Caricature Express

We have so much Fun. One of the best things is watching the Reactions to my Pictures. But it’s unusual that I can get it on Camera.

And it’s unfortunate that I can’t play it up and really give Time to the Reactions. When people hire me, they’re usually so focused on ‘How Many Can You Do Per Hour’, that I think they not only limit My fun, but it also limits their Guests fun. “Ok - we like that one. Next!”

We live in such a fast-paced world. Running from one activity to the next. We party fast. We eat fast. We run the course of our relationships fast. Life goes by like a blur.

A blur! I guess my ‘bad photography’ is quite good afterall. It records the moment quite poetically.

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

I’m on to something here.
There’s Relaxing and Tensing. Of the Mind as well as of the Body.
And THAT’S ALL THERE IS.

What happened was that I was awakened with a difficult phone call today.
It was from a small Agent who had booked an upcoming gig with me.
He called to say that the gig was off - Good Morning, Alison
He said that the company that hired him
decided to have Artists in 8 stores instead of 9 stores -
And my store was the one that was bumped.
Disappointed, but I was calm about it. I reminded my Agent that
I’d need a $50 kill-fee.
But that disappointment stayed with me.

And then my mind started stressing on social fears and personal
disappointments (disappointments? that’s a mild word
that we can use to dampen devastations).
Yet I have a good life. Successful Career
Magnificent Family, Comfortable Home…..
So why was I grappling with so many insecurities this morning???

I figured it out. Our minds get Stuck, like a muscle gets stuck. Tension - can’t loosen it. My mind had ‘tensed’ from being flung into a disappointment first thing upon waking. And I realized that Mental tension works the same as Physical tension. It’s like tensing your forehead involuntarily - if you can’t relax your forehead, you’ll have an annoying headache. And if you keep it tensed for a very long time, it can become overwhelming - making it difficult to focus on other people, work, fun…. Maybe even spreading to other physical tensions - eyes, neck……

So I relaxed my mind. I reminded myself that things are okay for me - even
Great! I ate my nourishing breakfast, talked to a friend about all the good things we have planned, chose some nice clothes for the day….. And now I’m safe and warm here up in the office. Looking out the window while typing on my computer.
The existence of Computers! And Super Markets. High-Quality Art Materials….
Now I’m sooooooo happy for the special people who are currently in my life. And even happy for past relationships that (aghk) ended - because they were so wonderful when I had them. My mind is relaxing. I’m happy and comfortable. Even with this morning’s cancellation, I have so many gigs that I’m overwhelmed in getting ready for them all.

Just like if a person might want to relax (ie massage, rest, healers) if his back tightens up, he would also want to relax (ie friends, lovers, meditation) if his mind tightens up - gets stuck in negativity, stuck in tension. Relaxation is lovely. Tension is dark.

So, physical or mental, STRESS AND RELAXATION IS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE.
And we need stress in order to feel the relaxation. We need them both because that is Life. Without either one, we would die.

Existence Is
because of Both Tension And Relaxation.

Breathe out. AND in.
They’re Both needed to stay alive.
Yin And Yang.
Weak And Strong.
Tense And Relax.

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

Fuzzy photos. Just to show you what I’m dealing with, here are some of
the ‘better’ photos - frustrating - bcause I remember some of these Caricatures
looking great!

I think what happens is that I don’t want to take the time to ‘become a photographer’.
So I just grab my phone, flash it in their direction, and press the button a few times.
I’m wondering if it might be better to take the extra moment to wait until I know the
camera is still, and then take less photos.

Just like drawing pictures or doing anything else, it might not really take that much
longer to do it right.

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

Flowers are for
‘just because I like them’.

These new phones are so excellent.
So glad to have my phone with me while I went for a walk.
A scruffy garden - this flower on a scraggly bush (bush? branch was more like it).
I was attracted. And surprised that it smelled so lovely.

So often we get roses or grow roses these days
and there’s no scent. I took this photo because I was so fortunate to have this perfect rose in my life.

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

More High School students getting ready for College.
Any day now……

Today I looked at these people with amazement.
I see so many thousands of people, year after year,
going off to College as though they’re the winners -
the best. But all that usually turns into just another
person who has a job. Plain. Goes to work, buys
a house. Doesn’t do anything extraordinary. I mean,
like do all these winners think their parents are
extraordinary? Or aren’t they just normal people
who do Something. To pay the bills and stay alive.
Could seem mundane. Yet their parents were the
High School stars of Yesteryear?

But that’s all there is! That is what our world is
made up of. The constant roll of another classful
of graduates. Doing Something. Shaping the world
that they find.

That’s why things have changed since I was born.
We now recycle our plastic bags. And people pick
up their dog’s poop. We have huge Super Markets
that cheaply sell things that would have been
treasures for people in the Colonial era, people
who aspired to be able to dye their homemade
quilt fabrics Blue. We take blue fabric (and a whole
lot more) things for granted.
And Why do we have them? Why do we live like this?
Because plain people, people who graduated, got jobs
doing Something, made their little votes and chose
what they wanted to buy - these plain people gently
changed the world.

The children are The Future of the World. Really.

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