This was Nona Narcisse’s second time posing for Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore. Â As Alexis likes to put it, Nona is like a bird – she spends her winters in New Orleans and migrates up to Baltimore and other places here and there for the summer. Â If we get lucky, maybe we’ll get a chance to see her again next summer.
Atomic Books, up on the corner of the Avenue and Falls Rd in Hampden, provided a fancy-pancy Betty Paige hip flask for one lucky contest winner and Baby Tattoo Books provided a copy of Atrum Secretum by Gris Grimly for another.
Thanks to Nona Narcisse of Slow Burn Burlesque for being our muse for the evening; thanks to our sponsors Atomic Books and Baby Tattoo Books for providing prizes for the contests; thanks to Russell for slinging booze and music; thanks to Jeff for some of the photos you see below; thanks to Valeria Voxx for helping set up the stage and hold down the fort at the door; and thanks to Alexis for emceeing the whole affair.
Fantastic poses, great props, and amazing hair? Â What better escape from a rainy afternoon of Artscape could you ask for than drawing the stunning Valeria Voxx of Black Tassel Boolesque?
This was the first Dr. Sketchy’s during Artscape we’ve ever done—and though we were fully prepared to spend the afternoon drinking at the Windup bar with Valeria, a few crickets, and one heat-exhausted tourist in a motorized wheelchair, that apparently wasn’t in the cards.  We didn’t know if it’d be a ghost town or if it’d be slammed.  Not only was it successful (honestly, who doesn’t want to draw Valeria?), but we got to see all sorts of folks we haven’t seen at Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore in a long time because of conflicting Monday night class schedules, Charm City Roller Girl practices, and  underwater basket-weaving tournaments.
Now we’re toying with the idea of switching to a “one Monday and one Saturday” a month schedule?  Is that something you’d be interested in?  If so, you should pipe up in  the comments below.  We’re definitely thinking about it.
This session was also our very last session with Styger, our helper door person—who, because of some asshats playing games with other people’s money and destroying a perfectly nice game company, is moving on to the brighter shores of San Francisco. Â She better come visit.
If there’s any silver lining in that whole clusterfuck, it’s Valeria Voxx herself, who will be taking the torch from Styger to help keep the Dr. Sketchy’s Baltimore boat afloat. Â Hot. Â Damn.
We don’t have as many photos this time around, our regular photographer Jeff wasn’t able to make this particular session (he robs banks on Saturdays), but Alexis was able to get a few pics snapped in between running on and off the stage. Â Check them out below.
For this special Artscape session the good folks at Atomic Books provided us with the latest issues of Bachelor Pad and Juxtapoz AND a $20 gift card to give away as prizes to the various drawing contests. Â (The contests were the best incorporation of crash test dummies and the best incorporation of a Super Mario villain.) Â If you’ve not been to Atomic Books before, you should—it’s the best damn independent book store / comic book shop in the country.
Thank you to Valeria Voxx for doing an absolutely amazing job posing for our Artscape session; thanks to Atomic Books, our wonderful sponsor; thanks to Holly for slinging drinks; thanks to Russell for letting us use the Windup Space; and HUMONGOUS thanks to Styger for helping me push around furniture and man the door not just this time, but for the last year and change—San Francisco is a lucky city to get her; and finally, thanks to Alexis for emceeing the circus.
Thanks as well to Kat Parker, Clarice Jones, Fred Oakes, Katrina Schmidt, and Sheila England.
Next session is Monday, August 13th with Mourna Handful of Black Tassel Boolesque! Â Doors at 6, start at 7! Â If you’re coming, let us know on the Facebook page. Â Advance tickets are on sale till midnight of the 12th for $8—$10 at the door.
(Thanks to Cheryl Fair for the gorgeous photo of Mourna Handful above; if you’re ever wanting some stunning photos of your own, you should definitely contact Cheryl and schedule a shoot!)
Nicolette Le Faye was one of our very first models, four years ago when we were young whipper snappers. We keep getting older and older, and grayer and grayer, and she still looks exactly the same (if you don’t believe us, scroll through the blog—I think she might be a witch, a la Stardust or some shit). Oh, for the days when we were wet behind the years, thought the world was our prawn, and we didn’t think twice before throwing a jar of pencils at a cop car.
Four years under the belt is some heady shit.
In any case, last session with the fabulous Nicolette Le Faye was our glorious Fourth Anniversary. If we ignore the sumabitch tow truck guy who dragged off our Zipcar truck an hour before the session, it was a glorious birthday. We gave away the first deluxe volume of Fables from Atomic Books for one contest and Sketch Theatre Volume 1 from Baby Tattoo Books for another, not to mention a lot of folks fell deep into their cups thanks to beer specials from Flying Dog Brewery.
A cornucopia of thanks to Nicolette Le Faye for helping us ring in our fifth year; thanks to our generous sponsors Atomic Books, Flying Dog Brewery, and Baby Tattoo Books; thanks to Russell for spinning drinks and serving tunes; thanks to Jeff for many of the crackling photos you see above; thanks to Styger for helping with the door, set up the stage, and shove the furniture around into whatever esoteric formation Russell thought was appropriate; thanks to everyone who scooted a chair around for us at the end; thanks to Alexis for speaking sweet, sweet words into the mic; FUCK YOU MR. TOW TRUCK DUDE; and thanks to everyone who showed up and twirled a pencil with us on our fourth birthday.
Next session is Monday, June 25th with the belly dancer extraordinaire Deviana Fox!
There will be scimitars. Â She’s one of the best of the best, folks. Â I don’t want to hear about it if you miss it.
Doors at 6, start at 7. Â 18+ to draw, 21+ to drink. Â Pencils, charcoal, & watercolors are fine, don’t bring anything messier or Russell will go all Hulk smash.
Dr. Sketchy's Baltimore 