Lena Grove, zombies, and Mexican wrestling badgers?

anotheraaron — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:11:31 +0000

Lena Grove stole hearts left and right, and just like last time, I had a couple folks tell me later they’re either in love with her, or are still in love from the last time. On a side but related note, because Windows can’t make an operating system that can’t run for 5 minutes without crashing, I’ve been working on this blog post for three days, and, well, there’s a lot worse things in the world I could have been looking at that than a photo blog of last session. Alexis is in Phoenix at the moment doing whatever people do in Phoenix, grilling armadillos and whatnot, so it’s up to me write this post with little to no adult supervision. This means, 1) there’ll be more typos than usual and 2) someone somewhere will probably be offended shortly.

Anyway, let’s get this going.

Lots of sketches got sent in this time around. This first one is from Michelle Murphy…

Our first contest was the opposite hand contest, where “if you’re right-handed, you draw with your left, and if you’re left-handed you draw with your right, and if you’re ambidextrous pretend you’re not so you don’t make anyone cry.” Russell made up some mystery shots for the two winners; he actually messed up the first set and made us drink the horrible concoction . . . don’t ever say Team Sketchy isn’t willing to take one for the team. If you thought we were a little more tipsy than normal by the end of things, you were probably right.

Near as I can tell, no one sent any opposite-hand drawings in from that contest, unless they were cheating, which I doubt, since the crowd looked to be a good, wholesome sort.

That last photo MIGHT be the judging of the opposite-hand drawing contest. Hard to tell though.

This next sketch is from Steve Peters, he and Andrea Grigoropol (you’ll see her stuff in a minute) drove all the way down from Philly just to see Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore. I can not tell you how much that tickles us. Unless they’re spies from the Philly Dr. Sketchy’s. Advance scouts for some sort of Dr. Sketchy’s gang turf war if you will. If that’s the case, if they’re making a move on our corner, well, we ain’t scared of Nicola Black’s posse. Just in case though, if some of you could pack your heat for the next couple sessions, we should be alright.

That’s a joke.

It just occurred to me this IS Baltimore, somebody might take me seriously.

Michelle Murphy next . . .

Brian Dugan

And here’s Andrea Grigoropol from Philly . . .

The first contest was a special request from Lena – she wanted the best interpretation of her as a zombie, the winner getting 1000 Pinup Girls by Harald Hellmann, Charles Martignete, Louis Meisel from Atomic Books.

A whole bunch of folks gave her their drawings at the end of the night, which we were lucky enough to get a chance to scan. Unfortunately, that means we don’t have the names of the artists. If you see your sketch, email us, and we’ll be happy to tack your name under it. On the off chance two people claim a drawing, the two can come to the next Dr. Sketchy’s (this Monday with Sugar Ann Spice!) and settle it with a rousing bout of fisticuffs during a break.

ANYWAY, these first two are from that stack.

(I had some trouble with the scanner on this one. . . that’s only half of it. The scanner just ain’t big enough.)

(edit: This following drawing is by Diego Molano.)

Another Steve Peters . . .

Brian Dugan

The next contest was the random noun contest where folks in the crowd shout out a random . . . well, noun. Obviously some drinks had started to make themselves known since we somehow ended up with “Mexican wrestling badgers”. No, I don’t know either. I don’t even know what a badger looks like. I can’t even imagine trying to draw one with a Mexican wrestling mask on. The crowd definitely had my sympathies, though they did bring it on themselves I suppose. The prize was Miss Mindy’s Sassy Paper Doll Bonanza by Miss Mindy from Baby Tattoo Books.

This first one is Andrea Grigoropol again, at least I think it is. It has AG on it and was in Lena’s stack.

Brian Dugan

Another unnamed . . .

A couple more sketches to finish us out . . .

Michelle Murphy

Andrea Grigoropol (next three)

Steve Peters

EM Kuker

And one more unnamed . . .

Special super-duper thanks go to Lena Grove of Baltimore’s Gilded Lily Burlesque who without none of this would be possible, to Russell of the Windup Space for putting one more nail in everyone’s livers, Jeff for talking all these nice pictures, Bill for taking video for the Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore documentary while simultaneously watching the door, and our generous sponsors Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and Baby Tattoo Books.

The next Dr. Sketchy’s is tomorrow, November 23rd, at 7:00 (doors at 6) at the Windup Space with Sugar Ann Spice!

