Calling all neighborhood artists: grab your pencils and pens and head down to Madrone tonight for a nude model sketching party, hosted by BelleSf.
In cased you missed our article last summer, BelleSf is a nudie magazine started in San Francisco last year by husband-and-wife team David and Melissa Beaulieu. The magazine's models are often tattooed and slightly retro in style, and each issue features the work of local artists and writers.
"We'd always loved the aesthetic of vintage nudie mags—the women looked like women (not Barbie dolls), their bodies were real, the kitschy ads were fun, and the writing was respected," they told us last year. "A lot of people don't remember that old mags like that ran 300 pages so the amount of editorial content was immense. We thought, why don't we do that here. So we did."
In the early days of BelleSf Chad Lott, a friend of the Beaulieus, suggested that they host nude sketching nights. "We were looking for a way to meet the people that buy the mag and a cool way for them to interact with the models," said David.
Tonight's sketching session is the second that BelleSf has hosted at Madrone, and it's now a regular event on the calendar. The sketch party will take place from 6:30pm-8:30pm tonight and every fourth Tuesday of the month. It's $10 to come in and sketch, and no photos are allowed.
The model posing for artists tonight will be Sonia Tiger, a local go-go dancer who contacted BelleSf with an interest in modeling. Many of the models who pose for the once-a-month sketching nights are ones BelleSf has worked with before. BelleSf issues #2, #3, and #4 will also be available for sale tonight.
In addition to serving as a space for artists to create work, Madrone will also be serving up drinks and live music this evening. From 7pm-9pm, The Crow Eaters will be playing their "twisted folk punk-blues psycho-grass acoustic bone chilling mayhem," so sign up if you like blasting blue grass while you make art.
Brass Magic will then take over for two sets at 10pm and 11:30pm. The eight-piece ensemble plays original pieces with varying musical influences, such as the sound of the garbage in Manhattan, the F train, and styles and noises from around the world.
