Holiday Travels or Travails?

"Fly with Santa--see the world", they said. Ya seein' the world there, Cupid?

   The very first scrawled version of this toon had the most life and whimsy to it. It didn't clean up so great, though.
    I fussed with angles, points of view, orientation and styles even. Then I tried different pencils, pens, markers, and brushes. Nothing quite worked for me. Lots of trial and error and in the end I tried to dash off this version and then clean it up just a little.

    I had to laugh at my angst here as I tried to recapture the spontaneous feel of the first drawing---planned spontaneity! That ranks right up there with "If you can fake sincerity, you can make people do what you want". (Spoken by a one-time co-worker who is truly gifted as a humor practitioner).
   When I'm overworking something, I remember the words of an artist friend of mine, "Art has a lot in common with barbering; you gotta know when to quit cutting." So enough already.

Safe travels (and no travails) this season and may you enjoy hefty doses of cheer and hearty laughter.