If you haven’t already, check out the previous post to get a peek at Monday’s prizes!

Want to see next week’s prizes?

anotheraaron — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:49:42 +0000

Just a quick note, I just finished my bi-monthly trek around Station North putting up flyers for next Monday’s Dr. Sketchy’s and stopped by Artist & Craftsman Supply to pick up the prizes. Sweet Jesus there was a big bag waiting. To be honest, I almost didn’t make it over to the Windup Space with it (the car running a light and nearly splatting me didn’t help). Figured I’d take a quick photo and let folks see what we’ll be giving away over the next two sessions during the contests.

If you’re not buying your art supplies from Artist & Craftsman Supply yet, you should be. They’re at the corner of North & Howard, basically across the street (and they’re open to 8 too).

Oh, and don’t forget Atomic Books, take a look at this.

Bettie Page: Queen of Hearts by Jim Silke is a collection of paintings, drawings, dime store novels, and even advertisements influenced by Bettie Page.

And from Baby Tattoo Books,

I’m not sure which one we’re giving away yet (Alexis is in Phoenix at the moment and we usually decide at the last moment anyway), but it’s probably one of these two.

Also, Russell who owns Windup Space is going to do a contest as well….a free drink (I don’t know the specifics yet) for him to be able to keep a drawing and hang it behind the bar for the next two weeks. Sounds like this will probably be a regular thing too.

That’s all I got at the moment, now I’m going to start working on the blog post for Lena Grove’s session last week. Probably get it up late tonight or tomorrow. So if you have a sketch you want to send in, you have mere MOMENTS LEFT.

Dr. Sketchy’s with Sugar Ann Spice is next Monday, November 23rd, 7:00 (doors at 6), at the Windup Space. Earlier you are, better the seat.

Next Monday, Sugar Ann Spice!

anotheraaron — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:33:12 +0000

Here’s the new flyer for next Monday, the 23rd, where the lovely Sugar Ann Spice will be your muse for the evening.

Thanks to the wonderful Elise Dawson of Stereo Vision Photography for letting us use her fantastic photo of Sugar!

Join our Facebook group to RSVP and post your past drawings, and if you want quick updates on what’s going on, following us on Twitter. Check back here in a few days and we should have the photos up from Lena Grove’s session too.

Dahlia Derriere Poe’s it up.

anotheraaron — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:12:32 +0000

On the 26th, for our loosely Halloween-themed session (complete with sugar and pumpkin cookies and assorted chocolaty goodies), we had the pleasure of drawing the lovely Dahlia Derriere, who paid tribute that evening to one of her favorite writers, Edgar Allan Poe.

For the first half of this session, Dahlia was dressed as the titular character in Poe’s short story, The Black Cat. If you just giggled over the fact that I said “titular”, I’m gonna guess you may not have read the story, so for you guys (and the rest of us who can’t remember what we did ten days ago, much less a story we read ten years ago in high school), here’s a little Wikipedia blurb on it: ”The narrator tells us that from an early age he has loved animals. He and his wife have many pets, including a large black cat named Pluto. This cat is especially fond of the narrator and vice versa. Their mutual friendship lasts for several years, until the narrator becomes an alcoholic. One night, after coming home intoxicated, he believes the cat is avoiding him. When he tries to seize it, the panicked cat bites the narrator, and in a fit of rage, he seizes the animal, pulls a pen-knife from his pocket, and deliberately gouges out the cat’s eye. From that moment onward, the cat flees in terror at his master’s approach….”

I don’t want to ruin anything, so I’ll stop there, but it quickly turns into a horror story from there. (I know, it doesn’t seem like it, cause, well, cats are monsters, but trust me, it quickly goes bad. What initially seems like a perfectly understandable pest-control story becomes an “innocent cat turns out to be some sort of disguised demon hell-beast from beyond the veil” sort of tale. This sort of thing happens a lot more often than you’d expect.)

In any case, Dalia Derriere’s tribute to the Master of the Macabre was a lot easier on the eye than a pen-knife.

