Last Call

 Well, as some of you know, I’ll be moving to Atlanta next month. So Sunday was the final official life drawing session of Three Martini Studios Dallas – at least for a while. The previous night, John, Dorian and I had so much fun drawing Delilah in her red Flamenco dress that we had her wear it again the next morning. The mood was fun and festive, although there were very few jokes made. This was notably odd as Robert Opel was in attendance. I think the fact it was the final session put a damper on the jokes. However, we made up for it afterwards as we had a few beverages (can you guess what flavor?) and told jokes and old stories. We talked about how the group came to be, originating over 12 years ago at Synapse Studios. Jerry, Jan and Liza came to join us and we went old school and brought in pizza from Sal’s. Perry called twice, once during the session and once afterwards. She was certainly with us in spirit, if not in spirits. David Terry stopped by, and I officially passed the baton along to him, as he will start up a life drawing session in the near future to keep the Synapse bloodline alive.

 I want to thank everyone for their support of the Sunday life drawing sessions. Through it I have met many wonderful people and artists, as well as Dave Terry. Running a weekly group, especially one that goes for eight hours every week, can be a lot of work. However, it is definitely worth it. I’ve seen my art improve, established some wonderful friends and resources, and – forgive me for being immodest – perfected my martini recipe.

This blog will still continue, and my personal studio will still be called Three Martini Studios. Stay tuned to see more of my work, plus future collaborations and groups I might be involved in.

Salute,

Don Thacker

******Works from Sunday November 18, 2007:

Robert Opel:   

Ken Mickelsen:

John Kuehne:

Don Thacker (digital, using Painter IX):

Dorian Vallejo:

Expo-zhurself to Art

My good friend Dorian Vallejo came to visit last week. It was much fun to hang out with him each day in the studio, each of us drawing away. On Friday, we had Delilah model for us and she invited us to draw her at Expo Cafe the next evening. So Dorian, John and I went to the cafe with our charcoal, pencils and watercolor, and drew from 8 to 11:30pm. We moved some tables around, threw up a few lights, and had Delilah model in a beautiful Flamenco style red dress of her own design.  Her poses were fabulous as usual, and the atmosphere was great. We also had one of Expo’s patrons, Amber pose for us, as well as Delilah’s sister Duby and friend Al. We also had another artist join us. Her name is Jane and she just happened to be hanging out at Expo and we were happy to have her participate.

If you live in Dallas, I encourage you to check out the show currently at The Cedars Gallery.  Several artists contributed to the theme “Under the Influence” which actually refers to the influence of modern day colors to current works of art. The opening was Friday, which was one of the many events this weekend that have me fired up about my art work. A great show, make an effort to see it.

Don Thacker: