Tag Archives: art in berlin

Truly underground model drawing, with Barsketcher Alexandra Ru and Chiqui Love!

Watercolor marker drawing of Chiqui Love in red by Suzanne Forbes Jan 28 2020I have been meaning to go to one of Alexandra’s drawing sessions for YEARS!

Alexandra is a terrific artist who organizes drawing meetups, sessions and classes all over town – museum days, bar nights, life drawing and more. Just by accident last night I saw a post from Chiqui Love of the BSC, who said she was about to model for one, burlesque themed! I dropped everything, packed up my new gear and skibbled across town!

Watercolor marker drawing of Chiqui Love by Suzanne Forbes Jan 28 2020For years I have been loving the watercolor washes other artists use for life drawing.

Alexandra does a particularly nice job. So I decided to take a step towards that approach, and ordered a bunch of watercolor brush pens, and some Strathmore Toned Gray paper for wet media. I figured it might be a disaster, but what the hell!

Watercolor marker and ink sketch of Chiqui Love by Suzanne Forbes Jan 28 2020This session was put on by Alexandra and Liana Gilman, who share a studio space called Sketcherei, where they also host drawing.

Watercolor marker and ink sketch of Chiqui Love by Suzanne Forbes Jan 28 2020The venue was a bar near Gorlitzer Park called “It’s A Bar”. The night was dark and rainy and I was not a little skittish about being closer to Gorli than I ever have on foot – not that I am afraid of drug dealers, I just don’t have any reason to interact with them.

I found the bar though, and made my way down the most rickety flight of stairs I have ever seen, into an underground chamber seemingly carved out of several random basements and infrastructure.

People say Berlin is gentrified now, but they don’t realize how different gentrified here and gentrified in the States is. Berlin is like West Oakland in 1997, plus a war.

There’s no visible awareness of law enforcement, building codes, fire safety regulations, or secondary exits in most places, and people have just been digging out the rubble and building shit for 75 YEARS. It’s like the East Village in 1984.

There is still a lot of magic in Berlin. And still a lot of accessibility issues. I am more aware of the access issues all the time.

Watercolor marker drawing of Chiqui Love by Suzanne Forbes Jan 28 2020 detailAlexandra had kindly reserved the one chair with a back for me, and I made it down the stairs once, but no way was I trying them again for a beverage or the toilet! Most of the Barsketcher crew is lovely young people, who skittered up and down the coffin-like stairwell like mountain goats and sat comfortably about the levels of the underground grotto.

The secret space made a terrific drawing area and the lighting was bright and clear. Chiqui is a wonderful model, and she had excellent costumes and tunes.

I had no idea how to manage my watercolor brush pens, my water glass for refilling the water reservoir, plus my usual tools. And no idea how to use the brush pens! Which was great.

It’s terrific to use new tools, because I am VERY stuck in my routines. It was kinda hilarious though, water flying everywhere, me pouring water in my palm and then just smearing it across the lines to get a wash. I also quickly found myself scruffing the nylon bristles of the brushes across the smooth paper.

I’d love to see how the brush pens perform on paper with some tooth.

I would have liked to do more quick gestures, but the only sketchbook I brought was the Strathmore Mixed Media, at a almost a euro per page, so the loose sketches are actually on the backs of the finished drawings!

I also wish I’d brought just sepia, brown and beige watercolor pens, rather than having a whole color palette. I don’t have the transparent media color mixing skills, especially under club conditions! On the grey paper, with transparent media, I definitely felt the absence of a high white value.

Mixed media drawing of Chiqui Love in red by Suzanne Forbes Jan 28 2020So I added white chalk marker and pastels to the watercolor pen drawings.

I’m not sure about the results – I feel like now they just look like my regular marker and pastel drawings. Which is not bad, it’s just the native temperament of the watercolor is lost. Also @chiquilovelovelove looks a little stocky here, and she is actually muscular but slimmer.

So adding the whites changed the visual impact of the forms in a way it doesn’t with my usual style. Fascinating!!

I want to try the watercolor approach again, but on white not gray paper. The Strathmore toned gray mixed media paper held up really well though.

Thank you @barsketcher and Liana for the lovely drawing sesh!

And always, always thank you so much to my Patrons on Patreon, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me to experiment and grow as an artist, and to document Berlin life.

 

 

 

Color experiments and Weimar Glamour with Kabarett der Namenlosen.

Le Pustra and Mama Ulita at Dr Sketchys Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Jan 15 2020I found a bunch of unfinished drawings from a Kabarett der Namenlosen session of Dr. Sketchy’s Berlin!

Work in progress Suzanne Forbes drawing of Le Pustra and Mama Ulita 2019I was shocked to find these drawings, hiding in a sketchbook I thought contained nothing of importance. (I also found an unfinished unterwegs that I genuinely don’t remember drawing!)

As you can see to left, the drawing of Le Pustra and Mama Ulita was mostly finished. The others were more scribbly, just pencil. But now that I have actually seen the live performance of the Kabarett, I felt I should try finishing them up.

Why had I abandoned them?Le Pustra at Dr Sketchys Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Jan 15 2020

Mama Ulita at Dr Sketchys Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Jan 15 2020 back viewWas it frustration that I can never really capture the wild glamour of these performers, in their soft silk robes and stockings, with their immaculate white tie and tails?

I feel terrible frustration trying to convey exactly how it feels to see Mama Ulita perform. When she whips off her bob wig to reveal her own seal-slick black cap of hair, the audience gasps. I honestly want to be David Downton, at moments like that. This drawing doesn’t have a fraction of her elegance.

But it is a valid attempt, and it was worth finishing to see where it went, so I don’t know why that didn’t happen. Maybe these drawings just overtaken by events, as they say in the military? It’s been a tough year or two, healthwise.

I’m working hard to figure out how to add color to my drawings, but I am still so unsure. I used markers, pastels and a water reservoir brush to add color to several of them. Color is such an important part of the visual design of the Kabarett, with bright wigs by Nina Budden Hair and pale ostrich boas. I don’t really know how to convey these soft vintage shades alongside the graphic black and white tuxedoes.

I am committed to the process of making color an integral part of my live drawing, and it’s tough!

Mama Ulita at Dr Sketchys Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Jan 15 2020Sometimes hints of color, little accents, are best.

Sometimes I try to do more and don’t feel I succeeded. The trouble is, even terrific photographers can’t capture everything the eye sees at a show like this. There are a thousand moments, each so beautiful, and I can’t show you them all.Le Pustra and Dekolars at Dr Sketchys Berlin by Suzanne Forbes Jan 15 2020

Still, I do my best, and I hope you enjoy this tender moment with Le Pustra and Lars Schwuchow, above.

I am so grateful to my Patrons on Patreon, who make it possible for me to document Berlin’s queer intersectional performance scene and release the artwork free to all.