As always, we start our sessions out with the 1- and 2-minute poses, so here are a few sketches from that set. First up, from Michael Bull:

Next, from Brian Dugan:

And, back to the photos…

Our first contest of the evening was (as it is every Dr. Sketchy’s evening) the non-dominant hand drawing contest, in which we attempt to even the playing field by awarding the two artists with the steadiest hands in the room with a shot from the bar. (At Dr. Sketchy’s, we’re not afraid of “the Fiend Intemperance”.) I don’t think we got any drawings from this contest, so here are some sketches from the other 5-minute poses from anonymous artists who was kind enough to give his/her drawing to Dahlia:

For the second contest, we asked the artists to illustrate the last moments of Poe’s life—which, for those of you who don’t know, were spent right here in Baltimore. The cause of Poe’s death is still a mystery, but check out our artists’ guesses. First up, from Brian Dugan:

And from Stewart White, the 1st place winner of this contest:

For his efforts, Stewart took home a snazzy and wide (or long, depending on how you hold it) pad of hemp paper. Next up, the model’s pick (and maybe the 2nd place winner? we can’t remember anymore), Poe in a cask of amontillado, by Michael Bull:

The 2nd-place winner (whether it was Michael or not) took home a 100% Windpower paper sketchbook. Both sketch pads, by the way, were generously donated to us by Artist & Craftsman Supply on the corner of North Ave and Howard.

For the second half of the evening, Dahlia was the Tell-Tale Heart, and had made for her exquisitely gothic costume a large cameo of an anatomical heart.

Next up was the random noun contest, in which we ask the audience to volunteer a random person, place, or thing—and this time, we threw in a random verb for good measure. So, for this contest, artists competed for a volume of Poe’s short stories in graphic novel form (generously donated by from Atomic Books of Hampden) by incorporating “ghostbusters” and “shooting” into their drawings.

From Michael Bull:

And from the winner, Brian Dugan:

More sketches! First, again from Brian:

And two from Lois Borgenicht:

And from Stewart White:

And another anonymous gift to Dahlia:

And, for the last pose of the evening, we asked each of our artists to write a Poe-esque or otherwise eerie sentence, and then instructed them to pass on their sentence to the person sitting next to them. The artists then incorporated the sentence that was given to them. This contest resulted in some very awesome drawings and and, in one group, a quick game of Mad Libs. Whoever passed on his card to Michael Bull drew a blank, it looks like, but Michael did pretty well with what he was given:

And from Brian Dugan:

And from another generous (and, yes, anonymous) artist:

It’s possible the talented lady who drew this last sketch won, but if she didn’t, she was definitely one of the runners-up. The winner of this last and most bizarre contest of the evening took home Gris Grimly’s Little Jordan Ray’s Muddy Spud from Baby Tattoo Books which is run, along with Dr. Sketchy’s L.A., by the awe-inspiring Bob Self. If, for whatever reason, you’re reading this blog from all the way out in California, definitely check to see if Bob is bringing his Dr. Sketchy’s Roadshow—on tour right now—to a city near you.

Special thanks to Russell at the Windup Space for the awesome space, drinks, and tunes; and to Bill for manning the door with his manliness; and to Jeff for the photos. And, of course, to the lovely Dahlia Derriere, without whom this tribute to Poe wouldn’t have been possible, and, last but not least, to all of you wonderful artists who joined us that evening—especially all of you who shared your drawings with us (or with Dahlia, who then scanned them in and posted them for us).

Hope to see you all at our next session—tomorrow night! (If you’re reading this on Monday, that’s tonight…) We’re thrilled to have back the luscious Lena Grove of Gilded Lily Burlesque—see you then!

Next Monday: Lena Grove!

anotheraaron — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:34:49 +0000

Next Monday, November the 9th, is our session Lena Grove of Gilded Lily! (You may have caught her co-hosting Glitterama a few weeks ago as well.)

Including next Monday, there are only three sessions left this year! You know what happens then? No more Dr. Sketchy’s until the last Monday in January! It’s going to be pretty horrific, and to be honest, I’m not too sure we’ll survive it. Do you know how long it is from December 14th to late January? It’s like MONTHS. Missing any of the last three could honestly be dangerous to your health.

And what happens if something happens over Christmas to me or Alexis? Like, I dunno, we get picked up for driving with an open container of eggnog while in Honduras and can’t get back into the country? These would be the last three sessions of Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore EVER, not only that, I’m suspecting that the other Dr. Sketchy branches would take this turn of events as a dire omen and cancel THEIR sessions.

‘Course, we’re going to hope for the best and be wary around eggnog, but STILL.

By the way, that super-slick photo of Lena up there is by J. M. Giordano, the genius behind Gutter Magazine. You should check out some of his other brilliant work.

