Caricature Express

What an intense Yoga session I had today. I held “Hang Gong #2″ correctly for 10 minutes - with no adjusting.

My Healer told me that there are 3 obstacles to growth: the desire for safety, the desire for recognition, and the desire for control(ling other people).

Made me think about how excited I got recently when I was chosen Best of the Best Caricaturists out in the Hamptons (See post of 10/8/08). I was thinking that he means that if I let those desires rule my actions, if the desire comes BEFORE the result, then it’s something to be avoided. But if the recognition comes AFTER my actions, then it is not an obstacle, not something to overcome.

I think that works for ’safety’ or ‘recognition’, but I can’t apply the same principle to ‘control’. Having led my adult life with principles like ‘unconditional love’ and mostly NOT CONTROLLING OTHERS, I believe that ‘Controlling Others’ cannot be beneficial. Neither Before Nor After my actions. And since the 3 obstacles were brought to my attention in one lesson, I think I’m supposed to apply the same understanding to each of them.

So that means that it’s detrimental to my growth if I’m all excited to get the award? But I don’t think it’s healthy to ignore the things that make us happy. Is that something to think about?

I’m confused. Luckly, my Head-Master has been telling me for years “Don’t think. Just feel.” And “Thinking is Overrated.”

I had an intense day. I love my life.

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Clearing up. Here are a few pictures that slipped out from 3 different jobs. Just the world all thrown together:

To Hire this Artist:
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Well, kind of.
Last weekend I worked for the Montel Williams Foundation.
It was an event in which people walked in the Park
wearing t-shirts that said something about giving 100%.

When I arrived, I recognized the famous tv personality.
He was very approachable (and busy with other people -
I had to respect I had been hired to draw the guests.
To do a job.) So we just passed a few words.
And his Frisbee landed right near me while I was setting up.
I tossed it over to him, and could have swooned when
he said that I did that very well.

I wish I would have the sense to take photos of the
famous people that my job brings me in contact with.
This time, though, I was pleasantly surprised when
I saw Montel Williams in the background of one of the
photos I took of my Artwork:

Actually, though, I was a litl disappointed with the
pictures I drew that day. I was tired and
they stationed me right in the hot sun.
I got decent likenesses, but I wasn’t as wild and showy
as I would have liked:

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

I love how Art is so in the moment.
Like life. The decisions that we make,
the things that we do or say - all in the moment.
My Artwork is always affected by my Reality.

Finally going through a pile of papers here
that have been on my floor since I went to
St Louis and California. (That was months ago!)
I like what I was into then - gotta get back to it.
Instead of focusing on Quickness - how fast can
I get something that works - I was focusing on
3-dimensionality and exaggeration.

Here’s a man that I saw in the airport.
I drew him one time - it’s good.
Then I exaggerated more. More:

I also found a set of 4 pictures.
The first one - the plainest, most ‘realistic’ one
(as though a picture could be ‘real’ -
It’s just a real picture.
The person is the real person!).
Anyway, here it is:

Then I took a simple step at exaggerating her more:

Made the mouth area bigger, but to make it look even
bigger, I decided to smallen-up the eyes/cheeks.
You know, comparison. Something only looks big if
it’s next to something that’s small:

I didn’t like that one.
Losing something in the likeness of the woman.
I even remember her now.

It’s because I made her too angular.
So I had drawn her a 4th time.
And this one was goooood:

At least in my opinion.
In my opinion, I think that that 4th picture
is the best of this group.
But it depends on what you’re looking for.
It’s been my experience that some people
like to see the big exaggerations
because they want to have fun.
But other people prefer the first one (which is easiest
for me to do) - because they want to look
‘normal’. Plain. Like everybody else -
where nobody has anything different (as though
that was possible - how would we recognize each
other??). Or they prefer the first one because
that’s all they’re up to in their Artwork.
They remember trying real hard to make a picture look
realistic. And not having pursued that goal, they
don’t know how easy it is to simply apply the
techniques - things like shading and basic face proportions.

But to people who know how to do that already,
to us, it’s so easy it’s almost academic.
So we are more interested in seeing the artist’s
interpretations. Sometimes deep statements,
sometimes just fun because we don’t honestly know
the people that we’re drawing.

So just for fun, I’m also posting this other picture
that was in the pile:

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

When you stop and think about it,
we see the wildest things!
We all do.
But we’re just so accustomed to it
that our eyes don’t just pop out in disbelief.
I mean like the drooling slobbering person
who was sitting in front of me
(ohnly a baby, but he is still a person).
Or or when we watch a kid whine and have a tantrum.
Or hide her face by squashing it in to her mother’s body.

And it’s not just children who do outrageous things.
Lol - one day I was even talking to an immigrant (grown-up)
who was working on the street with me.
I knew he talked English just fine.
But when I started talking about licenses,
permits, taxes, etc, he literally bent down and hid
his head in his balloons. Conversation over.

What a thought train this entry is turning into.
The guy with the balloons - that reminded me of
some pictures that my friends recently sent to me.
Because they recognized my pictures on an immigrant’s
display on 42nd Street. (He’s currently displaying
old stuff that I drew years ago.) When they confronted
him, he, lol, said that “if he displayed his own work,
nobody would stop.”

Here’s a picture of him drawing beside samples that I had drawn
for myself:

To Hire Alison Gelbman, the real Artist whose own pictures attract people’s attention:
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Thank you Elgin. Thank you Kenly.
I feel like my friends in NY know me and look out for me.