I decided to relax for an evening and work with a model. Dr. Sketchy’s meets every first Wednesday of each month at Tatame Lounge (223 West Fairbanks Road). I found a parking spot right around the corner from the Lounge and when I walked in people were already drawing. With the first set of poses the model was dressed as a 1960’s housewife. She had a voluptuous figure and was a joy to sketch. I quickly sketched her figure and then focused my attention on all the fellow artists at work. Seated next to me was Joey Fisher who knew of my blog and asked me about my approach to a sketch. I explained how I block the picture in and we spoke for a few minutes between sets.
A waitress explained the specials for the night and I was looking forward to getting a sake but she never came back. I think the fact that I never stop working when I start a sketch throws people off and they are afraid to approach me. The light hanging above the spot I sat at was burned out. Joey managed to get a staff member to come over and replace the bulb. After the bulb was replaced, it immediately flickered off again. Something was wrong with the bulb connection. Jennifer Gwynne Oliver a fellow Former Disney artist came over and lent me her book light. I had a book light but I liked hers better it had a gentle warm glow whereas mine was way to bright.
Towards the end of the posing session a large group entered the bar and they crowded around the back of the room where I was seated. Things got loud and soon most of the artists were chatting it up as well. When it came time for the Dr. Sketchy’s competition, I was nowhere near finished with my sketch. The prize was a Disney book which I honestly didn’t want anyway so I didn’t compete. If you don’t compete, you can’t loose. Before I knew it the evenings sketching session was over. I left with a single sketch which makes me wonder if I got my $5 worth for the evenings modeling session.