We should have the photos up from Dahlia Derriere in a few days. If you haven’t scanned and emailed in your sketches, please do. Don’t make Alexis come to your house. (On the surface, that may sound fun, but trust me, all you need is Alexis sneaking around your house stealing shit like she’s in some heist movie.)

The Devil you know…

anotheraaron — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:58:20 +0000

(updated 10/27 with additional sketches)

On October 12th we had, for the drawing pleasure of all, the extraordinarily versatile Paco Fish of Gilded Lily Burlesque, host of Vive la Decadance!, organizer of Independent Practice at Load of Fun on Wednesdays, and, well, a bazillion trillion other things. (Not only that, but his Facebook page is a pretty damn good way to find out what’s going on around town any given week if your tastes tend to veer toward vaudeville and burlesque.)

Now, prepare yourself for some sizzling shots of Paco:

We know there are those out there that are like, what, no boobies? But really, we true artists also appreciate the male form. Paco could easily have been in some painting of a religious or mythical scene by one of the old masters. (Well, if they had sequined heart pasties and gold lamé hot pants back in those days.)

The first contest of the night was the opposite hand drawing contest, where if you’re left handed you draw with your right, if you’re right handed you draw with your left, and if you’re ambidextrous you give Aaron five dollars. We don’t have any scans from that contest, but the two winners downed a mystery shot from the bar.

BTW, all of Gilded Lily Burlesque, Paco included, will be performing this coming Saturday, Halloween night at Load of Fun from 10 to midnight. It’s going to be an amazing show, we’re going. Get your tickets here before they sell out.

After the show, check out the Heroes and Villians Costume Ball being thrown a block away by the Windup Space (our wonderful home) and Atomic Books (one of our generous providers of awesome prizes). Seriously, Station North is the place to be for Halloween this year, instead of being crammed in some random Fells Point bar, getting your eye nearly poked out by some girl with fairy wings from Hot Topic, and having to plan your pee trips way before the urge even arrives because it’ll take you forever to shove past half a dozen Michael Jacksons and whatever else the hot costume of the season is, to get on that long-ass bathroom line.

Wait, where were we? Oh, drooling over Paco’s very Baroque sexiness…

From an angelic Cupid to a glam-tastic Jesus Christ, to whom MJ apparently lent his glove.

Here’s a couple sketches….the first is from Mike Hasson….he gave us a couple sketches to scan in, unfortunately a few of them were larger than our scanner, so you’ll notice some cropping. If we get some better copies, we’ll come back later and replace them.

…and this one is from Brian Dugan….

Next was the random noun contest, in which we ask the audience to call out the first person, place, or thing that comes to mind, the most interesting of which we ask them to then incorporate into their drawings. Thus, for this session, “Best incorporation of an iPhone app,” the prize for which was Kings of the Road by Ragnar from Baby Tattoo Books.

Here’s an entry by Brian Dugan…

Paul Moscatt…

Mike Hasson…

The third contest, since it happened to coincidentally be Aleister Crowley’s birthday, was the best interpretation of Aleister Crowley, which unfortunately diverged into a ten minute lesson on who Aleister Crowley was.

Sad, sad, sad. (Maybe we’ve read too much Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, etc. though.)

The prize was the Color Ink Book Volume 3 by Brothers Washburn from Atomic Books, who by the way has revamped their website, which looks pretty slick.

Kurt Aspland’s entry for this contest:

And Mike Hasson’s depiction of Paco… as He Who Shall Not Be Named?

And from Paul Moscatt:

Special thanks to Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and Baby Tattoo Books for being our generous sponsors and providing prizes for all of you to win. Not only that, but thanks are owed to Russell of the Windup Space for slinging drinks, Bill for holding down the door and filming video for the eventual Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore documentary, and Jeff for the fabulous photos through out this post. And a ton of thanks, of course, for our supernaturally spectacular muse of the evening, Paco Fish!

Our next Dr. Sketchy’s is October 26th….TONIGHT with Dahlia Derriere in a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe!

Viva La Viola Vixen!

anotheraaron — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:58:59 +0000

I usually pick what I think is the best picture for the lead photo . . . had a lot of trouble trying to figure out which one to go with this time. La Viola Vixen, Brisbane’s Burlesque Bombshell, was absolutely gorgeous (even though we all got caught in a serious downpour shortly before the show), and Jeff really outdid himself with the photos.

