Conferences

Drawing on a wall

Ruth

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If you know me, you’ll be aware of three things:

a) I  like drawing

b) I like riding a bike

c) I like ranting about getting from A to B without a car

So when I got an email from Sustrans about a panel event to discuss whether transport in Bristol is a public health issue, I volunteered to go along and do my sketching thing.

Neil from Sustrans got back to me and said I could draw on the wipe clean walls at Triodos bank. Even though this meant it was difficult to draw the people at the event, which is what I usually do, I couldn’t resist this, and had a go at drawing what I could hear instead of what I could see. Had a lovely time. Click on ‘zoom’ on the gallery pictures to see them properly.

Healthy Bristol Sustrans Panel Event

Catalyst Live

Ruth

I spent today at Catalyst Live, BMS World Mission’s Mission of the Mind event, which is like a Greenbelt or Spring Harvest distilled down to the talks you really remember delivered one after another on a single day, coffee and a sandwich wolfed down in between.

I sketched every single speaker, and here are most of them, although not in order of appearance.
I’m doing this quickly before I go on holiday tomorrow!

Glen Marshall (was talking, this is a saxophonist)

John Upton

Karl Henlin

Lisa Andronoviene

Lucy Berry

Miroslave Volf

Sir John Houghton

Sophie Hacker

Steve Holmes

Tanya Walker

Illustrating Community

Ruth

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to spend the day sketching Southmead’s Community Consultation Day. It was one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve done.

crowd waiting for the day to begin

A wide group of people had been involved in carrying out a survey of the neighbourhood; there had been a lot of work by volunteers and others, and it felt as though sketching them as they spoke or took part in discussions was an affirmation of that hard work, rather than being an intrusion, which a camera can sometimes be.

Deanna and Trenna, survey volunteers

I pinned drawings on a wall throughout the day, so people could have a good look even when I was elsewhere.

Southmead Community Practice building
Travel and Transport workshop discussion
Knit and Natter group

I’d love to do more events like this!

Everybody’s friend, nobody’s leader

Ruth

In Bristol we’ve just completed five sessions of the 7 Deadly Sins of Women in Leadership course led by Kate Coleman, Cham Kaur Mann and Grace Owen. Some of the team had seen my Greenbelt Sketchbook and asked if I’d sketch during Saturday, our last day. I filled a 40 page A5 sketchbook – here is a selection of pages from that book, only very slightly tampered with in photoshop.

Some people on the course said they’d buy a book generated from these sketches. If you’re genuinely interested, then please comment below or get in touch!

Any more tech-savvy suggestions for the best way to present them would be gratefully received.

A couple of comments about the course so far…

Each month there has been worship led by the Bristol team (ie the volunteers who invited Next Leadership to run the course) Most of the worship sessions have been beautifully led by Shayla Merivale, but she was away this time, so Rachel Haig stepped in and surprised us all by starting with a picture of Reepicheep, Narnia’s most daring and faithful mouse. I’d never thought of him as a model of discipleship before. But I’m not sure why I hadn’t now. Here Reepicheep invites us into the beautiful landscape that is Aslan’s land.

Kate Coleman introduces the theme for the day, which is all about relationships and leadership. Are we in danger of being everybody’s friend, but nobody’s leader?

Throughout the course we’ve been blessed by the glorious and generous catering gifts of Lesley, Maureen, and their team from St Marks Community Cafe.

After lunch Cham Kaur Mann presents us with the retold stories of a couple of Bible characters who tackled the day’s deadly sin. This time we had Eli, who gets it wrong when he hears Hannah praying – and even more wrong when he’s managing his sons, Miriam, who allows jealousy to mess things up for the whole group, and then Jesus, who keeps God’s will and his friendship with Martha the right way around.

There’s a bit of anticipation as we start the coaching session which is usually led by Grace Owen. We break into pairs and get to talk at length about one of the situations that’s emerged for us during the day.

It’s the last day, so Kate sums up the journey so far.

Closing worship – everyone quietly makes their way to the front where there are beads and cords. Each bead represents something we’ve learned, but we make a bracelet as a gift for someone else. We sing, and we don’t want to leave, but Reepicheep is there reminding us that it’s about being ready for what comes next.
You can find out more about the 7 Deadly Sins of Women in Leadership course at www.nextleadership.org