Smile

It’s that time of the year again. I’m starting to book events for next year.

Looking back at the event caricatures I’ve drawn over the past few years, brings a smile to my face. Not just from the thousand of caricatures I’ve created, but mostly from the joy my drawings have brought to others. Although, that statement sounds rather, self-absorbed, I have the smiles to prove it.

It wasn’t always this way....

Not too long ago (during and after an event), I was way too critical of my caricatures. Did I draw that nose correctly?...Did I make his forehead too big?...Should I have made her boobs that big?? (Just kidding...boobs can never be too big :) When an event was over, I’d come home and relax...and then the self-psychoanalyzing, would begin. I doubted the importance of my life’s work. I knew that they were just caricatures (and I don't know what I expected from myself), but I do know that I questioned the value of what I had to offer. I set the standards for my drawings exceptionally high and if I didn’t think I met those standards (and I usually thought, that I didn’t), the self-psychoanalysis began. It’s was an exhausting cycle and occasionally made me think, that I never wanted to draw at event again.

What changed? I focused the the smiles. I focused on the joy that I brought to others. I think we sometimes try to find something that’s just not there..and ignore the wonderfully obvious.

The best parts of life are the smiles.