Drawing by Susan L.

  The centre is sprucing up their web site and interface page. It was rather utilitarian so they asked for some creative input. I suggested putting some faces on it. That would enable our mandate of inclusion to come across visually. Originally, we thought about using some of the free images available online but weren't sure about copyright.
  A couple years ago, a woman had her photo put on a politician's flyer. The designer had used a royalty free, stock photo. This woman was rather upset because she didn't believe in what this particular political party stood for. It's left me to wonder if there would have been the same reaction if someone's photo was used for a mental health venue.
  To solve this problem, the artist in me volunteered to draw some faces.
  The idea went clear out of my head until Wednesday morning. In dire need of a haircut I made an appointment. My bangs needed colouring too, a long process. So that afternoon, sketchbook in hand, I went and got beautified. Imagining faces and sketching them in pen and ink used up most of the waiting time while the bright red dye did its thing to my hair.
 Yesterday as I spent a couple of hours drawing and colouring the final copy, one thing struck me as possibly being an issue. It's hard to draw a multi-cultural group of faces without relying on stereotypes but the message that all are welcome needed to be clear. Hopefully they won't offend anyone.
  It took a lot longer than I thought it would but that's okay. Besides, it's not really work when it's so much fun. One of the images even raised a chuckle. It wasn't my intention to draw a young Woody Allen but when glasses were added to one of the men's portraits, there he was...sort of.
  "O Lord my God, I cried out to You; and You healed me." Ps 30:2