Drawing and community development in Gambia

This is a course I did in Gambia for helping community workers generate their own materials using cartoons and images. (It was brilliant training under mango trees).

Stress

Managing a charity in the current climate of cuts and mergers is stressful for CEOs as they try to keep their organisations afloat in providing essential services .

Being a part of the bigger picture

This image was created for community development training to introduce the  that their are many different stakeholders in building and bringing  communities together

Monitoring the project

This cartoon was developed for a workshop my colleague Jackie Mouradian and   I did  looking at how charities and NGOs need to get better at monitoring and evaluating their work to show that they are making a difference

The cross and Jesus made of toast

This was an experiment I ended  up doing while working with young people at a Friday night drop in centre , I decided to see what pictures they could come up with using toast by gluing it to boards and using paint. During the evening I messed about with the scraps of toast left over and the old photo copier and this is what  happened . Rock on food based art ...gives a new insight  to Jesus the bread of life

Tea bag art

  

This was an attempt to make a powerpoints more interesting so I  dipped round tea bags into paint and threw them onto paper to see what would happen. I found them them make really great heads of people for making comments about an issue or topic  and as a backdrop for all sorts of creative concepts and ideas .

Organisational development themes

This cartoon tries to highlight the fact that most significant conversations that change organisations  happen outside meetings and   more often than not  in the bar, walking to work, and  in the loo or on the way to it ! 

Well this is about the changing context and we often as organisations have to grim and bear it and change with it , often I have done this as rowing boat at sea with a group of sea sick passengers ...

 I am always interested in the idea of balloons and pumps so I thought i would combine the two to give a picture of a group generating lots of ideas by and brining them together in a big balloon . In community development I think there is too much time spent exploring what is wrong with something and over analysing it not enough time on generating innovative and creative ideas .

What is community development ?

This is a front cover design I did for a client for a training manual I co wrote which was rejected by the client for being tooo messy and not fitting their branding guidelines. I still like and hopefully will be able to use it one day when I write my own book ...not sure on what yet open to suggestions ...

Breaking destructive cycles

This is a series of paintings I did in 2007 on laminate flooring blocks and are part of a bigger set which try to explore the impact of absent fathers and parents on families and children . The first three above look at the sense of isolation and pain and the last two look at sense of hope and overcoming the challenges of fractured and broken home lives.

People working with a silo mentality

This is a drawing I have used several times with organisations who want to explore the issue different teams orfunctions working independently of each other . It creates some good discussions.

The challenges of strategic planning

Francesca's Angel

This is an acrylic painting I did for a friend called Fran who is a big fan of angels.

Future challenges and opportunities facing the development sector in higher education

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Quotes on making art

Here are some quotes from Pablo Picasso  that i like and sum up my own views on learning to draw and paint ...

It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.’

‘It takes a long time to grow young.’

‘Every child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once he grows up.’

Motorbike Riding in Nepal

Drawing done in november 2010 of some people riding on a motorbike in nepal.