Waiting for Hockney Page #3

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he said, "Well, let's try this."

Billy needed the extra help to

driven a little bit, that's all.

So, every month he would give me an envelope

full of hundred dollar bills to keep me going.

And it was on the agreement that

I would give it back

when I could afford to.

So, I got my dream, which is to do this

project. And I got the backing to make it go.

But I realized that I had to teach myself how

to draw, practically all over again.

I had to totally break myself down,

and rebuild myself.

I had lip school...

teeth school...

not dentistry, this was 'teeth' school.

And there was a school

for each thing I did.

I wanted you to know that I knew,

that I really, really

knew what I was drawing.

We're doing something on new ground,

something that's beyond drawing.

Marilyn was 14 by 17.

But I worked within the area

of the period in the newspaper.

That's how small the area was.

I would say, "OK, that's light

enough, that's dark enough,

that is part of an edge, that is not...

move on to the next area."

On a good day, I would get

which would sometimes

take 15 hours to do.

This is where we're going.

We're on to something here.

The hair took 2 years.

That's 365 times 2. You get up, you

draw hair all day and you go to bed.

"How many marks have you made

today, Billy? What have you done?"

Imagine how some people who know

and love me felt who never saw it.

"He's been working

on what for how long?"

He would really go into hiding we would call

it, you know, that he's going underground.

And then when you see him, you know, "What

have you been doing for the last eight months?"

"Um, her right eye." And

you're like going "OK..."

People would say to me, "Well, what

is with Marilyn? You know, what?"

And I'd say, "Listen, you're

asking me? Don't ask me."

I said, "All I know is, picture somebody

working for 800 hours on a mouth."

"How can anybody work

for 800 hours on a mouth?"

I mean, my own friends didn't believe

what I had going on in my life this long.

"Oh, he's drawing Marilyn

Monroe." It just sounds too insane.

He was sitting there on Christmas

Eve, and he's going into detail

about drawing Marilyn's lips.

And he's so excited

that he's like, "Jeff...

"...I can make my lips look

exactly like Marilyn Monroe."

I'm having these pictures of him

being like this cross-dressing psycho,

and he's trying to tell me, you

know, this technical process.

And he's like, "Look man, what

an a**hole you are." He goes,

"This is how committed I am to my art."

All of his girlfriends have

been brunettes, dark hair,

until he met Marilyn.

And now he's had an affair with

Marilyn for 10 years.

I mean, I started signing cards, you know,

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