Jeff, from the London Disability Arts Forum (LDAF), got in touch the other day and asked me if I had heard about the LDAF/Tate Modern debate at 7pm on Monday 3rd December, in the Starr auditorium. The title of the debate is Should Disability and Deaf Art be dead and buried in the 21st Century? The panel includes Sandy Nairne, Paddy Masefield OBE, Yinka Shonibare, Nabil Shaban, Ju Gosling and Jenny Sealey. The debate will be chaired by Melvyn Bragg. If you want more information, have a look on...

Comments: 0

Just to show you that it’s not only cartooning that I do, I sometimes get dragged into local events down here in Southern Spain. One such event was last Thursday when I was approached by the older mujeres of the village (little old ladies who all wear the black of widowhood) and asked if I can decorate the village hall for them for the forthcoming village fiesta. We used it last year for Jeni’s birthday celebration (no, I’m not saying how old!) and I managed to get hold of the big flags...

Comments: 0

The computer has revolutionised my work over the past 10 years or so. I can remember drawing cartoons by hand, inking them in, and then hunting for the right sized envelope to post them on to a client. I used fax machines to send a rough and then waited for the return fax with any amendments needed. I can also remember frantically drawing a cartoon and waiting for the ink to dry, as a leather clad motorcycle courier waited to whip it down the MI to the BBC Studios in London! Talk about...

Comments: 0

Decided to put the blog format back to the way it was for now as it’s presented some editing difficulties with the months in reverse order. So I’m afraid it’s still the case of scrolling down to the bottom for the latest entry. Colin is busy working out the coding to build me some archive pages so that we can run with the current month here, and with the past months accessed via a link at the side. This should make for a less cumbersome blog for you to access. That’s the...

Comments: 0

Those of you who’ve visited my other blog on the a-n arts site (temporarily suspended while I concentrate my efforts on this one) will know that I‘ve admitted to having another cartooning identity. Someone saw one of my Spanish ‘Laughabull’ cartoons whilst on holiday in the Alpujarras and made the connection. My other pen name is Sox and I use this identity to address more mainstream issues, mainly in the commercial market. My work as Sox is up on my main web site, along...

Comments: 1

Following on from my cartoon about the Leonard Cheshire Foundation I’ve been sent some links to a couple of articles relating to same. They’re both on the old ‘Crip Stirring’ site that Clair Lewis used to run. The first is a poem by Karen Sheader called The Leonard Cheshire Cat. This is the link The second is a whistle blowing account about skulduggery in the early days of the Sue Ryder and Leonard Cheshire camps. It’s purported to be written by an ex PC called...

Comments: 0

Had a query about the DAO open forum and why it isn't instantly published? Well, the answer is that unfortunately – in common with a lot of websites – we got inundated with offensive rubbish and spam when it was an open forum, so it was changed to its present settings to avoid this. Hope this answers your query Pam.

Comments: 0

Well the hardest part is coming up with the ideas, and this can either be a solo effort, or admitting defeat and saying to Jeni “got any ideas for this one?”. We find that we work well together in this respect, building on a vague idea and bouncing it around until we’ve got the finished thing. I then draft it out, perhaps changing some aspects of it, before sending off the roughs if it’s for a client. I sometimes get ideas from the client as well, which is great and cuts...

Comments: 0

Having had a few enquiries about how I create my cartoons; what software do I use, etc., I thought I’d share some of the process with you. This is the first part of that (I now expect Disabled cartoonists to be springing up all over the place!).

Comments: 1

By the way, does anyone know what happened to the sculpture of Alison Lapper Pregnant? It has been replaced on the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square, but where has she gone? It was my understanding that she was there permanently. Any ideas folks? Just had an email exchange with Colin (Editor) and we think that we might turn this blog journal around so that the most recent entry is at the beginning. Would certainly make it easier for you to see what's new without having to scroll down to the...

Comments: 0

Have just posted up onto my web site this 'positive' equality cartoon relating to the new Equality and Human Rights Commission. There should be a balance now in the Equality folder between the pros and the cons around this issue. This should make a few of you happier! Hopefully, from the debate that's started about this I'll get some more material to work with. I'll post up any new stuff as and when. I've also been answering a few emails I got today from some Crips who stumbled across the...

Comments: 0

Okay ArtyFartyBoy, to respond to your comments about the fact that so many of the ‘characters’ in my cartoons are wheelchair users – when we all know (though the non-disabled community is still sometimes surprised by the statistic) that only around 5% of us Crips in the UK are full-time or virtually full-time wheelchair users. And by the way, before I forget, I promise that it wasn’t short term memory loss that caused me to delay in answering you, it’s just that I...

Comments: 1

OK, I can take a hint Fleur in comments! You mean cut down on the wittering and produce more cartoons (I'm just not appreciated, that's the problem ... mumble ... grumble... working my fingers to the bone here, and what do I get?! ... mumble ... sigh ... it is supposed to be a blog!) (Oh my God. Someone's started him off on one! Never hear the end of this now! - Ed) OK. More cartoons eh?! Back later ...(wanders off, still muttering) ... (a couple of hours or so later, sound of Crippen returning...

