drawings

Have been drawing some cards . Various subjects but in the same styles. Might list some in my shops. Done with sharpies on card, A6 single fold. 

 

dinosaurs finished

Some of the y2's completed their dinosaurs today. They installed the pneumatic systems that work the mouths and added other embellishments - eyes, teeth (making sure they were herbivore teeth!), tongues, claws etc.

 

 

Below is a very short video;

 

 

And now I've figured out how to upload videos, here's the one of my train automaton from a few posts back;

 

Apologies for the wobble at the end - the camera was stuck to a jar lid with blu tack. Must invest in one of those small, table-top tripods!

print & puppets

Finally managed to catch-up with our y6's today. They've missed several art lessons due to trips and rearranged timetables. Although we won't now have time to do stencil or screen prints we at least managed to have a go with 'polyprint' - thin polystyrene tile that you impress lines into. We even got as far as trying our hand at the reduction process.

 

 

 

 
FS2 have been busy recently learning about jungles so we made some clay-headed stick-puppets.
Using simple push/pull techniques we were able to create recognisable animals.

weaving

Y5 today completed their weaving projct by adding found, natural materials. A few lucky children found feathers to weave in whilst others were content with greenery.

 

 

 

We then tied them (securely we hope) to the fence that lines the walk up to our 'Forest Schools' area. It'll be interesting to see how they change over the coming weeks after being exposed to the elements.

 

dinosaurs

 Y2 painted their dinosaurs today. They had free choice of colour scheme as obviously no one knows what colours they actually were.

 

 

We also painted the inside of the mouths prior to adding the pneumatic mechanisms (syringes and plastic tubing!) that will open and close them.

 



And finally, a commission, well more of a request, for a painting of a local town. The reference can be seen on the left - a greatly enlarged and pixelated image, as the original was taken on a phone and had to be printed out. On the right is my stylised version of the scene - hoping to catch a flavour and sense of the original. Collage and acrylics on a canvas board, 18 x 24cm.

latest

The latest automaton to roll off the production line! This one features a rural train service. As you turn the handle the engine plus its carriage rotates around the village/countryside (the black circle turns whilst the green circle stays put). It measures about 11cm (4") from table to tip of church spire.

 

Very pleased with how this turned out. I did do a short video of it working but it didn't want to upload for some strange reason.

castles and more colour mixing

In Y1 we made clay castles. We rolled out the clay into thin slabs (we didn't use battens - too tricky) and then cut out the crenellations. 

 

 

 

 The slab was then rolled around a tube to form the final piece. Stones were added by pressing square section wooden pieces into the clay.

 

 

In Y3 we've had the whole morning to further develop our understanding of colour mixing. We experimented with different shades of the secondary colour by varying the amounts of each primary colour in the mix.

 

colour mixing

Some more colour mixing with Y3's. This time we drew overlapping circles.

 

We use foil as pallets to minimise on the washing up. 

 



The secondary colours don't show up too well on this photo but the overall effect is one of transparency.

 



pirates

Using patterned washi tape, a card circle and a lollipop stick, the littley's (FS1) made pirate stick puppets today. The idea is to use them as aids when retelling stories.

 

automata

In y4 for the last couple of weeks we've been doing a bit of Design Technology. We've made lever mechanisms, like those often found in picture/pop-up books, ie. 2D and with a linear motion (I must take some videos - some were ingenious!). We've now moved on to 3D, with a linear movement being converted into a rotary one. This is the mechanism we constructed out of 'Tech card' and paper fasteners. You pull the lever and the upright column turns ;

 

The children then created their own little automata. A golfer putting;

 

Bees swarming in front of their hive;

 

 

And a ballerina pirouetting in front of an appreciative audience;

 

Next week we're going to get two (or more!) 'figures' to rotate from the one lever movement!