Hmmm, what's she going to see, I wondered. Got me a-readin this stuff. I got as far back as March 19, 2007, when I decided I wanted to draw. Some colors for that picture I had redrawn on that date. Here it is, redrawn again:

Just yellow - I don't know if it will show up. So I quickly threw it into Photoshop for a few quick colors:

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Art is in the moment. Lack of sleep, pictures, visions, people, parties, wild - of course that's going to affect the Artist. It's not exactly sticking to a neat schedule, early-to-bed and early-to-rise, calmly knowing what's to be done each day. The Artist has to make it up as she goes along. Creation is in the moment.

We create Art in a similar way as we create our Lives. Making Art is an exercise in Making Life.

So here's one of the things that happened. I was hired to draw Caricatures for an 18-year-old's Party. For three hours early in the day. Fourty kids were invited to this girl's party. Only 20 showed up. Turned out to be a group that I could relate to. Most of them were friends from High School Art Class. The guest of honor had even drawn her own Chibi on the Invitations.

I was confidently doing my thing. Quickly getting the likenesses, the young Artists were real interested in my Caricatures. I drew all except 2 of them. Two of the girls didn't want to be drawn.

But what was I to do? I was hired for 3 hours. So I draw for 3 hours.

This party had some music, but no dancing. No other entertainment besides me and food and good conversation.

So I finished those 18 pictures. Then I took charge of the Party. "We're going to play a game now," I said. (I didn't really have any idea of what I was going to do as I started leading the group.) "Umm, let's all draw the Guest of Honor. Together. Here now, I'll start with the nose, then we'll pass it around the table. Each person is to draw the next line and tell about what s/he's drawing."

Well, that game didn't go as well as I had planned. Not bad, but the laborious slowness of the sketchy lines was an energy-drain. And I had taken it upon myself to keep the party energy Up. (If the opportunity comes up to try that game again, I have a much better idea of what to do - to make the drawing exciting and energized.) But this time, I was glad to be interuppted "It's time for the Cake." As the guests gathered round for Birthday Cake, my hostess told me to make up a food platter - She said I could take it home with me since I didn't feel like eating at that time. Yum. Salmon, Seaweed, Brocolli in brown sauce. Pineapple and Watermelon. Yum yum.

When I came back into the main room, the guests were at their own tables - eating ice-cream cake.

I grabbed my drawing board. I walked over to a table. I spoke out loud. I said stuff about being part of the Party. Having fun. This isn't serious.

Instead of my usual Tombo, I drew with the bright red Crayola marker. I used the highlighters and the black. I added colors wildly. Without knowing the Answers (real art), I was just trying to keep the Party Energy Up.

The girl was giggling. She was looking down. I absolutely could not get a 'take' on her face. And I was drawing upside-down and backwards most of the time, anyway. "I drew this crummy picture?" I thought. "In public?"

But it was okay. Made everyone smile. They were all involved and they felt like they were at THE PARTY.

"Hmm, what did I draw here?" I said out loud. "This is it. This is your picture," I said as I handed it to the girl. "Unless, of course, you want to come back to my easel
where I can draw you correctly."

That worked. The girl walked back to my easel, followed by the interested party. But I was loosened up. I ended up drawing that girl and the other girl who hadn't yet been drawn. And I also drew a 2nd picture for many of the guests (kept drawing til the end of the party). So they ended up with one 'serious' Caricature - well, as serious as one of my Caricatures would be - Smile. And another wild colorful Caricature.

The girl who inspired this change in my work - at first she wanted both of her wild pictures. Then I was glad when she kindly returned the crummy one to me. Funny to think that I'd now post it here. But I am - because it will inspire me to make happy bold party pictures. A new style that I can choose at will:

SMILE! When I see my pictures in different settings, they look different to me. Now this looks like a wonderful picture! And it looks just like the girl from my memory. Why was I so disappointed with it, I wonder.

Why was I doing this? Because I just got a new printer. Finally. And it's a copy machine too. So when I needed to prepare more small cardstocks for tomorrow, and since my car is in the shop, I decided to handle it on the computer. It turned out to be better than going to the Office Supply Store. Because I was able to easily create several different choices.

Here are some of the scenes that I was printing onto my small cardstocks. Now I just wish my new printer could also handle 11 x 17's.

And then, then I even got into using some color:

Happy Day. She remembered me. Here's what came in today: