Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership commissioned me to live illustrate a series of discussions about child safeguarding, with a twist!
YP4ALL
Young People 4 All are a group of young people that meet monthly, having open conversations about the issues young people face in Bucks. On November 4th the group met outdoors at the Bucks Youth Justice office to discuss drugs. Representative from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and BSCP were present to hear first hand from young people about this topic. We had cosy blankets and hot chocolates to keep us warm!
Live Illustration
During the discussion (which was had over hot chocolate and marshmallows), I made notes and developed illustrations to document the key points, which I then painted directly onto the wall. It was dark and I painted with a head torch on. The mural was completed within 24 hours of the original discussion.
How do you paint a mural LIVE?
The Youth Justice Offices wanted me to give an old chalkboard wall a new lease of life. Initially, my plan was to use good old posca pens on the wall, and seal it with a spray varnish when it was complete. However, this was a pretty pricey option! My fee included materials. It would take a whole lot of pens to cover this wall, and also multiple cans of varnish.
After consulting a street art friend of mine (dynamickart) I decided to look into paint, and settled on a single colour masonry paint - white, to pop against the black background.
Live illustration is, LIVE, so I had to really consider my approach, as painting is much slower than using pens. Especially as this was only a 30 minute workshop, I had to really pay attention to the content. I decided to plan a feature illustration and start painting it in advance, to make sure there were visuals on the wall from the start. During the discussion, I made notes on post its, and stuck them to the wall, rearranging them as I planned out my composition. I made sketched out placement on the wall too, ready for paint. After the discussion there was a 15 minute break, where I painted as much as I could, so when we regrouped, there would be an instant response to the discussion.
The young people signed the artwork at the end of the session, to document the participants contribution. This is my favourite part of the mural! I completed the mural the next day.
This was my first time working in this way, and I was a bit nervous working with new materials and a new setting. I was wearing thermals, a hat and head torch, painting outdoors in the dark! My main concern was the paint being difficult to apply, but as soon as I started painting it was so much fun. It felt great to adapt and try new things to make this a really special workshop.
Collaboration
The joy of this piece, for me, is the successful collaboration that made it happen! Krissie from Youth Voice Bucks planned the workshop and schedule, with my input on how to best to incorporate live illustration for the session. I was also able to collaborate with the young people, translating their discussion into key visuals, making sure to stay true to their ideas.
We made use of a plain wall at the offices, created a point of engagement during the discussion, and a valuable record of the key points, which will help future visitors and BSCP understand young peoples relationship with drugs in Bucks.
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