This first (and second) Fashion Sketch is No Good. According to My feeling. The Artist's feeling. But looking at it now ~ as I am posting it here on the Party Entertainment Ideas Inc website ~ it's obvously good enough. It would get a good reception if I drew it inside the Event. But I feel glad that I got it out of my system. Before going in to the Event.

I'm doing these Warm-Ups before going into the Event. Based on random photographs that I found online. So I can get into THE ZONE before going in to the Party.

Success! The 4th picture is Aces. Spot on. And then I tried to speed it up, and the 5th drawing was drawn more simply. It still holds up fine. I feel pleased with Both the 4th and the 5th drawings here. Of the same short pink dress.

To make sure I 'got' it, I then drew a different dress. It came out good.... good enough to delight a Party Guest.... but I felt like it could be better. So I drew it again. Very pleased. I got right into it.

Goodbye rationality. I am in the Zone. No way to explain it. No way to explain how I go from 'drawing well' to 'being an Artist'. But I do that. I dance with the drawing as it develops.

and once I'm there.... once I've caught onto it.... I don't want to stop. I want to draw more and more. This time, I drew 2 men who were dressed similarly, but the clothes fit them so differently that they became different Fashions.

Time's up. It's time to go in to the Party now. I feel so happy to do so. I can't wait to draw people Live.

I do hope my Client already arranged for a good spot for me to Set Up. I do hope the Venue already gave me the Chairs that I requested for the FASHION SKETCH activity. I do hope the Guests are already psyched for the FASHION SKETCH Entertainment. If I have to start negotiating, requesting chairs, politely waiting, encouraging the first guests into party spirit..... I'll lose the edge that I just developed.

It will be faster to get Back into the zone ~ because I just did these Warm Ups, but it's better if I can just hang on to it. A deeper experience. En-vel'oped.

Good job. Good Caricatures. And I also drew this same Caricature 2 more times when I got home from the Event. I like this style that naturally evolved with me, but I was trying to tap into the New Style that I had been developing. That would have been Simpler. More geometric. More cartoony.

I don't know if I'm trying to force it (my new style which you do Not see here), OR if it will just take time before it becomes 'me'

Let's See. to be continued.....

This beautiful woman had no problem with the Funny Caricature that I drew of her at a recent event.

It was a wild Caricature. I liked it too. We all had a good time.

But then I tried to tone it down a little when I was alone back in the studio. When I felt more able to concentrate because I didn't have the distractions of interacting with the People and 'draw my baby (doll)'sort of stuff. Still using my New Fun Style. And I liked the new Caricature even better.

You never know what is best to exaggerate until after you've done it. In this case, Teeth? Or Nose? There's so many different choices, and no time to second-guess anything during an Event. When the Artist is On.

This was a really interesting job. I had been hired to draw Caricatures at an Assisted Living Facility. It was well lit, and quieter than the usual Parties where I work. That meant it lent itself to small conversations with the Residents as I drew them. Elders, they said some very interesting things.

For instance, there was the (80-year-old?) man who had been affected by Agent Orange way back during the Viet Nam War. It sent him down a difficult path for the next (60?) Yeeears. A lifetime. Affected by the experience he had lived through I asked how he felt about War. I asked how he felt about the government. I wrote his answer on his Caricature. It felt like a good attitude for avoiding all sorts of situations in which we might feel tempted to Second-Guess-Ourselves. Peace. And there was a sweet lady who seemed troubled that she wasn't being a good enough hostess. (even though the facility had hired me to Work there). She kept saying that if she knew I was coming, she would have baked a cake. And more.

I only spend a few minutes with each Person that I draw. We usually don't chat, and when we do, I wonder why Guests say to me 'How long have you been doing this". Or 'My Aunt paints pictures.' And I'll say just about anything to get them to be animated so I'll see something interesting to draw. But sometimes

Sometimes people are intense. without even trying. They are just 'making conversation.' And if I keep my mind open to it, I find intense blessings in a nary a moment