2016 Charity Centurion – Summary

Goodness, it’s over, this year’s Charity Centurion with James Webster –  100 pieces of art and poetry in roughly 30 hours, uploaded to an album on Facebook (I’ll try and find a more easily shareable link soon).

We’re planning on selling these to raise more for Macmillan, along with last year’s for Shelter – so we’ll figure out a decent way to show them online. Thank you so much to all those who supported us with prompts across social media and donations (here’s that link to the Charity Centurion Just Giving page). We couldn’t have done it without you.

Things I learned throughout this process:

• High chairs and low tables do not a happy back make, and by Sunday night I had even more sympathy for copy-monks than I had already.
• I finally managed to get a handle on the Chinese ink stones I’ve had since uni and not managed to use to my satisfaction.
• The J. Herbin ink bought from Cult Pens way back when is still lovely and I need to supplement the reds/pinks I have with more blue/green/browns.
  • On that note, I still adore that site’s “Deep Dark Red”, which is the colour of blood.
• Other stationery note, Papermate’s Ink Joy Minis, bought in a pack from Ryman for a few quid, are amazing.
• In keeping the initial prompts more hidden than last time, the works were more related to each side as autonomous entities away from their source. Which actually worked out quite well because it allowed them to flourish a lot more.
• We had a lot more Classical prompts this time around. Which was interesting (and often involved research!)
• When sleep deprived, Webster’s poetry is fabulous.

Did something fun to the prompt ‘You’ve got it all backwards’ – claiming it and writing a short text piece, forcing Webster to do art (~meta~). Ended up with a four panel cartoon from him, and a nice way to approach the suggestions with a different perspective.

Speaking of doing things with a bit more background prep, there were one or two homages – to old art deco posters, old postcards, and reference books. Should do more of that, I think – as publishing itself is such an interesting and varied visual medium.

I also used one or two pages from a job-lot of old learning-to-read books I bought for this weekend, but didn’t end up using much from. It’s always more satisfying keeping pages removed to a minimum and seeing what you can make from the text in the discarded edges.

Three more favourites under the cut:-

Charity centurion

Well, we’re doing it -The Charity Centurion for Macmillan. And it’s quite different to last year.
First impressions after a full first day is that we’ve grown as creators. Knowing the drill, as it were, the room was set up in due time, the tea made. We also had  a benchmark of last year to base our output on. And remembered how hectic the second day was. The second day that’s ahead of us now!
But enough of that, what you want to see are finished pieces. I think both James and myself can say we’re more satisfied with a greater majority of our sides in execution – (to the expense of time taken!) Clearer themes less distracted, more coherent images.
We will be selling these to fundraise further, and go back to the Shelter ones too.
They’ll all be put up later, but 2 of my favourites so far have been:-

“It is 100 years since our children left.”

We have counted the days
We have clung to life through hope
And stubbornness
We have kept their rooms exactly as they left them
But for the stains of tears
And the scratches where we clawed at the walls.

When they came back they had not aged a day
But our eyes
So wide with love
Saw the subtle differences
The beady eyes
The jagged nails
Their teeth like tiny knives
We had thought the rats which plagued our village were just that
But now we know better.

And they looked at us like we were monsters
Perhaps we were
The years had not been kind
Sun and worry had worn our skin to leather
But we knew
Despite their pleadings
That when we tore them apart
It was for love.

After so long waiting
We would not allow our children to do this to another town.

Excalibur

They really were supposed to be a pair
The scabbard that shielded from all harm
The sword that won all battles
Since losing one, I have become more wound than man
I have forgotten what it was to live without pain
I wonder sometimes what I looked like when I had skin
The days before I carried this hunched agony around
I assume now I must have imagined.
And still Excalibur will not let me die.
But my battle is never done
And I am so tired.
Perhaps I will have a short rest
And when I wake
They will have forgotten who I am
And that I was ever king
That sounds nice.

If you like these and want to support us, please do at our just giving page

*blows dust off*

An update of sorts.

So that Poetry Art Centurion James Webster and I did last year? We’re doing it again, this time for Macmillan, because Cancer is, well, Cancer, and it takes too many. It’s next weekend, and I’m mildly terrified that I won’t be up to the challenge, my ink having gone copper with rust. But it’s a challenge, and we’ll definitely be posting about it on the social medias [links: Pinstripeowl Instagram, Webster’s Tumblr, possibly my [Pinstripeowl] Twitter and the Webster’s Official Book of Faces]

Webs and I winning SEO for our Poetry Art Centurion. An awkward event name, maybe?

Speaking of Instagram, I’ve been working on a project inspired by Kenneth Rocafort‘s amazing diary page sketches that are a delight of my twitter feed. See also Jeffrey Alan Love. Twitter art makes me happy. Art makes me happy, if happy is the right word. But I digress. This year I started the imaginatively titled ‘ddoodles2016’, which are usually 1-2 minute doodles usually in bed before I go to sleep. Posting to Instagram has, for some reason, managed to keep me on it without ‘cheating’ (well, weekends don’t count) on days in a way I’m quite enjoying when I sit to think about it. Most of them are scratchy and/or terrible, but keeping a routine is doing wonders for the feeling of slight artistic stagnation. I have lots of plans for this year, oh yes.

Luckily his nibs is a joy to work with, and bouncing off someone’s ideas/inspiring/moulding concepts is one of my favourite things. I’ll keep you posted.