Comments: 0

More comments I see, including another from our young friend Artyfartyboy as I predicted (who is that masked man?!). Thanks for your comments Richard and Gaz.It is strange how the Social Model can sometimes sneak up and bite you on the bum sometimes isn't it! And I am getting back to you AFboy. Patience, dear boy, patience. For those of you who may have submitted comments and haven't yet seen them posted - well, we've had a bit of a problem with the system. Could we ask that you send them again...

Comments: 0

Had a 'heads up' this morning about a new venture being undertaken by Aardman Productions of Wallace and Grommet fame. They've been commissioned to produce an animation on disability issues in the UK to be called Creature Discomforts (Geddit?!). And the people they've been commissioned by ... wait for it ... those leading exponents of disability rights (not) ... can you see who it is yet? ... Yes, it's the Leonard Cheshire Disability Foundation (big fanfare of trumpets ending in a fart!). Now,...

Comments: 0

Busy, busy! Had several emails this morning with a whole range of cartoon requests. Two from the States, one of whom wants permission to use an existing cartoon from the web site, no problem as it's an organisation of Disabled people; another request from our friends over in Belfast who ask if I can produce a christmas card cartoon for them? Another request for a political cartoon to support an article going into a magazine; and a cartoon on 'balance' for the American Audacity e-magazine...

Comments: 0

Nice to see some more comments arriving. Thanks for taking the trouble folks. Hope the training session went OK for you Mayo, despite your comments!; Geneveiva, as if by magic, what have I posted this morning?!; EssPee, I must admit that I expected a bigger response to the outing cartoon, glad you liked it. Yes, I remember FOVID's. Sad weren't we?! (for the uninitiated, FOVID's stands for Friends of Viking Direct - the stationery suppliers!). I'll see what I can do about a cartoon one day;...

Comments: 0

As you might know, with all these throw-away comments about Spain, I’m currently staying in a small village south of the lovely Sierra Nevada mountains; about half way between Granada and the coast. One day maybe we’ll hit the jackpot and we’ll be able to afford to retire down here permanently. At present we enjoy house and land sitting for friends, as and when. We’ve made many friends in the village over the years we’ve been coming to stay here. My partner Jeni...

Comments: 0

Just had a look on my mate Al's web site. He's the guy who's going to be cycling around Cuba next Valentine's day to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign. As he says on his site, there's nothing exceptional about cancer. One in three of us will get it at some point in our lives. But what is exceptional is the treatment and care Al's partner, Micky, received at the Royal Marsden Hospital last year following the recurrence of her breast cancer. At a difficult...

Comments: 0

Heard from our Jane Campbell (Baroness Campbell to you). She's quite rightly pointed out that I'm taking a bit of a negative slant on the close down of the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and the formation of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (I've probably got that title wrong, but they do tend to change it from time to time). But negative me, Crippen, surely not?! A bit cynical maybe! And I do like to have a good stir at things and get people looking at issues....

Comments: 0

"I Like the pictures!" Having asked for more comments I get one from Amber Rose saying just that "I like the pictures". OK, I am a cartoonist and 'pictures' is what I do. But I've also done quite a lot of writing for this blog - so do I get comments about this, not a sausage! When I mailed Amber to make this very point she told me that there was just "too much to read", so she just looked at the cartoons! Humph, the youth of today! (good job she knows...

Comments: 0

I recently posted a new equalities cartoon on my other blog (see link above at blog entry 28th Oct) and invited comments about it. I thought that I'd do the same here. The purpose of the cartoon is to shock people out of their complacency about aspects of discrimination that are still alive and well, particularly in the workplace. Don't worry if it makes you laugh, it doesn't mean that you're homophobic (although you might be!). I have had feedback which confirms that...

Comments: 0

Overdue visit to a new local arts centre. I got the owner, a young English woman, talking about disability art.

Might have known it; her only experience with us artistic crips has been with the foot and mouth painting brigade (no offence intended - each to their own I say). The idea of us expressing our experiences through our art hadn’t occurred to her, even though this is what she does with her photography.

Comments: 3

Jeni’s birthday today. We’re having some of the Spanish neighbours in along with some English friends this evening (notice how I slipped in the reference to Spain? We’re currently down here in the warm Spanish autumn, looking after a friend’s Cortijo while they visit family in yUK. Thanks to the Internet I can still work though and do things like this). As I don’t drink, Jen’s put me in charge of the wine. Although, unlike the UK, drink is not a problem down here (at least not for...

Comments: 3

Reply from Colin – “What’s this crap Dave?! What’s happened to your usual style of writing?” (never been a one to mince words our Col!) “I was trying to be a bit more arty farty” I tell him. “Well stop it. It’s not big and it’s not clever!!” “O.K. How about this?” “Much better”.

Comments: 1