Monthly Archives: February 2021

Imbolc crown in process – an act of faith!

UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film Imbolc crown in process and snowy hof by Suzanne Forbes Feb 17 2021On Imbolc, February 1, I started a project I can’t finish until there are warm, sunny days.

It had been cold and grey for approximately ten million days in Berlin at that point, and it continued to be grey, plus snow and much, much colder. I wanted to make a project that celebrates Spring and green things growing – and I wanted to use UV resin.

UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film Imbolc crown in process detail by Suzanne Forbes Feb 17 2021However, the UV resin curing-on-the-fly technique I’ve developed requires bright sunlight.

Basically, it only works from April to October in Germany. Much like Vitamin D production! The opalescent Angelina Fantasy Film I glued and melted onto a beaded floral and craft wire armature will be embellished by drips and drizzles and spikes of colored UV resin.

Like the Fire and Water crowns I made last summer, sitting in the boiling sun on the balcony!

UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film Imbolc crown in process by Suzanne Forbes Feb 17 2021Once I had the bead armatures and Angelina Film structure built, I glued on ombre and iridescent beads and peals.

Then, there wasn’t anything else I could do! So I put the two layers of crown armature and other materials I’ll need in what I call a project kit (usually on a paper plate!), and set them aside until Spring. Trusting that Spring will come, trusting that I’ll be here to see it.

An act of faith.

UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film materials kit by Suzanne Forbes Feb 17 2021This is my UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film materials box.

Sourced from all over the world, and all neatly organized, ready for the sunny days!

Some other UV resin and Angelina Fantasy Film projects:

Mermaid Jewels!

Sacred Heart!

Gothic Rococo Insect Mirror Number 4!

Lux the Limb-Different Non-Binary Fetish Fairy!

I am incredibly grateful to my Patreon Patrons for their support of my mixed media artwork, the place I feel safest with evolving and experimenting. It’s what I do instead of vacation 🙂 !

Sacred Wounds’ “Future Conjure” theme is a beautiful celebration of the Asian diaspora, with Midori and more!

Wang Newton for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021

I had to take a disco nap and screw up my sleep schedule to catch this show, and it was worth it.

Drag King Dr. Wang Newton, the host, is the warmest, funniest and sweetest! He called us all babies, which I love. I felt very welcomed by the Sacred Wounds family! The show is co-produced by Coco Ono, aka performance artist Kayla Tange, who also does Cyber Clown Girls Show and who I drew last year.

California live-streams are the very hardest, since 4am, when most of them start, is my natural bedtime and starting work then messes me ALL up, but –

I had to stay up to draw longtime friend and muse Midori!

Midori interactive performance for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure screenshot Feb 13 2021Midori had an ingenious and wonderful interactive piece designed for this show.

She placed her gold-painted face on screen, then invited the audience to draw on her, using the annotation function of Zoom! I think absolutely no-one in the audience knew this function existed, but it was easy to use and everyone was almost instantly engaging with Midori’s face, drawing and stamping and writing.

I was absolutely thrilled by the way the lines criss-crossing the screen created a virtual through-line to so many of Midori’s works involving webs of rope.

Midori for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021I drew Midori as I saw her in the Zoom audience, her beautiful face one I know so well.

Then once I scanned the drawing (original below), I used my very limited and crude digital art skills to replicate some of the words and motifs from the performance. It was so fun to engage with one of my own drawings, such a serious matter always for me, in a spirit of play.

Midori original drawing for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021

This to me is the essence of Midori as a sexuality educator: her ability to create a space for play.

You can see Midori’s educational workart and writing on her Patreon (I was one of the first to join!), and enjoy her youtube here and insta here.

Jas Lin for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021Drawing Butoh performers is always exciting.

I try to go loose and weird, looking for the feel of the performance more than the specific movements. Jas Lin made marvelous use of words, movement, a circular mirror, a croptop red kimono and tube socks. You can see more of their performances here on Youtube!

Ibuki Kuramochi Blood Bowl Sutra for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021Ibuki Kuramochi created a new piece called Blood Bowl Sutra.

it was powerful and hypnotic. Ibuki Kuramochi is here on Insta and website here. I was astonished, when I went to Ibuki’s website, to see the cover image was very much like my drawing! I like it best when I see the performer as they want me to see them.

I am incredibly grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me to continue to work safely at home, documenting Queer Culture.

As usual these drawings are licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) for all to share and enjoy!

In addition, I release the copyright on each drawing to the performer shown and they may use the drawings for their own profit and pleeeasssure in any way they choose.