Burlesque With Parents

Dr. Sketchy’s burlesque drawing parties have started up again… last month I talked my mom into going with me to the event they were throwing in a bar. (She’s an artist too). She had so much fun that both of my parents wanted to go this month.

Since my dad was planning on bringing his camera and all of its crazy equipment (two bags and a few tripods) I suggested we show up early….they took those words to heart and showed up at my house an hour before the event even started. Both of them carrying major luggage for the drawing class. I usually just grab a sketch pad, some crayola markers and pen and pencil…my mom wanted to paint the figures with watercolors, so she brought a little fold out table, a water bottle for the paints, a few cups for cleaning brushes, etc…and my dad, as I said, brought multiple bags full of photography equipment.
When I said show up early, I was really thinking “we should show up on time.” The events never start on time. I stalled as long as I could but we still ended up showing up a half hour early. Since this is actually inside someone’s home I thought it would be best if we drug our feet a little bit longer, so we walked around outside for a little while, taking photos of the surrounding area.
Dr. Sketchy’s is held in a part of town called “the west bottoms”. It looks horribly dangerous, but it’s not, just filled with empty factories…however, all of the haunted houses are in the west bottoms, so as we were walking around the barren streets were filled with strange howling noises, cackling laughter, and other odd haunted house sounds.

Once the event started everything went smoothly, both parents had a great time…though usually I think nothing of the sexy costumes on the models, but with my parents sitting next to me (in the front row) the scantily clad model suddenly seemed much more ‘scantily clad’. Though having parents there had its own perks… I’ve never investigated the food they have for sale, but my mom was very interested, so she bought me a beer and a margarita for her self, then later we each got a bowl of the butternut squash soup with summer sausage, and a slice of apple pie. It was a bonding experience, food/alcohol, simi-nudity, drawing, photography. My mom has declared she want to go every month.

Here's an example of one of the seemingly innocent costumes...she seems decently covered in clothing, until you find yourself sitting next to your parents drawing the same, seemingly innocent costume:

Graffiti art on one of the buildings outside