So there’s probably going to be a few more photos than usual. I just couldn’t decide between them.

Anyways, buckets and buckets of thanks to Viola Vixen for traveling from NYC (and, even further, Brisbane before that) to model for us. Thanks also to our generous sponsors Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and Baby Tattoo Books; Bill for helping us pick her up at the bus stop and watching the door, Jeff for photos, Russell of the Windup Space for keeping our whistles wet and letting us shove around his furniture, and Viola Van Wilde for helping us show Viola a little bit of Baltimore the next morning before she had to head back to NYC (not to mention offering to put Viola up for the night, even though we didn’t take her up on it and ended up going out to get soused afterward instead:).

Our first contest of the evening was the opposite hand drawing contest, where if you’re right-handed you draw with your left, if you’re left-handed you draw with your right, and if you’re ambidextrous you get accused of witchery. We didn’t get any drawings from that one emailed in, but here’s the two winners claiming their spoils. (Lord knows what Russell actually made them.)

More photos of Viola Vixen….

Here’s some sketches Paul Moscatt sent in….

The second contest was the random noun contest where someone in the audience shouts a random noun to be incorporated into the picture. “Mousetrap” ended up winning out.

The prize was a package of pastel paper from Artist & Craftsman Supply on the corner of North and Howard streets.

Here’s some sketches Brian Dugan sent in . . . he’s got some more up here as well.

The third drawing contest was to illustrate Viola in Times Square since the New York branch was at the moment holding a special guerrilla Dr. Sketchy’s in Times Square (and apparently was dealing with the monsoon we’d tussled with earlier).

Here’s Brian’s sketch from that contest…

…and here’s Paul Moscatt’s…

The prize was Miss Mindy’s Sassy Paper Dolls Bonanza by Miss Mindy from Baby Tattoo Books.

The last contest was the best illustration of the most bizarre mode of transportation from Brisbane to Baltimore. Here’s Brian’s…

The winner received a copy of The Indie Rock Coloring Book from Atomic Books.

Once again Viola Vixen was amazing, even if our livers might have been a little worse for wear the next day.

Our next session is tonight, Monday, October 12th, 7 o’clock at the Windup Space with Paco Fish!

Next Dr. Sketchy’s Oct. 12 with Paco Fish!

anotheraaron — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:05:48 +0000

Join us at the Windup Space for more drawing, drinking, and crazy contests on Oct. 12, when Paco Fish of Gilded Lily Burlesque, Charm City’s own boylesque star, will be our fabulously mad muse for the evening! It’s been almost a year since we’ve had this vaudevillianous genius pose for us, so don’t miss this session! As always, doors open at 6 and drawing starts at 7–show up early to get a great seat! We’ll have more crazy drawing contests in which we’ll be giving away more prizes from Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and Baby Tattoo Books!

“But, but, but, Aaron and Alexis, I want MORE Paco Fish….3 hours of him posing for my drawing pleasure just isn’t enough!”

Well you’re in luck, cause if there ever was, this is the Month of Paco. I’m grabbing and pasting this next bit from his Facebook page….take a look…..(At the very least, Alexis and I will be at the Windup Show this Friday and at the Gilded Lily Burlesque show on Halloween)…

Back from paradise… into Madness!

Mon at 8:08pm

“Onward,” I cry, “into madness!”

That’s my new battle cry. I spent the last week-and-a-half in Hawaii, getting more sun, fresh air, and exercise in ten days than I had all summer combined. I went surfing, snorkeling, sky-diving, hiking, swimming under waterfalls, swimming in caves, sleeping on the beach, and eating fresh fresh fresh fresh fish and fruit. And I’m feeling revitalized and ready to take on this CRAZY month of October. I have 8 shows in October, featuring 3 new acts, in new venues, with new collaborations. I’m very excited about it. I hope you are too, and I hope you get to see it. So here’s some of what we’ve got. More details will appear in future bulletins as they get confirmed, so please take the time to read each one.

I love you! I can’t wait to perform for you again!

-PaXOXO

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
6:00 PM
Independent Practice at the LOF/t
120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-952-6070

Price: $5 suggested donation

Independent Practice
Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the Month

Join us in Independent Practice, where we are all students and teachers hooping, stilt-walking, juggling, poi, acroyoga, dancing or whatever you want to practice! No experience necessary!

