Completed artwork; Movember - Men's Health *MH

A good discussion was sparked around Men's health this week during our art session, thinking about all the silence around men and their health and the supportive ways people add to each to each other, it's not necessarily the large gestures that make the difference it's the small ones that are the most impactful, holding space, having time and listening can be invaluable.

A lot of thought went into the artwork, meaningful backstories accompany many. Enjoy our gallery...

Finished Movember Men's Health artwork by Phil

Phil - A fabulously colourful character creation of moustache men loving the funky glasses too! This men's group has well groomed facial hair, I'm sure these could be made into an adventure book and have an impact on future generations... Phil used multi-coloured markers to create this artwork.

Finished Movember Men's Health artwork by Mandy

Mandy - if there are any grunge rock fans who are reading and seeing this, you may recognise one of Nirvana's album covers, this is Incesticide... On the group, Mandy shared that her inspiration came from knowing that the lead singer of Nirvana, her favourite, Kurt Cobain, had mental ill health. She listens to their music. This is a great drawing, created using graphite.

Finished Movember Men's Health artwork by Matthew

Matthew - this is the interpretation Matthew made of our topic and joined in with some art doodling with us in our group for a first time. Great to have you join in and work with us all (: Ball-point pen was used to create this.

Finished Movember Men's Health artwork by Scott

Scott - based his picture on the statistic that one in three men has mental health issues. There are 2 semi-colons, these represent the story of your life, it needn't end amidst challenge, it can continue. and the man in the middle with the moustache is a symbol of the Movember challenge. A powerful symbolic drawing. Scott also said he did grow a moustache that looked like this one year. Coloured sharpies were used to create this.

Finished Movember Men's Health artwork by Barbara

Barbara - decided to draw this rather fierce looking but fantastic version of Egon Schiele's self-portrait and has a small well groomed moustache. He had a keen interest in people with mental ill health and tried to portray or express mental ill health in some of his paintings. In addition, he visited some mental institutions which existed in this era, it was a time of growing interest in the field due to the findings of Freud and Jung, etc. Watercolour paint was used to create this.

Finished Movember Men's Health artwork by Fran

Fran - A great piece of artwork, demonstrating inclusivity of our group. Fran enjoys the chilled vibe of Art on Wednesday and chose to do a portrait and a self-portrait with encouragement of everyone on the Zoom screen. Great observation skills and interaction. It's ok to focus on a drawing of your choice if you would like to, created using coloured pens and graphite.

Finished Movember Men's Health artwork by Andy

Andy - The colours of this are really strong and the smile is warm, too, great artwork, but does anyone know what lies behind the smiling face? That's the whole reason of why Movember began and discussions were started. Thank you for your artwork Andy. Created using soft oil pastels.

Others in the meeting and those who aren't able to attend have the prompts, sometimes, life gets busy or illness/reality hits hard so projects you intend to complete you find you aren't able to, there's no judgement. Some subjects may feel sensitive or raw to you, go easy on yourself, sometimes connecting through a creative side can help you with your journey, to gain a different perspective.

Hope you enjoyed our gallery this week, please read and leave a comment below. If you would like to join us next time in art, follow the link-tree, feel free to drop by with whatever art materials you can find, look out for the next topic post so you can get an idea of what we will be looking into for our next.

https://linktr.ee/all4inclusion