#earthmoves

This is the final set from the Book of Days volume 6 and from the attempted daily drawing through the nightmare year of 2020. There is still more to come from that year but the Book of Days project finishes here. The first is a Chinese Feng Shui door knocker which is believed functions like a gargoyle in western medieval magical thinking by appearing so fierce it frightens away evil spirits. I love the polished surface of the bronze and had attached it to my front door to prevent harmful things like the pandemic. After a year of horror I’m not sure the door knocker or the gargoyle on the other balcony are particularly effective but both look nice and were patient enough to stay still for a drawing. The second page is another self portrait using leftover paint that was blue. It was painted while listening to the nightmarish Radical Dance Faction when their song Rogue Trooper came on so I adapted it to be a self portrait as Rogue Trooper. I haven’t had that hair cut for years but drew it in for the cosplay of the situation. Next is another protector - a line drawing of the head of Medusa I am building for #earthmoves in Wallasey. Finally, the last drawing from this project, a glimpse of the outside world. The Continuing Ed building at the uni with the shoulder of the Metropolitan Cathedral. I understand that the outside world still exists but my faith in it may require some proof at some point. Hopefully this year. #sketchbookdaily #sketchbookdrawing #sketchbook #2020visions #archive #dontknowwhatyougottillitsgone #protector #fengshui #doorknocker #roguetrooper #radicaldancefaction #dub #quartzzonemassacre #medusa #outsideworld #projectend (at Minster Court) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbp_WE0MhYQ/?utm_medium=tumblr

Thank you to Pastor Stacy at herchurch.com San Francisco for starting her message today with this reminder. #earthday #earthmoves #herchurch @Drlucyjones #earthquake #earthfocus #geology #geologyrocks (at San Francisco, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CN0bmklhv09/?igshid=k6lq0scgs74u

Also recorded in this sketchbook several other things were going on. My friend Joel, -an author, lecturer, trade unionist and academic was working on his book The Principle, which offered a devastating critique of the handling of FE under Tory austerity. We had seen how the college had nose-dived and both knew who was to blame. One of the monochrome illustration plates was my digitised lino cut of in my view the unspeakably awful Elaine Bowker, who in our experience had efficiently destroyed the once outstanding college we worked at. I was given the quote of “the five powerful questions” from Tony Benn for my page. This triggered an idea of the Wizard of Oz (who lived behind a curtain of lies, or at least a failed PowerPoint with no signal output), played by her with her pants on fire challenged by the union reps who had seemingly been sacked for standing up to her on a range of spurious charges. I imagined a medieval woodcut full of in jokes (such as the leopard-skin print she was actually wearing when she delivered a cringeworthy PowerPoint about how our status as a “Gazelle College”(ie top performing) was under threat with a photo of a gazelle brought down by a leopard, clearly identifying herself as the actual threat... just before presiding over the college’s OFSTED crash from “Outstanding- 1” to “Requires Demolition-4”. If she hadn’t ruined so many careers and lives she would have been laughable, unfortunately she was anything but. Finally Joel and I decided to replace that Bowker image with Theresa May for a more nationally recognisable motif. The next pages were planning drawings leading toward that, followed by some samples for #earthmoves of image transfers of Sebastian and Belisama. Finally, because we had crashed to a 4 so spectacularly, OFSTED then began very regular inspections, visits, audits and curriculum reviews as the college tried very hard to blame the staff who had previously achieved the Outstanding grade twice on the run for the dramatic failure under Bowker, so This was my permanent expression at the time. #sketchbook #archive #mismanagement #incompetence #fe #deliberate #destruction #failure #linocut #ofsted (at Learning exchange Roscoe street) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCTVkU9gz1P/?igshid=1hn0lmo4kn9wd