the match - first half

The eagerly anticipated match got underway. The two teams, resplendent in their newly acquired strips (grudgingly supplied by their respective factory owners after they realised that the match was to be featured by the local press) got to grips straight away. The colours of the strips were, incidentally, decided on after some forceful input by the  owner's wives. Both of them fancied themselves as the last arbiters of good taste hereabouts.

Neither side was dominant in the early stages. Both sets of lads were eager to show off their finely honed break-time skills and some quite promising moves were only just stopped by some ruthless, fearsome, crunching but fair (ish) tackles.

 

 

Ink & pencil crayon on paper

Both sets of supporters loudly cheered on their teams and exhorted them to greater and greater efforts - too much of many a wage packet rested on the final outcome. Most of the action took place in the centre of the pitch and neither goalie was unduly troubled. In fact the Bartholomew's keeper, 'Stumpy' Williams (so-called because of an unfortunate accident with a spindle-whittling machine) took the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with some young ladies behind his goal. All was frenetic in the midfield until Jenkins (junior apprentice spittle mopper-upper, ) broke clear and homed in on the Bartholomew's goal. 'Stumpy' hurriedly, but politely (having a notion of continuing the liaisons later in The Feathers), excused himself from the conversations and faced the onrushing lad.....

more toys

Spinning tops in Y3 today. They're studying the Victorian period and, after Thaumatropes last week, we used the quilling technique (a Vic craft) to create simple tops. The small one in the centre is based around a cocktail stick - it works too!

 

 

at school

In FS2 today we read a story called 'Penguin Small' (by Mick Inkpen ) and so, made some small penguins! Simple card and paper construction with a sticky label forming the white front.

 

 

In Y2 we painted our Chinese bowls (made from air-drying clay). We used blue over an undercoat of white. When they've dried, we'll add a coat of PVA to seal them and give them a bit of a shine. Can't wait till the new kiln comes and we can start experimenting with 'proper' clay and real glazes.

the rivals

It seems that the lads from Bartholomew's Widget Company have got wind of the surreptitious practice being undertaken by their rivals and so, have found time for their own pre-match kickabout.

A couple of likely lads playing one on one, egged on by their betters and elders who, so rumour has it, have a few bob on the outcome of the match.



 

 

landscapes

As a follow up to our tonal perspective work last week, today we collaged some simple landscapes. We made them as symmetrical images and so were able to create the impression of reflections in a lake/river.

 

 

the apprentices

Three apprentices having a kickabout. No doubt practising for the upcoming fixture against their rivals - the young lads from Bartholomew's Widget Company. It has long been a hotly contested fixture and usually draws quite a crowd. A win is guaranteed to raise your status within the firm to something just above that of the factory cat. 

 

 

 

Ink & pencil crayon on heavyweight paper.

more winterscapes

In FS1 (the 3 & 4 year olds), we've been busy hand printing winter trees. The 'snow' is torn white paper and the snowflakes are fingerprints.

 

 

winterscapes

The Y1's created wintery landscape pictures today. We dribbled watery paint down a sheet of paper that they pre-painted a wash onto yesterday. After the dribbling we used straws to blow the remaining drops into finer 'twigs'. We think the end results look very good. 

 

 

teabreak 2

Another footy pic - two workers enjoying their tea break.

 

 

a clay day today

Y2 are studying China so today we made 'rice' bowls using the thumbpot method. They did well at keeping a uniform thickness to the walls. We couldn't make them too thin as the air-drying clay cracks easily. We have though ordered a kiln and so in a few months time (when the new art room is up and running) we should be able to produce fired and glazed items - yay!

 

 

We even managed to put 'feet' onto them (using a coil of clay) - hopefully we smoothed them in enough to stop them falling apart when dry!

getting there

Think I'm beginning to get to grips with things. Still having to 'trick' Blogger into uploading my pics but am slowly warming to the idiosyncrasies of Windows 8.

First up today - in y6 we sketched and then painted tonal/aerial/atmospheric (choose according to preference) perspective pictures. They painted straight into their sketchbooks - the ones we use have a lovely heavyweight paper that takes paint quite well.

 

 

Our Globe model is nearing completion. The seating units were glued onto a baseboard and the 'thatching' tidied up to fill in the gaps between them. You can just see the stage taking shape at the bottom. The current plan is to have the back of the stage area open so that puppet-type shows can be performed to an 'audience' whose head and shoulders will be in the central space normally occupied by the 'groundlings'. It will be just like being there - almost.



 

 

 

And finally, I couldn't let you escape without another footy picture. 'Christmas 1914' depicts the first international encounter between England and Germany (unless there are some very knowledgeable soccer historians out there who can name both teams from an obscure pre-war fixture).

Again, ink and pencil crayon on paper, roughly A4 sized.

 

aaarrrrgh!

Having just about sorted the image issue with Blogger I've now hit a snag with getting the photos off the camera in the first place - we've got a brand spanking new computer today (the old one just kept shutting itself down whenever it felt like it) and it hasn't got a slot for the memory card (unless I've not looked properly!). I'm going to have to get a cable tomorrow and try with that. To add jam to everything, the new computer is running Windows 8 !! Just when you get the hang of something they go and change it, and, as they say in some parts of Yorkshire, 'Change is not good!'. Still, I love a challenge. So, sorry there are no new pics of footy players - even tho' I've done a couple more - you'll have to wait until I get things sorted.

more pics

Here are todays pics. Again all footy ones - sorry, but the style seems suited to the subject matter. All done with ink and pencil crayon on heavy weight paper. The last two will be listed in my Folksy shop (please feel free to click on the link on the right to see all the goodies therin). The last one depicts a couple of workers having a good-natured kickabout during their well earned break.

 

 

success!

Yay! Managed to persuade Blogger to upload my pics by doing it in HTML and then switching to 'compose'. These are the two pictures that I've listed in my Folksy shop. Both done on paper using ink and pencil crayon. They measure about 8" x 11" (20 x 28cm).

 

'It surely must be the best soapbox on the block'

 

 

'He was very closely marked throughout the game'

 

thwarted!

Wanted to post some new pics but Blogger seems to be playing silly beggars and won't let me upload from my own computer files. Will keep trying. I was going to list them in my Folksy shop - wonder if I can do that?
Sorry, forgot to wish folk a Happy New Year!

Update - two of the new illustrations have now been listed in my Folksy shop;

'it must surely be the best soapbox on the block' & 'he was very closely marked throughout the game'.

Please feel free to take a look at them over there. Am still trying to overcome the gremlins with the Blogger uploading process.