TOO LITTLE TIME

Busy painting two portrait commissions. And the Christine Keeler exhibition, Dear Christine, opens at The Vane in Newcastle very soon: Private View 31 May (am going of course), public opening 1st June.

Why is time speedng up so much? What can be done to slow it down? Come on, some gadget is just waiting to be invented.

Just to prove I haven't disappeared:

WHERE IS COMPASSION?

Why aren't huge crowds marching in the streets about this?
Why isn't it headline news in all the press?
How is 'urgency' decided?

And Donald Trump is officially invited on a state visit over here in the UK!

Please share widely.

RESURRECTION TIME

Plant life dies and resurrects on a regular basis with a minimum of fuss. Why don't we? The winters of our discontent more often lead to disillusion and dissolution rather than spring-like resurrection.
Speaking metaphorically of course.

The weight of the past, personally or historically, chains us to the ground, pulls us gradually deeper into immobility. Physically there's only so much we can do to regain flexibility but mentally and supra-mentally, can we resurrect every Spring, like a tree does?

I look around the room where I'm sitting. Almost every object I see is a reminder of something I need to do or have done before. Where is the explosion of flowers? The new growth on my old branches? H'm. Gotta think about this and try to resurrect tomorrow.

Happy Easter, Passover, Springtime, resurrection-time my dear friends everywhere, flowers to you all.

Resurrection. Ink drawing by NdA from Scenes from the Life Of Jesus. Old Stile Press 2011

NOTRE DAME BURNS

It will be rebuilt but something is gone forever.
Je pleure pour toi, Notre Dame. et pour nous tous.

Yes yes yes. the Big Money should have been there immediately for Grenfell Tower survivors and yes it should be there for all the other urgent needs and crucial causes everywhere, yes yes YES! But that doesn't mean we can't also mourn this loss. It's not 'just' a buildimg, not 'only' a historical artefact. Feelings don't have to be rationed, doled out parsimoniously as if there won't be enough to go round.

LAST PHOTO OF AWARD WINNERS

Okay one last plug for this event: the group photo on Sunday 31 March at Free Word Cenre. You can always tell which one is me because I'm the shortest person.

MORE ABOUT LAYDEEZ DO COMICS AWARD WEEKEND

In my everyday life silence is the default modus vivendi and it's not unusual for me not to speak with anyone, apart from local shopkeepers, for many days. So the Laydeez do Comics Festival weekend was like going on a talking/listening holiday and all the more fun for that reason.

There were so many stories to tell and hear and look at on the long table where all of the 50 or so graphic entries to the competition were displayed and, because each one's subject matter was autobiographical, it was illuminating to realise how infinitely varied we all are in our self-image, experiences and styles of presenting ourselves to the world via words and images.

One of the bonuses of being shortlisted was to be gifted an hour's review session with a prestigious graphic novelist and my one-to-one was with Rachael Ball whose moving 541-page opus The Inflatable Woman (Bloomsbury) I had bought and admired when it was published in 2015, not knowing then that we'd be sitting together at the Free Word Centre discussing my embryonic Double Entendre. Rachael gave me constructive, practical and imaginative suggestions which will spur and cheer me on the long winding road of completing my gnovel.

On Sunday at the Awards presentation, the shortlisted sat in a row facing the audience and we were each given the mic to say a few words. I didn't expect this and probably talked too much but I have no idea what I said. A lovely surprise was to hear Rosalind Penfold (pseudonym), originator of that prize, speaking with me via Skype from Canada (voice only, no video).

Altogether a memorable, invigorating, encouraging weekend filled with creative, positive, open-hearted people doing their best to support each other and make life enjoyable. What's not to love? 

Thank you to all the marvellous LDC team, to the people I had long or short conversations with, and to all those I didn't have a chance to talk with but hope to meet again.

 Shortlisters lined up on stage (I'm the short one on the end). Andy Oliver, Editor of Broken Frontier, speaking.

 

A Twitter post about the Skyped conversation with Roz Pnfold.

All the writing on the Free Word Centre walls and the props around the rooms are a current installation by Travis Alabanza and Denny Kaulbach.

My video was playing on a loop on Saturday but unfortunately without the soundtrack and the room was too brightly lit to see it clearly.

Graphic novel publishers' tables on Sunday.

Rachael Ball in Renoir and/or Manet mode behind the cake bar.

A mini-comics fan.

Nicola Streeten and Lucinda Sieger taking a break on pink satin bed, part of the installation.

More writing on the walls, more props.

LDC AWARD RESULTS

Quick report. Will elaborate and post photos later .

The Laydeez Do Comics weekend festival was terrific. The main prize was quite rightly won by Niki Banados for her graphic novel in progress Shivers in London.

My own GNIP Double Entendre won the Rosalind Penfold Award, selected as best from entries by a comic artist over 50. A boldie oldie!

People were filming the awards event so no doubt this will turn up somewheret. Now I'm going to have breakfast.