…for her pouty lips.

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Trying to get back in the habit of regular updates.  Don’t have my new comic ready yet, so I’m posting stuff from my sketchbook.  Drew this yesterday–graphite, colored pencil, PITT brush pen, and correction fluid on toned ground paper.

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Finally made it out to another Drink and Draw last night, and it looks like it’s been growing in my absence, so that’s awesome.  Gene wasn’t there, but the bartender on duty is also an artist.  Rich (Rick?) is pictured up there on the top right, but isn’t nearly as sinister looking in real life as he is in that caricature.  Miriam (Mariam? Meriam?) was also new (actually she’d been there a couple times before but not when I was there)–that’s her in the lower left–and her friend Angelina  showed up, too (didn’t get a chance to draw her).  Four people drawing isn’t so bad.  At least better than the time I was the only schmo w/ a sketchbook.  Anyhow, Dr. Sketchy’s next week, so bring a sketchbook and draw a burlesque performer!

Also last night my friend Mike from work showed up with a bunch of folks–I think at least some of them will be there next week.  They weren’t drawing, and I kind of missed my window to hang out with them, but Mike bought me a couple beers anyway.  I’ll try to return the favor next week.

In Grandpa Sex Machine news, I managed to get a comic roughly sketched up last night.  The floor project is still not finished, so no promises on completion, but wanted to let you know that comics are still in the works.

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Awhile ago I was hanging out in Tim’s shop with Tim and Abe. Can’t remember what the project was that night, if there was one. Anyhow, Tim said, “Have you seen Abe’s card?”

“No,” I said.

So Abe pulled out a business card and handed it to me. It’s a red card with a black skull and crossbones on it and nothing else. I flipped it over to look at the back, and there’s nothing there. No contact info, no identifying information of any kind. I smiled and said “Nice,” then stuck the card in my wallet.

In the time since then I’d pull the card out at parties, in class, whenever, and say “This is my friend Abe’s card.” The card would get passed around, and I’d listen to the confused questions, the comments on irony, the accusations of super-villainy, and I would just smile and say “That’s Abe,” basking in the reflected glow of his genius.

I’m glad I had the chance to know Abe. Last Christmas, just before he and his family moved back to California, we were hanging out in the shop again and I told him that I felt like I had missed the opportunity to hang out with him much while he was here. Tim smiled and said, “You didn’t miss much.”

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Like I mentioned in Wednesday’s blaahg post, the Belleville Drink and Draw Social Club had its big Dr. Sketchy’s style life drawing session.  Mimi of St. Louis’ own Alley Cat Revue was the model and was a lot of fun.  The pile of scribbling that you see above is representative of only a handful of the the total drawings I did last night–lots of poses that changed quickly.  It’s been a long time since I’ve had to draw that quickly in pencil–hardly any time to add value.  I’d bring charcoal, but I’m afraid I’d make a big mess–I’m kind of a slob as evidenced by those drawings up there.  I envy people that can draw clean and slick.  It also became evident fairly quickly that I need a bigger sketchpad.

Was hoping that a girl in skimpy outfits would bring more people to the whole Drink and Draw thing, and it brought in a couple new folks (including my friend Chris), but it was still pretty sparsely attended.  Gene was working again, so didn’t get a chance to draw, which is too bad because he’s really good at drawing pretty girls.

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Didn’t get a chance to go to the drink and draw last night either–next week I think I’ll be able to get back at it.

Up top you see more junk from my sketchbook–fairly old junk at that. First three are a few coffee-swillin’ guys that I spotted at the Illinois High School Theatre Festival a few years ago. Len is a guy I know from a local community theater–I drew that at rehearsal one night for Damn Yankees, about 3 years ago.

Carpet is gone from two bedrooms. The tack strips were held to the floor with 3-inch nails–guess they needed the extra length to get through the TWO FRIGGIN’ LAYERS of tile that they just left underneath. The former owners of this house are my FAVORITE!

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I’ve got more, but this has drug on long enough. Shooting for a Sin Police update on Monday.

In the SantaLand Diaries, David Sedaris mentions the parents that insist on their children seeing a Santa of some specific ethnicity. Thus, we have Klanta Klaus, making sure your holidays are merry and bright white.

He also describes one particular Santa who takes his job way too seriously, staying in character even when nobody else is around. Code-named “Santa Santa,” this man has an established routine with his visitors. At one point in the act, he asks them to tell him what they plan to leave for him. One little girl was unfamiliar with the practice of leaving cookies and milk for Santa, and gave him a confused look.

“He said, ‘Something round? To eat?’ and she said, ‘A potato?’”

Something about a big fat Idaho spud with a glass of milk sitting on the hearth is really funny.

Hope you liked the sketches. If you get a chance to see The SantaLand Diaries performed, or you get a chance to read the story, available in Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, you really ought to check it out. Very funny stuff.

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More SantaLand Diaries sketches today and Friday, then hopefully back to the real stuff next week.

Before Crumpet got his elf job, he pitied the poor souls forced to walk the streets in costume, handing out pamphlets. During the interview process, when asked about his hobbies, he expressed an interest in whittling, in spite of the fact that the only thing he ever whittled was a bong. After the interviews, he was sent to a room with other waiting candidates, where he took a seat beside a female dwarf. “This, I thought, was a good sign.”

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Last week of school, so that means a few more days of sketches before the Sin Police and Grandpa Sex Machine start up again.

Crumpet, the reluctant Christmas Elf from David Sedaris’s The SantaLand Diaries, had a lot to say about his fellow employees, including the Walrus (the self-proclaimed stud), Flakey (the “artist” that covered clocks and telephone recievers with human hair), Snowball (the tease who leads elves and Santas on), and the woman with the swarm of plastic barrettes who, during training, asked if she could work as a Christmas elf year-round.

More sketches Wednesday.

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Grandpa Sex Machine is on temporary hiatus until things calm down at work. In the mean time, here’s another look at my sketchbook.

So, the SantaLand Diaries, available in stage form or as a short story in Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, tells of David Sedaris‘ own experience working as a Christmas elf at Macy’s Dept. Store in NYC. At one point, Crumpet (David’s “elf name”) notices the obvious anagram in the name “Santa,” and begins imagining a Satanland, “…where visitors would wade through steaming pools of human blood and feces before arriving at the Gates of Hell, where a hideous imp in a singed velvet costume would take them by the hand and lead them toward Satan….”

“Father Christmas or the Devil- -so close, but yet so far.”

No end in sight with the end of the school year craziness. Check back next week for more sloppy rough sketches.

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