I’ll be in the Harbour Hotel this Friday night entertaining Intergroup and then I’ve a wedding on Saturday in Ennis in the Woodstock Hotel. I’ve also got a number of caricatures for birthday and retirement presents on the desk at the moment. It’s no complaint and I’m keeping my framer happy!
If you’d like live caricatures at your wedding or corporate event or would like to order a framed caricature just get in touch here!
This is my friend Mia Mullarkey, who’s off to Peru for a number of months to work with street children. Her family threw a barbeque in Annaghdown on the banks of the Corrib, a really beautiful, quiet area of Galway just outside the city.
There was lots of music and singing, and as I am incapable in either of those departments I brought my pens and paper and did some caricatures instead!
Bon voyage Mia!
Tuesday was World Day Against Child Labour, designed to raise awareness of the fact that over 200 million children are forced to work around the world. Every year I work with Transition Year students around the country on the child labour issue for Concern. I try to get across concepts of globalisation, trade and consumer responsibility in the workshops, but I do try to keep it fun!
Firstly the participants are asked to think of their favourite possession and draw themselves using it, reflecting their state of mind when using it:
The usual items that come up are mobile phones, iPods and so on. I then do a short role-play where participants are suddenly in my sweat-shop doing finger-breaking work for less than five minutes, involving lots of shouting and firing. They are asked to record their feelings immediately after this:
Next participants are asked to make a model box of themselves as child labourers:
The finished pieces look like this:
The thought bubble at the back contains their thoughts and feelings from the earlier exercise. The whole thing is designed to found a feeling of empathy. The day ends with an action plan where the group suggests tangible actions they can take individually or as a group, and each pledges to act on one of the suggestions. Participants are asked to take the model box home with them and display it somewhere prominent in their home as a reminder of their pledge.
The workshops run in several locations around the country every March. If your are interested in your school attending you can contact me directly or ring Lizzy Noone of Concern on 01 417 7740.
Local publicity junkie and city councillor Padraig Conneely after a rather embarrassing appearance on the Keith Finnegan Show on Galway Bay FM. This was a bit of a hit locally when it was published. You can see more of my cartoons in the publications section of my website.
