new(ish) card

My better half is selling Polish pottery at a Xmas fair this weekend. I might sneak some of my hand-drawn cards onto the stall and see if they sell.

'polish' figures

A couple of faux, ceramic 'polish pottery' type figures. The one 'sitting' on the edge is a simple slab figure whilst the one with attached limbs has a hollow body and a large wooden bead for a head. The hair is hand-made string, that I've had for ages, and the fixings include vintage buttons.

Stop press : the ceramic poppies that we made in school have so far raised over €500 for the Royal British Legion.

relief sculpture

Today the y4's painted their clay relief sculptures of Roman legionaries.

We'll mount them on thick card when they're dry.

more tigers

Today the y1s finished off their short project - different ways to represent/portray tigers - by creating clay sculptures. We used terracotta, air-drying clay and made them from simple 'balls' and 'sausages'.

Next week, when they've dried, we'll paint them.

more

Yet another card 'design' - footy team selfies.

At the prices I'm considering charging (£2 each or 3 for £5) I can't go overboard with detail and colour on my cards otherwise they would take far too long. Remember that these cards are all hand-drawn, so for an original, unique piece of art they're a bargain! Once the cost of materials, envelopes, cellophane wrappers etc, not to mention time, have been taken into account I'm unlikely to be able to retire on the profits. Would you charge more?

Mural and cards

A quick pic of a mural I'm currently in the process of painting in our FS2. I went for simple, bright graphics rather than a 'realistic' representation.

And I hadn't realised what a variety of 'designs' I've created on my hand-drawn cards until I began to sort them into groups today! I've obviously done a lot more of some designs than others.

Must start trying to sell some.

Romans and tigers

Y4 made some clay relief sculptures the other day. Using simple rolled slabs they created and assembled shaped pieces to represent Roman legionaries.

Today the y1's drew tigers. They had a go before following step by step instructions to draw several variations.

We then looked at Rousseau's 'Tiger in a Storm' before drawing our own large pictures of a tiger hiding in the long grass.

mosaics

Y4 have been completing their mosaic pieces by grouting them. 

Once they've dried we'll seal them with a coat of PVA. The idea is to use/give them as coasters.

weaving

It was y2's turn to weave today! We started by threading up our looms before embarking on the tricky task of creating stripey bookmarks! There was a lot of unravelling of mistakes so hopefully they'll be completed in time for Xmas!

tigers

Following on from their leaves last week, our y1's did some more weaving. And as they are currently looking at the book 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea' it seemed apt to weave tigers!

We added extra stripes, claws, grass etc. to further enhance them.

Our ceramic poppies were very favourably commented on today and about 2/3 of them were taken away in return for donations to the RBL. Shall have to check tomorrow how much was actually raised. The remaining ones will be available for the next few days before finding a suitable home in our forest area.

poppies

Today we planted our ceramic poppies to form an avenue that parents and guests will walk down tomorrow when they attend our y5/6 remembrance service. The idea is that afterwards when they are leaving they will choose a poppy and give a small donation that will go to the Royal British Legion.

We managed to produce over 300! Not quite on a par with the Tower of London but the proceeds will end up in the same place.

elephants

Today I showed the y3's a simple way of drawing recognisable images of elephants. They had a go first ( you might be able to spot their 'before' drawings) and then followed step by step instructions to portray elephants from the side, front and rear!

I think they managed - don't you?

Did you spot the 'A' starting points? Similar step by step guides to drawing a whole load of easily recognisable images can be found in my book - 'A is for Art' - available in my 'shops' ( shameless plug! )

leaves

Today our y1's wove some Autumn leaves. They cut out simple leaf-shaped looms and wove strips of paper and card through them.

We added thinner strips to further enhance the overall effect.

Excesses were trimmed off.

hedge

Completed the planting of our hedge this past week. Lots of different bushes that should, hopefully, grow to about 2m tall and thicken out over the next few years.