Caricature Express

I took the whole morning off today! That is Soooo unusual for me.

I certainly didn’t plan on it, but I’m glad I did it. Today was just a step, a little time spent towards my personal growth. Not my artistic growth. Not my business growth. Not finally getting this house in order. But seeking out my quiet heart - the sweetness that isn’t heard while I focus on everybody else.

A friend had called. Complaining that another friend of ours had disappointed him. Again.

Started my regular work. Called an agent. Prepared detailed travel directions for a very hectic day next Sunday (Face Painting at a Labor Day Party in Whippany NJ followed by Caricatures out east at Stony Brook University). Then, Stop.
I stopped. I took time to do for myself what I would have wanted a friend to do for me. But I wasn’t very good at it. Not accustomed to giving to myself, but
I persisted. And I felt supported in my efforts by the wonderful
Olivia Newton John CD I was listening to.

Enjoying the photo on the cover of the CD, I tried to experience her content mood by Caricaturing the photo. Here’s what I came up with. I particularly like how I signed it at the top of the page. It looks like Olivia is looking right at me, speaking right to me, the AG logo in the corner:

The music really adds the feeling to the poety, but all I can do here is write the words of some of the songs that supported my morning off:

LOVE IS LETTING GO OF FEAR:

The pain is something that you can’t ignore
You’re always wondering what the hurt is for
Your heart feels something, that is can’t explain
You yearn for love but you’re afraid to change
Remember the wounded bird still sings
Remember that faith has tiny wings

Love is letting go of fear
Love is letting go of doubt
Love is letting go
The chains that tie your spirit down and
Love is letting go of pain
Love is learning how to dance
Inside the light again.

You’re always haunted by the love you’ve lost
You’re scared that you’ll forever pay the cost
You believe tis is the bitter end
Better lonely than be hurt again
Remember there’s always one more chance
Remember that love’s the only dance - and

Love is letting go of fear
Love is letting go of doubt
Love is letting go
The chains that tie your spirit down and
Love is letter go of pain
Love is learning how to dance
Inside the light again
Love is letting go of pain
Love is learning how to dance
Inside the light again.

Good Morning! Here I am, relaxing a playing - as though I have nothing else to do??? But, well, this is what I did.

Perusing my blog, I redrew the picture I scribbled out last 1/6/06. It was so much Fun:

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

Quick Cac. I coined that phrase to quickly say that I drew the Caricature quickly:

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

Sometimes guests are inspired to draw when they see me drawing.

Today, I worked at a 40-year-old’s Birthday Party. Some of the guests stationed themselves with me - watching, talking …. and they wanted to draw also.

Two of the younger girls gave me their pictures. I want to post them because I was really impressed.

Lisa drew the whole scene - that’s me drawing. I was very impressed with her choice of what to include and her ability to draw depth - she was only nine years old!

Ashley drew some beautifully diverse faces. And I could see that she was free - playing with what came out. Ashley was 10 or 11 years old.

I can really appreciate their talent. Young and undeveloped of course, but still raw and honest.

I meet so many neat people at these parties. Just within the past month, some of the people I remember meeting include:

a young mother of a one-year-old who keeps extended family together - actually managed to have something like Nine Grandmothers at the party (long story I guess - it wasn’t explained to me, but everybody was very happy to fawn over this little girl - what a beautiful gift of family this mother was giving her baby).

an older mother who set up a beautiful life for her learning-disabled 40-year-old son. in an assisted living situation with other learning-disabled adults.

a mother of an autistic boy who was able to handle all those extra demands while still keeping a beautiful home (and the autistic boy himself who has been encouraged enough that he was able to smile and relate to me and the picture I drew of him).

an extremely tattooed he-man who’s been hiring me a couple of times each year - because he makes family/friendly parties regularly - he’s the one who keeps the group together - it’s because of extroverted people like him that children can grow up ‘belonging’.

a woman who has a fundraiser once per year to honor her father who passed away from Alzheimer’s about 7 years ago.

people of all ages - the young boys with the comic books, the young girls who liked to look like Bratz-dolls, the (70 year old? 80 year old?) woman who claimed to be the oldest one here - and then turned with gyrating hips encouraging the 11-year old to Go!.

the ‘Beach Mayor’ out east who helps me set up every year that I do the Kitefly. I end up knowing all about him, his daughter (just got married this year), his wife who passed away 14-years-ago from breast cancer, his special house.

the litle girl that I call ‘the strawberry girl’ - she’s now about 5 or 6 years old, but I always remember the first time I drew her - she had been about one-year-old at that time and her mother had had her dressed up in the cutest little hat that had strawberries on it.

the dark-eyed family (I think they might have been of Spanish background) that hired me to draw Clownicatures (Caricatures that are decorated to make each guest look like a Clown) last year. This year they had me back, but this time they had me draw Piratecatures (Great Pirate theme decorated their yard)

Oh! The Barnes and Noble crowd - all those people who followed the series. Most of them came dressed up like the Harry Potter characters. Or at least had a scar and a pair of round glasses on.

The delightfully appreciative woman who was talking to me with Yiddish. She was telling me how important it is to keep that old language alive because of the descriptive expressions in it. Things like fadrei-a-cup, and foreist-a-hemp-and-kratzach. The first one has to do with a worrying head. The second one is something about ‘tear your undershirt (hemp) and scratch (kratzach)’. She so appreciated words, pictures, songs, dances, and the people around us.

And and the nine-year old who finally taught me how to stick my neck out like a pigeon! She described it as bringing the top bone of the back of my neck together with the bottom bone of the back of my neck. I’m so happy to finally know that! It will help keep my neck loose.

I love my clients. I love their guests. I love to draw. I love Life! Even with all the other stresses and excitements that it includes.

To Hire this Artist:
(516) 579-4706
optidust@gmail.com

I was the Caricature Artist for Barnes and Noble that night when the latest Harry Potter book came out. The line of people ran straight through the ig store, so I had to draw quickly. One of the girls I drew used my Caricature for the invitation to a Birthday Party she had this week. And she hired me to come back and draw her friends at her pool party.

Here’s the invitation with the quick Caricature I drew at Barnes and Noble. I hope she emails me a picture of the beautifully detailed picture I drew of her at her pool party: