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.

and why....Why do some people insist on changing their face for the drawing? It just makes my job harder than it has to be, almost impossible to get a good likeness, and makes us feel oh, nervous.

Confidence. We are what we are. And everyone knows that we look the way we look regardless of how I draw them. Most people have enough Confidence to able to have fun. Stretching, playing, exxaggeratinn.... Even people with shakey Confidence are able to loosen up when they see everyone else being drawn too. It helps them grow out of their childish worries.

Oh ~ This is unusual for me, but sometimes the simplest things can give us so much stress. Here I was, arriving 1/2 hour early for my ridiculously Early college event. But okay. That's when they wanted the Entertainment. Even though it left me only 6-hours to sleep after the previous late-night gig.

I had asked ahead of time about Parking on Campus (I know that this is an issue on College Campuses), but I was told to "Just ask the guards at the gate". So that's what I did. No map. "Go up a hill, passing 3 buildings. Turn right. Take it around. Go all the way to the last Parking Lot. That's the one for Visitors...." Did that. Then I was just glad that I could find the guards at that gate again. Because it didn't work. I was told the instructions again. This time I was better at finding my way back to the gate when the instructions for finding the Parking Lot didn't work again.

Apparently this happens to a lot of people on this Campus. So one of the guards was ready with a vehicle, and told me to "Follow him." I finally found the Parking Lot. Took my Supplies out of the trunk while waving and smiling at my escort, started the long walk to the area where I was supposed to be drawing. "Hurry, Alison" I thought. "I must get to work on time. Must be set up and ready to draw as agreed." Breathe. I see the area. Stay calm. Put on your smile. Crossing my final street, "Oh! Did I leave my pocketbook in the car?? With my Car Keys and Phone (and Camera)? Oh Oh." I put down the heavy Supplies that I was carrying. Patting myself all over. Looking inside the Supply Bags. The inside pockets. The outside pockets. Nothing.

I ran back to my car. Down the hill, cross the street, through the little woods, pass one parking lot, see the one that I think has my car in it. Running through the parking lot, backpack pounding on my back, easel and other bags flying around me. Good Morning.

There's my car! It's locked. Let me look in the window. Do I see my pocketbook in there? My keys? No. Nothing. I have a feeling that it's in the trunk.

Nothing to be done about it right now. I run back up the hill, crossing the streets, looking for my liaison. I miraculously find where I'm supposed to set up only 3 minutes before I'm scheduled to start drawing! I open my easel. Post up the paper while people start meandering over. I smile.

Yes. You first. Let's have Fun!

I stepped on the 'treadmill' and just kept up with the pace. Drawing for hours. Barely even noticed the weather even though we were outdoors. These few pictures were all I received from the many people who were so kind as to snap a picture to email to me (since I didn't have my Camera). Apparently it's hard to get a signal for emailing stuff at that spot on Campus. So it would have been too much work for the other people to notice it and remember where to resend it whenever they got to a better emailing spot. I understand. I miss some of the pictures that I drew, but I do appreciate that they tried to help.

I didn't actually deal with my car-problem until After the whole event was over. It was those Security guards again. Apparently, this is a regular part of their job. I was the Fourth person who had been locked out of their cars there just this very day. They had special equipment, an air-pump, a special bar..... Looked like they were performing surgery on my car. I got in.

There was a button to pop the trunk. And there it was. Safe. My keys and my camera. Didn't want anybody to see me collapse. So I drove off campus, still smiling and waving, found the first safe place to park, locked my car doors, and closed my eyes. I slept immediately. All crunched up in my small car.

Some days are like that.