phone store. What I like about them is that I was really seeing the Caricature, where the movement was, before drawing. So I had the qestalt in my mind before I even put the pen onto the paper. I was so There today.

Nothing too serious in these drawings. None of them are 'finished' But it doesn't matter. I have nothing to do with them. They're not Commissions. They're not anybody that I know. So there's no reason to belabor them. They're just here to remind us of Real Art.