6:00 PM at the LOF/t
120 W. North Ave. (corner of Howard)

Friday, October 9th, 2009
Make ‘Em Laugh! Make ‘Em Cry! – 9:00 PM

Windup Space
12 W. North Ave
Baltimore, MD 21201
US

Price: $10

Ariel and Paco Fish present a comedy, burlesque, and belly dance spectacular. Featuring new and original acts from local DC and Baltimore professional performers.

Starring:

Hilary (http://shakra.tribalgrove.com)
Na’la (http://shakra.tribalgrove.com)
Poppy La Rouge
Stache
Zarifa
DJ Woman

and your hosts:

Paco Fish (http://www.pacofish.net)
Ariel (http://www.arielbellydance.com)

Doors at 9 PM
Show Starts at 10 PM

Saturday, October 10th, 2009
Tassels of Terror at the Canal Club – Doors at 8, show at 9
The Canal Club
1545 E. Cary St.
Richmond, VA 23219
US

Price: $10

Richmond Varietease: Richmond’s monthly variety burlesque show presents TASSELS OF TERROR!!!

starring: Eyrie Twylite, Boo Boo Darlin, Dolli Holiday, Paco Fish, & hosted by Magnolia Jackson Pickett Burnside!

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Dr. Sketchy’s at the WindUp Space – Doors at 6, drawing at 7
Windup Space
12 W. North Ave
Baltimore, MD 21201
US

Price: $7

Dr. Sketchy’s is a chain of cabaret life-drawing sessions that circles the globe from Hollywood to New Zealand. Started by Molly Crabapple in 2005, Dr. Sketchy’s is a little bit burlesque, a little bit art studio, and a little bit hair of the dog. Maybe the whole dog.

The models can be burlesque dancers, trapeze artists, drag queens, roller-derby girls, your hot next door neighbor, off-duty cops, and ex-KGB stenographers. It’s a whole grab bag of fun. Well, without the grabbing.

Dr. Sketchy’s – Baltimore is Charm City’s local branch run by Alexis de la Rosa and Aaron Bush, hon. This means that not only can you attend a lasciviously decadent life drawing session on the second Monday of every month, you could also get mugged, shot at by the police, lose your house in a shady real estate deal, or install a questionable statue at the local train station. Dr. Sketchy’s is responsible for none of that, by the way.

Join us at The Windup Space for more drawing, drinking, and crazy contests on October 12th, when our fabulous muse for the evening will be Paco Fish!

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Glitterama! 7 at the Creative Alliance – 7:00 & 10:00
The Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224
US
410-276-1651

Price: $15 / $12 members

The King of Kitsch, your well-greased host, Greggy Glitterati, brings you both the beauteous and the nutty in an evening of wonderment. The luscious Lena Grove of Gilded Lily. The titillating boylesque of Paco Fish. The socially-conscious puppetry of Sibelius and The Cause Company. Comedic burlesque babe, Ms. Shortstax. The death-defying trapeze of Nicollete Le Fay. Ms Malibu, the fiery mistress of Tiny Hats! The Living Balloons of the immaculate Poptarts! And laying the beats beneath the bumps, DJ Wachsentush!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
6:00 PM
Independent Practice at the LOF/t

Baltimore, MD

Price: $5 suggested donation

Independent Practice
Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the Month

Join us in Independent Practice, where we are all students and teachers hooping, stilt-walking, juggling, poi, acroyoga, dancing or whatever you want to practice! No experience necessary!

6:00 PM at the LOF/t
120 W. North Ave. (corner of Howard)

Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Belly Horror at the Birchmere – doors at 6, show at 7:30
Birchmere
3701 Mt. Vernon Ave
Alexandria, VA 22305
US
(703) 549-7500

Price: $29.50

You’re invited to the darker side of dance for The Belly Horror Show a night of scintillating, sinister performance and a weekend of devilish delight. The Belly Horror Show local and national stars bring you a fusion of belly dance and is
proud to be at our new venue The Birchmere, featuring monsters from under the bed and beyond…

Belly Horror 2009 Performers:
Anaar (CA)
Ariel (DC)
Asharah (DC)
Belladonna (DC)
Beth of Dakini (HI)
Desert Sin (NY)
Elizabeth (FL)
Eugenia (MA)
Fierce Fusion (GA)
Mavi (DC)
Shakra (DC)
Super Kate (CA)
Hosted by Paco Fish (MD)

Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Gilded Lily Burlesque Halloween Show at the LOF/t – 9:00 PM
The LOF/t
120 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21218
US

Price: $10

Get Spooky with Gilded Lily Burlesque’s Halloween Show. There will still be plenty of time to trick, treat, terrorize, or tremble, at the Station North Halloween Block Party before and afterwards!

