Tag Archives: portrait drawing

Warteraum redux, second surgery setup sessions!

D at the cardiologist waiting room by Suzanne Forbes March 22 2022My husband and I are medical system refugees.

Which is a type of economic refugee, although medical care obviously shouldn’t be tied to your financial resources. We moved to Europe because we needed to live in a place with socialized medicine. And two years in to our lives here, my hub had his first big surgery.

D at the cardiologist by Suzanne Forbes March 22 2022Now we are preparing for what we desperately hope will be his second surgery.

In the US, this simply couldn’t happen. The specialists who invented it are here, the recovery of many days in hospital just doesn’t fit the US model, the physical therapy he will need wouldn’t be provided – we couldn’t even dream of this in the US, even if money weren’t an object.

If you are a praying kinda person, please pray that we are able to get through the last couple German medical system hoops and get my beloved hub this surgery. His quality of life has deteriorated profoundly and he is in constant pain. I’m happy to sit in as many warteraums as it takes.

And I realize warteraums have become a whole area of my drawings here, not as big as the Unterwegs category, but still significant!

More about our first visit to the Trichterbrust surgeon here.

Drawing folks while I waited for the knee surgeon here.

Cyborg husband physical therapy fun here.

Waiting room at the immigration office here and here.

More medical waiting rooms here, here and here.

I am so grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me to continue making art and telling the stories of Berlin as a vaccinated but Covid-vulnerable disabled person.

Another collaboration with my eternal muse, Sadie Lune!

Sadie Lune as the Lamp of Spring by Suzanne Forbes Feb 15 2022I always get excited about making a picture of Sadie Lune.

We have worked together so long and so fruitfully that I know our synergy can transcend the limitations of zoom. I know whatever I’m thinking about, Sadie will get it and bring it home! I had an idea for this session, because I have been drawn to a lot of fantasy tv lately.

Even though fantasy as a genre is a huge part of my history – my father read The Hobbit and LOTR to me as a child, just for starters – I identify as a Science Fiction person, not a Fantasy person. I read and watch primarily SF, and have since I discovered Larry Niven as a young teen.

Sadie Lune as the Lamp of Spring by Suzanne Forbes Feb 15 2022 detailHowever, recently I’ve been more obsessed with costume design and textiles than ever!

Casual Elf Sadie Lune in Berlin Feb 15 2022

Casual Elf Sadie Lune selfie in Berlin, Feb 15 2022

I have watched a lot of fantasy shows and movies that turned out to have pretty wonderful femme characters. There’s Wheel of Time, The Witcher, Cursed, and more.

I wanted to draw Sadie as a fantasy priestess, and she absolutely nailed the look! Her makeup and hair and outfit and props were amazing.

As we have passed through Imbolg (see next post for my big Imbolg project!) the weather and light have really changed, and Spring is coming.

I am more interested in transparent media and soft tools than I have ever been, and I use my watercolor brush pens more, as I did in this piece.

Luminous greens will be everywhere soon, and Sadie is the harbinger here.

My previous portrait of Sadie, on a very cold Fall day. You can learn about Sadie’s work on her (NSFW) website. And here’s her Insta, and her twitter . My flickr gallery of drawings and paintings of Sadie is here!

I am so grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me to continue making art as a vaccinated but Covid-vulnerable disabled person.

With your support, I can work from home or safely outside and keep telling the stories of Berlin.