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The Project Defined

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50 years ago, in the summer of 1973, I was glued to the televised coverage of the Watergate Hearings. Day after day, observing the faces and demeanor of the conspirators from the lowly plumbers to the top dogs Haldeman and Ehrlichman to the surprise starring role of Alexander P. Butterfield. I began sketching the characters who were about to bring down the president of the United States, Richard M Nixon.  Now in the summer of 2023, a former president is about to face the music -- finally!  More characters for me to observe and draw, this time I will be using official mug shots for the indicted, and official portraits for the prosecution and the presiding judges.  A much bigger cast of characters. As I work on the renderings, I am trying to find the moment of inhalation as the picture was snapped and in that moment, what emotions were swirling around?  Of note, I have spent far more time the past 50 years doing theatre rather than drawing. Now that I am officially retired from theatre,
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A visit to a comic book shop

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I stopped by Rubber City Comics today as I was in that area and I wanted to find out if they carried underground comics. Kenmore Comics only carries mainstream comics.  Apparently the term is no longer in use -- is there no underground anymore? Perhaps online media has subsumed it? Rubber City did have an old Zap for $75.  But the owner of the shop didn't seem to think any of the old school underground people were putting out work.  I recommended the ongoing graphic novels of Bill Griffith and his current book about Ernie Bushmiller.  I bought three comic books as pictured here. The Mask because of the subject and it is DC. Very happy to find the artwork of Curt Swan inside!  The Metal Men is an updated version of my old faves.  And Brazilian Wax was recommended to me by the proprietor, who thought I might like it. He was right! Let's open the books and checkout a sample page of art in each: The first page shown above, from The Mask #9 1987 calls me back to the DC comics of my
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Comic Book Covers

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 From my sketchbook, ideas for comics that focus on the detritus humans create. 
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Cathy Latham, Fake Elector

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  Cathy Latham was leading an upstanding life as a career teacher, starting as an English teacher but taking on Economics when that position became available. She thrived in that area of study and contributed to the writing of standards and participating in economics conferences. She was also a member of the Georgia state GOP and in 2020 served on the party's executive committee and sat on its election confidence task force.  nce task force.  Somehow, she got caught up in the thrill of becoming a fake elector, which unfortunately for her, has brought about racketeering charges against her. 
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Jenna Ellis (Flipped)

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  Jenna Ellis is the poster-child for the dangers of homeschooling.  Her skimpy credentials rely on a stint as a  deputy district attorney in  Colorado where she mainly handled traffic complaints. At first she didn't like Trump but when he became the nominee, she supported him. Apparently blinded by her beliefs, she joined up with Rudy G to undermine US election results and found herself eventually charged with racketeering along with so many other trump lawyers. She has now flipped in the Georgia case. You can see her tearful apology here . Her legal background, if you would call it that, included self-publishing a book The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution: A Guide for Christians to Understand America's Constitutional Crisis (2015)  Her assertion is that the Constitution must only be interpreted through the lens of the (Christian) Bible. Lots more fun stuff at her Wikipedia entry .  Her ambivalence about Trump plus his lack of "Christian charity" in providing sup
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David Shafer, GA false elector and former GA Republican Party chair

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  David Shafer has plead not-guilty to impersonating a public official, racketeering and forgery. He appears to be blaming all those above him as he was just doing what he was asked, but in reality David was deeply involved in the plot from his position as Chair of the GA GOP. You can read all about his various activities on behalf of Trump here . It appears that he spent his adult life in politics, sometimes running, sometimes leading others' campaigns. In a run for Lt Gov in 2018, he was accused of sexual harassment which may have brought about his loss in the election. The claim was eventually dismissed. Did such an experience make him more empathetic to someone like Trump? 
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Shawn Still, False Elector and GA State Senator

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  This upstanding individual has been charged with impersonating a public official, racketeering and forgery. He has pleaded guilty. What could have brought him to this situation? Shawn was in the military and then became a businessman. For the past 20 years he has operated a pool building company that employs over 100 people busily building pools in GA. Looks like global warming has been good for his career path.  State legislatures are dens of corruption throughout the land. Your local business dude runs for office in order to promote business friendly policies. In Shawn's case, he worked to limit government regulations. He also was involved with election "integrity" in the state house, which is probably how he was sucked into the false elector scam.  I would encourage Shawn to spill it all and take a deal!  Drawing Note:  As I work on these mug shots, I am trying out different approaches to the  blinding glare in each photo. I am most focused on imagining what each in
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Cassidy Hutchinson, former assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows

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  Where would we be without Administrative Assistants? They know everything about their bosses, the office environment, who has access and who doesn't. Cassidy Hutchinson was that fly on the wall as January 6th unrolled. She saw a lot, including Trump tantrums that involved throwing ketchup on the wall of the White House Dining room. More importantly, she observed Trump's reluctance to interfere with the Jan 6 events as the day unfolded.  She has a book out detailing all that she saw and good for her! I don't think there's any other way to get money out of Trump without committing perjury.  I did not find a good official portrait, so I snapped some pics of her appearance on the Lawrence O'Donnell show. In the clip , she is reacting to a live video feed with Alexander Butterfield, of Watergate fame. She is basking in the support from Butterfield, also a Republican who told the truth that turned the tide against Richard Nixon back in 1973 with the reveal of the secre
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