Pride in Bournemouth - Lions Under the Hammer

After a summer spent brightening up Bournemouth all 50 lions will be going under the hammer this evening to raise funds for the Born Free Foundation and Julia’s House Hospice. Decorated by artists from across Bournemouth and Dorset the Beautiful Lions have been gathered together for the last time on the south terrace of the The Bournemouth Pavilion. They’ll be on display until 3pm today so head along for your last chance to see them before the auction.

The Gala auction is set to be an exciting event, with actor Martin Clunes, children’s TV presenter Chris Jarvis together with wildlife campaigner Virginia McKenna. The auction is being led by celebrity auctioneer James Lewis.

Tickets for the auction are available from the BIC Pavilion from just £5.

I managed to take pictures of some of the Lions before they were removed for the auction:

Middle-Earth Safari by Elanor McBay

Leatherbound by Lisa Berkshire

Fireworks by Carol Childs

Mist of Bournemouth by Dhaval Husmucial

Frankenlion by Domini Deane

Hylas and the Nymphs by Claire Pound

Temba by Natalie Guy

Ford Robot by Stuart Palmer

See more of my Lion photos on Flickr - Pride in Bournemouth

A bit about the Charities:

Julia’s House

Julia's House is dedicated to children with life-limiting conditions. The majority of the children they care for are unlikely to live beyond the age of 18.
The Julia's House Community Team consists of 80 Nurses and Carers who travel the county. The children's hospice provides life-changing support for families both in their own homes and in the hospice itself. In 2009 they provided 22,592 hours of care, an increase of 81% on the previous year’s total.

Receiving only 3% of their funding from the Government, Julia's House relies on the Dorset community to help raise the remainder of their required income.

The Born Free Foundation

The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity, devoted to conservation and animal welfare. They work to prevent the suffering of wild animals and protect threatened species in the wild. Working with local communities to help people and wildlife live together without conflict, Born Free believes wildlife belongs in the wild and works to phase out zoos. Born Free protects species including elephants, lions, gorillas, polar bears, tigers, wolves and many more in their natural habitat.

Life Drawing: Day-long workshop in Bournemouth!

Image from www.bizarrebytes.com

Thanks to the weight of local demand, we at Bournemouth Creative Breaks have decided to open up the forthcoming Life Drawing Weekend to non-residents as well! Saturday’s workshops will be from 10.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 4.30pm - group working sessions with an experienced nude model and the opportunity for one-to-one guidance from Trish Jubb. There will be comfort and tea/coffee breaks, and a light lunch of sandwiches and fruit will be provided. All for the extraordinary price of just £60.00

But that's not all. Because it is our first ever event, we'd like to encourage as many people along as possible so that we can ask for as much feedback as possible. So, if you're prepared to have your work photographed to talk to us in a VERY informal focus group and fill in a couple of questionnaires for us at the end of the day, we're prepared to discount the ticket price even more, to a mere £32.50!

So, what might you expect from a day of Life Drawing with Trish Jubb?

Well - I'm the organiser of Bournemouth Creative Breaks, obviously, but in real life I am a Community Musician, working with adults who have learning difficulties. So, I don't necessarily rate my abilities as an artist very much. I can sing and play the guitar and a whole host of percussion instruments, but DRAW? From a live model? No, probably not.

Determined to challenge this fundamental belief about myself, I decided to attend one of Trish Jubb's Life Drawing Classes.

I freely admit that it took me a minute or two to 'get over' seeing a naked man other than my husband, for the first time in about twenty-five years. But Trish didn't give me a chance to dwell on this - the early exercises we did were all cleverly designed to demolish fear - most especially, fear of failure.

Fear of failure is something that can prevent you from trying anything new, especially anything creative and new. That's a shame. With Trish's encouragement and lots of support from the rest of the group, I ignored the little voice inside my head saying things like "You can barely even draw the curtains - what makes you think you can draw a naked man?" and just got on with it.

This was my first attempt. I had exactly three minutes to get this:

Then, we had two minutes, and I came up with this:

Then, we had to draw with out non-dominant hand (i.e. my left) and, after a few moments, let it be joined by the other hand, using a different colour. So, I had two pencils on the page at the same time. It was insane! It was hysterical! It was so much fun! And it looked like this:

By this time, I had forgotten all about not being able to draw. My next attempt came out like this:

 - which I don't mind telling you, I was rather pleased with.

Last but not least the model held a much longer pose, which I found quite testing. However, the greater amount of time was beneficial in that I was able to - with some more help from Trish - identify where I'd drawn things in a way that I didn't like, and learn ways in which to correct them. This was wonderful, because this was where the real learning began.

Life drawing, like any creative endeavour, is a skill - it has techniques that can be caught and practiced and improved upon. I got this:

Still very rough, but reasonably good on the perspective and the proportions. I'll be going back in a week's time for more!

If you'd like to have a day devoted to life drawing, remember the first Bournemouth Creative Break is now open to non-residents as well. So you don't have to stay overnight (though if you do need accommodation, that can easily be arranged.)

Saturday’s workshops will be from 10.00am (registration is at 9.15) to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 4.30pm. The focus group runs between 4.30 and 5.30pm.

These workshops will be group working sessions with a nude model with the opportunity for one-to-one guidance from Trish Jubb. There will be comfort and refreshment breaks. A light lunch of sandwiches and fruit will be provided. No materials whatsoever will be needed - we will supply everything - making this day of workshops even better value!

To book a place please call the Arlington Hotel on 01202 552879 or look at their website.