Author Archives: Suzanne Forbes

About Suzanne Forbes

Suzanne Forbes is a traditionally trained figurative artist who makes documentary art of queer culture and Berlin life. She also works in mixed media. She is a former New Yorker who immigrated to Berlin with her third husband and their two cats. Her work is crowdfunded by the support of her Patrons on Patreon; you could help! In previous lives Suzanne was a graffiti artist in downtown NY, a courtroom artist for CBS and CNN, a penciller for DC Comics on Star Trek, and a live-drawing chronicler of Bay Area alternative culture.

Hartford days part 2: the coffee shop art-kids.

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At West Hartford starbucks Nov 5 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesI have received more free coffee from Starbucks than probably anyone in the world.

During a period when I drank quite a LOT of coffee, I happened to make friends with some very cool art school kids who all worked at the Starbucks in West Hartford. It was across the street from the Animation Art Gallery where I worked from Fall ’95 to Spring ’96.

Woman at West Hartford Starbucks Nov 6 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesMy comic book had been cancelled, and I was no longer drawing for a living.

I went to work as a courtroom artist during my last year of art school, and went right into comics from TV news. So I had been drawing all day, most days, for years. Having a day job again was a big change.

Sean at Starbucks October 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesWhat did I do as soon as I started my day job?

I went back to drawing portraits in my free time! The more I look at my own history as an artist, the more I understand that I have always been a portraitist.

drawn at Starbucks October 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesAny attempt to do anything other portraiture has always ended in tears for me!

My true love and true nature is making pictures of people.

Steve as Han October 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesSo when I met Amy, Steve, Sean, Chad and Kevin and their circle of friends, I drew them.

This is Steve as Han Solo, for a gift I made for him.

Amy as Leia October 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesAmy as Leia!

I was so lucky to meet Amy. I hope she is doing well. More pictures of her in the previous post. The group of artists and writers she was part of were so smart and creative.

Sean working at Starbucks October 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesOf course, having a day job meant I had to be at the gallery by 10 a.m.

Which was pretty goddam hard on me. Not being a freelancer/self-employed person anymore felt like being on vacation, but the getting up in the morning sucked. I have a circadian rhythm disorder called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, and it is no joke.

Luckily, my friends behind the counter gave me all the free coffee I needed! I would waltz in multiple times a day and they would just hand me coffee.

Portrait at Starbucks October 1995 by Rachel Ketchum aka Suzanne ForbesI was fortunate as hell to meet some cool people after landing in a town where I didn’t know anyone but family.

I’ve always had a lot of luck of both kinds.

I had completely forgotten these drawings existed. None of them had ever been photographed; until now, no record of them existed – if we had a fire or flood they would just be gone forever.

I am so grateful to my Patrons on Patreon, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me to take time to document my art archives.

DisabiliTease! An online burlesque show I loved so much.

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Noeline la Bouche for Disabilitease by Suzanne Forbes May 28 2020I heard about Disabilitease from the feed of muse Noéline La Bouche, one of the performers.

You can see the drawing I made of her performance above. She is dancing in her apartment, doing one of my favorites of her routines. Noéline is so courageous in talking and sharing about disability in Berlin’s performance scene; she has helped producers understand that some of us have limitations and challenges but are still gonna show up as we can, and be amazing! Follow her here, site here, and my other Noéline drawings here, here, here, here here and here!

Little Peaches for Disabilitease June 21 2020 by Suzanne ForbesThis is Little Peaches!

Little Peaches is an international performer and producer and DisabiliTease is her baby. 18 months ago, a serious flare up of several of her medical conditions left her unable to dance. Being the stubborn renegade stripper that she is, Little Peaches grabbed her wheelchair and re-trained herself to dance with wheels! About booking performers with disabilities, she says:

Performers with disabilities are often overlooked for shows because they may need a little extra help when it comes to making the show accessible for them. That may be having wheelchair or walking aid access, assistance with travel, assistance to and from the stage to aid with visual impairments, BSL interpreters or a quiet space to retreat to if they are feeling overwhelmed. These little things can be surprisingly easy to put into place but more often than not, they aren’t.

Little Peaches welcomed me very kindly to draw the show. She did an amazing routine!

Arielle Firecracker for Disabilitease by Suzanne Forbes August 24 2020Arielle Firecracker is the other half of the Disabilitease team!

Arielle is a gorgeous tattooed bombshell and The Mother of Serpents – she has a snake named Dita 🙂 Check out the project she’s working on, Art & Soul Tribe!

Piggy Rox for Disablilitease by Suzanne Forbes June 21 2020Piggy Rox is so fierce!

I loved getting a chance to draw Roxy, a new-to-me performer.

Lady Phoenix for Disabilitease June 21 2020 by Suzanne ForbesLady Phoenix, trailing fire!

Lady Phoenix is another new-to-me performer, and she was marvelous!

La Nina the Disability Pirate for Disabilitease by Suzanne Forbes May 28 2020This is La Nina the Disability Pirate, with her Spoons hat!

You never know when you’ll need extra spoons. Her spoken word piece was great!

Rosie for Disabilitease by Suzanne Forbes May 28 2020This is Rosie who sang a great song!

I did not agree with her song, which was called “Don’t let a Pornstar tell you who are” – it had a great message but so many people I love are porn performers I take any critique of their profession personally! Rosie is part of the wonderful Invisible Cabaret.

Still working on the drawings of Erin Ball 🙂

I am so grateful to my Patrons on Patreon, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me work safely at home.

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.