more levers

The y4's made even more complex mechanisms today where levers move in opposite directions.

This example shows that when you pull the leg the duck 'quacks'! Quite understandably in my opinion.

Fruit

In y2 today we ate apples! We also made careful observational drawings as we chomped them away!          

cityscapes

Today the y6's followed up their work on perspective/cityscapes by looking at the work of James Rizzi. They then started to try and draw a cityscape in a similar style.  

And here's to hoping that tomorrow's game is a classic (and that England win!).

Self portraits

Today the y1's rounded off their short project on self-portraits by creating semi-relief sculptures using clay. We used air-drying clay so here's hoping they don't crack and fragment as they dry. We'll give them a good coat of PVA to seal and glue any stray bits together before attaching them to a piece of card that can then be hung for display.

a la klee

Further to their colour mixing investigations, the y3's looked at the work of Paul Klee. They then created simple landscape images, subdivided them, and painted them up using their newly developed skills.

cityscapes & footy

The y6's followed up their linear perspective work from last week by drawing 3d cityscapes using squared dotty paper!

And I managed to find some time to daub a few more footy paintings. Still not done anything about trying to sell them though!

collage & drawing

Our y1's have completed their collage self-portraits - not bad for 5 yr olds.

The y5's have been looking at the work of 'Futurist' artists (Boccioni, Balla etc.) from the early 1900s. And, using their card 'mannequins' that they made last week, they've drawn images of figures, trying to make them look dynamic and active. 

levers

Today the y4's started looking at mechanisms. They created moving pictures by utilising a simple lever.

  

colour

The y3's continued with their colour mixing investigations today. By gradually adding one colour to another they were able to create quite subtle variations.

drawing

Today in FS2 (4/5 yr olds) we drew animals by starting with their initial letters. First try-out of the contents of my new book.

perspective

The y6's have been drawing cityscapes. Previously (last year!) they looked at both tonal and linear perspective and so today they moved on to draw buildings from opposite viewpoints - looking up and looking down.

romans

Y4's began their study of Romans this week so we made small 3d figures of legionaries.
They look quite effective en masse, with each figure standing about 15cm tall. Not sure whether to make some barbarians for them to 'fight'. 

painting

Today the y3's got back into the swing of things artistic by creating colour wheels. They did the usual - mixing primary cols to make secondary ones but then we had a chunk of time left so we decided to use up the rest of our paint by doing some collaborative pieces. Each child began with a sheet of blank paper and was tasked with choosing one colour and painting variations (ie. big, small) of one shape (square, rectangle, circle etc). We then swapped with someone else and used a different colour and a different shape etc. After a few rounds of this we finished them off by adding stripes of a colour not yet used. Without any discussion or dialogue this is one of the pieces that came out of the activity. To my mind it looks very much like a close-up study of a bunch of flowers. What do you reckon?

New book

Have just finished compiling my latest 'book' - An Alphabet of Animals. It's another drawing guide (to compliment 'A is for Art' - not got your copy? Then pop along to my shops to order!)  that shows how, using very simple but extremely effective methods, to draw a whole range of animals. For those folk who are into the current trend of destressing using colouring books, it's the ideal, logical, next step - whereby you create your own pictures to colour! If nothing else, it will certainly improve your doodling skills.
Any publishers out there - I'm open to offers!

back at school - yay!

Managed to put our 'Tudor' houses on display - they were only completed on the final day of last term! Partnered them up with our model of the Globe to portray a small section of Shakespeare's London! It looks quite impressive in the flesh - each house stands around 25cm tall. 
(And I seem to be able to email myself pics again!)

The children made peg doll characters to populate the streets.