Photos from Sept. 14th with Elle Devene!

anotheraaron — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:58:12 +0000

Saying Elle Devene was stunning is an understatement. During the break I must have heard three different folk comment that they were positively, undeniably in love. Lord knows, whatever secret pull Elle had (and I don’t think it was that much of a secret), it certainly came through in the sketches and photos.

As always, we’d like to thank our generous sponsors, Atomic Books, Artist & Craftsman Supply, and Baby Tattoo Books went above and beyond with the contest prizes. If you haven’t figured it out by now, everyone involved with Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore, from the sponsors, to the Windup Space, to Bill and Jeff, are doing this so we can bring this unique life drawing experience to you all twice a month, so if you’re looking to buy a pencil or book or a beer, please consider hitting them up. Anyways, special thanks to the sponsors, to Russell of the Windup for preventing us from getting thirsty and letting us use his absolutely amazing venue for all this, Jeff for the amazing photographic work, Bill for policing the door against drunk sailors and bear attacks, and to Elle Devene of Gilded Lily Burlesque for being her drop-dead gorgeous self.

Here’s some great sketches Pierrette Montone sent in…

I love the face on that last one.

The first contest, as always, was the “opposite hand” contest. If you’re left handed, draw with your right, if you’re right handed, draw with your left, and if you’re ambidexterous draw with your mouth, foot, ear . . . usually that last bit is just meant as a joke, but this fellow actually did it. I’m not sure, but I think he ended up being one of the two winners too (the prize being a free mystery shot).

More photos…

Mike May sent in these sketches . . . the first drawing in the first sketch (and also the photo above) is from the “someone in the crowd yell out a random noun” contest, which turned out to be “plumber”. And yes, we’re just going to let that one go without comment. The prize was a life-drawing book The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study by Kimon Nicolaides donated to us by one of our awesome and regular art monkeys, Kurt Aspland.

The prizes for the third contest, donated by Atomic Books, were Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austin and Ben H. Winters. The contest was “What do you think the cover will look like for the next classic with monsters added?” which is why Elle has a rattlesnake tale in the second sketch.

Here’s a few of Brian Dugan’s sketches—be sure to check out his gallery to see more.

He took home Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with that “Canterbury Tales from the Crypt” sketch, too.

The sketch above was from an earlier contest, in which we asked our artists, “What’s the most inappropriate setting for a burlesque performer?”, the prize of which was a signed copy or Ragnar’s Symptomatica from Baby Tattoo Books.

Here’s a couple more photos of lovely Elle before we wrap everything up…

Don’t forget, Elle Devene and the rest of Gilded Lily Burlesque will be performing at Load of Fun Halloween night. Don’t worry, we’ll remind you as it gets closer.

Our next session is Sept. 28th, 7 o’clock (doors at 6) at the Windup Space, with Viola Vixen—all the way from Brisbane, Australia . . . she’s in the States for the NYC Burlesque Festival and is coming all the way down here for the evening just to pose for you.

And, just between you and us, you should know how cool our own Viola is—that is, Viola Van Wilde of Gilded Lily Burlesque—she’s graciously putting up Viola Vixen for the night, because, well, she’s just cool like that. Don’t tell her we said that though, we don’t want her to know we think she’s that awesome because we have, you know, our own cool image and whatnot to maintain… ;-p

See you on Monday!

Viola Vixen from Brisbane, Australia next Monday!

anotheraaron — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:55:31 +0000

Next Monday, September 28th, Viola Vixen will be posing for your drawing pleasure! All the way from Brisbane, Australia, Viola is in the states for NYC Burlesque Festival, and because she’s made out of AWESOME, she’s shooting down to Baltimore for the evening – even after her father said, “Baltimore? What?! Isn’t that where The Wire was filmed?? Oh my God, you’re going to DIEEEE!!”

That’s paraphrased of course.

7′oclock, doors at 6. If we’re not slammed to the gills, I’ll be mightily surprised, I’d get there early if you can.

By the way, that simply amazing photo is by Nick West. Also, if you’re interested in following Viola Vixen on Twitter, you can follow her at @LaViolaVixen.