This is the face a serious artist makes.

Sign says: ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST CARICATURE $(blue triangle)

Infinite possibilities.

First victim.

Getting impatient waiting for customers to show up, I started practicing on this guy.

He likes it!

When I first approached him to give him his painting, he clearly thought I was nuts, and it took him a few seconds to decide that talking to me was a good idea, but he ended up accepting it and thanking me. Later, I saw him studying it intensely.

An actual customer!

My act of non-consensual art attracted enough attention that this very nice person offered to pose for me (after I assured her it was free). I ended up gathering a small crowd of onlookers; people see a girl like this posing for a portrait and they want to see whether the artist has what it takes to capture that radiance.

What does it mean?

She wanted to talk about her painting, so I tried to explain what had gone into my creative process -- some sense of energy, the relationship between her and her surroundings, motion, life force, all that kind of thing. Ultimately, though, art is a dialogue with the viewer, and whatever she gets out of it is more valid than what I tried to put into it.

Motion at a distance

Again getting tired of waiting for willing subjects, I went a little Jackson Pollock in trying to capture the youthful energy of this group of roughhousing kids.

Delivered

Dad seemed perplexed at first, but the kid "got it" immediately. They carefully rolled it up, and waved and thanked me again on their way out of the park. Warm fuzzies.

Another stealth caricature

This young couple snuggling on a bench was just too much inspiration to pass up. Bold brush strokes, energy, green!

Rejected!

I thought this one came out pretty awesome, but the guy refused to take it. Laaame.

A more cooperative couple

This couple saw my sign, asked how long it would take, and agreed to give me five minutes.

Hooray!

They really liked their painting, and even tried to give me money for it. I thanked them and said that I believe that putting a price on art only cheapens it.

Extreme distance

This guy was snapping photos in my general direction, so I thought it only fair to return the favor.

From one artist to another

As one might expect, he was a bit taken aback when I hiked across the park to give him his painting, but later he stopped by and thanked me profusely for it, saying he really enjoyed it and wished he could repay me. Pretty much made my day.

One more volunteer

This nice lady is also a painter, and was happy to be my subject.

Another happy customer

I don't think it's quite what she was expecting, but she said it was cute and thanked me just the same.