I am a fully evolved Artist! I am fine just the way I am. I am me - Who else Could I be? I am not Al Hirschfeld. Or Alex Gard. Or any other Caricaturists whose work hangs in Sardi's. (Where I have, by the way, worked plenty of times - regular parties. my own artwork.) Those people, now gone, might have been asked to draw like Rembrandt or something while they were alive!

Not to say that it doesn't help my development to study the Artists of yesterday. Now, most of the published Al Hirschfeld pictures were drawn and redrawn before they became the pictures we know and love. And they were, of course, not drawn by Me. They were drawn by Al Hirschfeld.

I recently had a request to draw 'Hirschfeld-style' at a Party. I like to accommodate my clients. And it's healthy for my growth to do something different once in a while. So I quickly drew up this sample - the way I might do a 'Hirschfeld-style' in 5 minutes at a Party. I used blue color stick instead of black marker for the large area because it takes a lot less time to draw it that way - and my client is hoping to get a lot of pictures per hour.

I'm actually excited about the job. It will force me to study Hirschfeld. But, I'm writing that I exist too. I am an Artist. I live now. Plenty of people are glad to have a 'Gelbman picture'. Plenty of people like me.

Insight by Alison Gelbman:

It's not about what happens ~ It's about How we Interpret what happens.

Today's drive - it was the easiest ever. There was practically no traffic on the roads (Very unusual for going over the Throggs Neck Bridge). And the roads had been cleared perfectly.

Even shoveling my driveway was fine. It wasn't so cold. It was nice out there - felt like I was communing with the earth, gently scratching it's skin.

I worked at a First Night Celebration in a Library - It was nice and comfortable - Lighting and sound were plenty to my liking, I was interviewed on the Radio there (New Rochelle), and I felt very much appreciated by the polite guests.

Just goes to show once again that we don't have to be afraid to do what we've decided to do. I usually say that I learn how to live by creating the Drawings, but today I even learned how to live by doing the Work part of my job. We don't have to be Afraid! If we wouldn't have recognized it as a danger when we were babies, it's not a real danger. Fears can disappear like floating dust-clouds.

Most of the things that hold Adults back are completely unnecessary fears that dissipate as soon as we refuse to let them have any power over us, as soon as we refuse to let them affect us. Do what you think you should do to get what you want.

Best Wishes to us all in the New Year. I'm confident that I'll see a lot of growth in all areas of my Life.