Some pictures from a Post Prom where I drew this year. A High School Post Prom.

I had an interesting experience at this Party. Got me a-thinking. But then, getting nowhere besides the curiosity, I just dropped it. There is no answer. It just is. We all float through life experiencing.

One lovely girl, a beautiful girl who spoke quite well ~ She spoke with another girl while I was drawing her. The conversation went something like this:

The girl I am writing about "Wanna hang?"

The other girl "I can't . I have to meet up with __________. He's waiting for me at the table."

The girl I am writing about "Okay. I don't know why I always end up doing stuff alone."

and that conversation was echoed by something that one of the Adults at the Party said also. About himself. But I don't remember just what it was that he said.

and there I was ~ working the gig alone. Well, to be fair, most places do order just one Artist. And this place ordered just one Artist at the very last minute. When they had collected just enough money to pay for just one artist. So I'm frequently alone at Parties. If I couldn't go places alone, I couldn't have become the successful Party Artist that I am.

Sometimes my life involves being with other people. And sometimes I do stuff alone. It's easier to get to do a lot of stuff that way. It's easier to find people who are interested in the things that I actually Want to do.

But the girl's conversation made me think about the good advice that most schools give ~ Advice to come to the beautiful events even if you're alone. That we don't Need a date to partake of the good events that the schools provide for us.

It's a good thing to learn. It's the best way to be. To have a full life with many activities even if we don't get it together with someone else. Sometimes it just takes too much exhausting effort to do stuff 'together'. But sometimes, we do have the time. But we're just left out ~ nobody else has the space/time in their lives to even notice us. That feels bad.

But if we therefore didn't do what we wanted to do, if we therefore didn't go to the Party, we could pretend that it's not really happening. We might say that we're fine about not going. But our subconscious doesn't forget that we really wanted to be included. People like to feel included.

It's not our fault if other people are already busy when we want connection. The School's advice ~ to come anyway ~ is the best advice. The school was set up with lovely decorations and fun activities. She was one of the group who went there. She had a chance to find someone who cared about her. Might even have ended the night with a caring Love that is more meaningful than if she came with an easy-friend, afraid to walk through the negative emotions that we all have sometimes. It's when we're really down that we have the biggest opportunity for joy.

What good is sitting alone in your room?

Nothing like getting an Experienced Artist for your Events. It really makes a difference. Even now, even me, having been a Party Artist since the previous Century (lol - that was less than 20 years ago ~ It's only 2013 now), but well, that's the Caricature-Way of saying that I've had a Lot of experience working at Parties. A Lot of Experience with all kinds of parties. And all kinds of Art.

Birthday Parties. All Ages. Newborn through Eighty. Rites of Passage. Bar/Bat Mitzvot. Communions. Office Parties. Bar-b-ques. Pool Parties. Beach Parties. Engagement Parties. Showers. Weddings. Retirement Parties. Christmas Parties. Proms. Graduations. Schools. Camps. Surprise Parties. Cocktail Parties. Dinner Parties. Dances. Block Parties. Costume Parties. Singles Parties. After-Proms. Housewarming Parties. Sweet 16's. Boat Parties. Indoor Parties. Outdoor Parties. Reunions. Mardi-Gras Parties. Halloween Parties, Day of the Dead Parties. July 4th Parties. Purim Parties. St Patrick's Day Parties. Super-Bowl Parties. Store Openings. Show Openings. Valentine's Day Parties, Mothers' Day Parties, Fathers' Day Parties........

Caricatures. Face-Painting. Balloons. Fashion Sketches. And Before that, I did Portraits and En-Plein-Aire Paintings, Pastels, Oil, Alla-Prima. Taught Crafts. Also taught Oil Painting and Controlled Painting. Sumi-e Painting, Color Theory........ Yet it's still better if I have Experiences with a new Activity before offering it Professionally.

Glitter Tattoos. I've been practicing on friends for a few years already. And I've really Upped my Practice onto myself recently. I have all the Supplies and I'll be taking them out to Parties now. But I'm still offering it at a Discounted Rate. Just in case I hadn't thought of something yet.

Some of the things I've learned recently are:

1. Do not rely on the stencils that are sold for Glitter Tattoos. The stencils are usually small dinky things that need freehand embellishments, anyway, so I might as well paint my own shapes. The stencils feel tedious. Not to say that painting with glue is graceful. But at least I end up in a relaxed buzz as I glue, dab, glue, dab, glue, dab..... But when I was using those Stencils, I just felt tense. Not a good vibe for a Party:

   

2. It's much easier to create a Tattoo on a person (or body-part) that's sitting in front of you than to handle that type of painting in a mirror. Here, for example, is a photo of a swirl design that I made with glue in a mirror. Even though the decollete-area is a lovely place for a Glitter Tattoo, it came out so much more gracefully when I was able to see my ankle directly in front of me (as decorated in the previous post):

   

   

3. Do not make Large Closed Areas full of Glitter. Looks and feels Great ~ talk about skin-tight clothing! But I didn't feel comfortable about having such a large area of skin covered. Didn't seem right.

   

4. Be clean with my lines, carefully leaving spaces between the shapes. I liked this tattoo, but it would have been better if I left more spaces:

   

5. Even though I've only used Professional Glitter created and sold explicitly for Glitter Tattoos, some brands are better than others. I didn't like the ones that are not shiny:

   

Now I'm ready to start Glitter Tattoos at Parties. They look so glamourous. I have the right supplies, the right attitude, the right history, and some real experience with both making and wearing the Glitter Tattoos.