Arty mum puts pen to paper for charity

Tuesday 22 July 2014

An artistic mum is hoping to give her teenage son’s school cycling team a cash boost and help stroke sufferers in the Island.

Dawn Monks is a military artist and illustrator whose son is a member of the Le Rocquier School Cycle Challenge team who will be pedaling their way from Paris to Jersey in September to raise money for the Jersey Stroke Association.

The 10 teenagers who make up the team want to raise £21,000 and Dawn has come up with an original way to help them meet their target.

She’s produced a one-off piece in pen and ink commemorating the 1910 Tour de France winner and First World War fighter pilot Octave Lapize that she is auctioning off on eBay.

Dawn said: “The team has been putting a huge amount of effort into their training and fundraising and I wondered what I could do to help. I draw highly detailed military illustrations – vehicles, portraits, etc. - for a living so it made sense to produce a piece of artwork that had a military link, but also a cycling connection.

“I looked around for a suitable subject – one that would combine cycling and the First World War, a portrait and a military machine – and Octave Lapize fit the bill perfectly. Not only was he the 1910 Tour de France winner and a striking looking man - making him a perfect portrait subject - but he also flew as a WWI fighter pilot which gave me the excuse to draw his Nieuport 23 biplane as part of the composition. On top of that, he provided me with a fantastic quote to round the picture off for Tour de France fans!”

The 1910 Tour de France was the first to include the steep climb of the Col du Tourmalet. Despite having the reputation of being the best mountain climber around, Lapize was angry at the organisers for inflicting such a difficult ascent on the cyclists. Every time he passed a race official he yelled “Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!” (“You are murderers! Yes, murderers!”).

Dawn said: “Octave was obviously a real character and a very brave man; it has been an honour to draw him. I hope that I have managed to do him justice and to capture on paper just a little of his spirit. Fingers crossed that he raises lots of money for this very worthy cause.”

The framed artwork went up for auction on 14 July – the 97^th anniversary of Lapize’s death after his Nieuport 23 biplane was shot down in a fierce battle with a German plane over Flirey, in the Lorraine region of France.

Dawn said: “The dates of the auction are very significant. It begins on the anniversary of Octave’s death and ends 10 days later on July 24th, the Col du Tourmalet stage of this year’s Tour de France. I think that Octave would approve.”

The eBay listing for the charity auction can be found at http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121386162068