Here are a few more pictures from the Party that I posted this afternoon. So many people right here in Nassau County. Practically my Neighbors ~ yet we wouldn't have met if not for my profession. Each person is unique ~

I wish I could see each person in the big world by going house to house starting next door. But I have to wait til they call on me. I frequently drive so far ~ seeing so many people out there in the world. Before I've even met all the people who live in my own area.

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.

Ever notice that you have different abilities in different places? for me, I can exercise better at the gym, diet better at home, relax better at the park. And better pictures At the Party. Or, well, let's say better Party Caricatures at the Party.

I can use a different approach to get excellent pictures when I'm not at a Party. Carefully rendered Portraits in the Studio, Alla-Prima Oils outdoors, even that super-focused stuff I've been doing on my IPad. But my successful Party Style Caricatures are best drawn quickly while I'm actually At the Party.

Here's what happened during some relaxed practice-for-parties that I did in my office:

First I drew stuff like this. Oh my. This is crummy:

Maybe this one's a little better. Still a crummy Caricature. But I got a little fancier with my lines:

Tried again. Oh no. What's This?

Might as well draw again. Well, maybe it's getting better:

Oh, I feel like taking a break. I'm not enjoying this.

But I didn't want to get up. Still stuck here to my chair. Ummmm, maybe I'll just practice some face-painting lines. That's easy:

But boring without a face. Oh ~ I remember! I had been designing dinosaurs for arm-painting recently. I'll see if I remember what I was doing with that:

I feel like I can draw again. I gotta try Caricatures again:

Success! I am Back! I love to Really Caricature. To simplify what I See into correctly designed Pictures. I don't know why I felt so dull when I first sat down here to draw in the muggy Heat. Oh it's so hot today. But a little bit of time with Paper and Markers, and I got into it. I'm looking forward to Seeing people at my next event.

It's the way I Feel when I get to a Party. All excited and ready-to-draw. All ready to entertain and be with new people. Not at all the way I was feeling when I came into my office with nothing-time to kill.