seals

Y4 have painted their clay sculptures. We used a 'splodge' technique to achieve the colouration found on grey seals!

bears cottage

In FS2 today we continued with our 'G & 3 bears' theme. Using simple origami we made the cottage 3d so that it could stand and have both an 'outside' and an 'inside'!
The idea can be adapted for many traditional tales - 3 little pigs, Handel & Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood etc. It can even be made to pop-up! 

This is the mock-up I did.

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!

illusions

Our Y5's are studying the physical geography of the world, so for art we've flipped the idea on its head and are going to be looking at using art to portray the world in a visually deceptive way ie. not concrete or real - think, Escher, Dali, Magritte etc.
We did lots of drawing today.

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.

cityscapes

Today, the y2's drew cityscapes. First off they had a go at drawing a city themselves - pic 1. We then, step by step, took them through a simple method of representing buildings that might feature in a city - pics 2, 3 before ending up with a 3d scene (pic 4).

I reckon there is some progression between pics 1 and 4.

paper sculpture

Today the y1's created some small paper 'sculptures' of a forest floor. We cut, tore, twisted, wove and glued different papers to represent fallen leaves, grass and twigs.

Here's the 'one I did earlier' as an example, though I think I might have been too enthusiastic!

The plan is to actually display them on a floor (we have some large papier mâché trees that are crying out for a 'setting') away from walking feet!

pop-ups

Y2's today completed their pop-up representations of our local town. They've drawn, coloured and stuck different aspects onto each face. We even put a stained glass window 'inside' the church!

automaton

The latest automaton to grace my work table. This time using a wooden block for the base and a simple turntable mechanism. Again, the figure is poseable and twirls as the handle is turned.

 

The small red beads you can see in this pic support the turntable.

 

Quite pleased with the simplicity of this one. It also breaks down into two parts so is relatively easy to package should I decide to sell them through my shops. What do folk think?

back to work

Half term is over - back to school for the final push before the summer break! The final bit of art we did before the hols was to complete our recycled pieces in Y5. Card, buttons, wire and straws were all pressed into service to create our wonderful floral decorations. They have been placed around the school in an effort to brighten some dark and dingy corners.

 

today

Pen sketches of mini-beasts in Y2.

 

And 'Greek' mod-roc statues in Y3.

Lollipop stick and wire armatures.

 



drawing

FS2 children did some observational drawing yesterday.  We kept it simple (basic shape, surface texture/detail) as their attention spans and concentration are still developing! 

 

Strawberries....

And pineapples!

Finally, a couple of pics of my completed ceramic roadster.

more clay stuff

One Y2 class created dinosaurs yesterday. They pushed, pulled and generally bullied the clay into a shape resembling a stegosaurus. Broken lollipop and cocktail sticks were then added for the plates and tail spikes. We'll paint them once they're dry.

 

 

Meanwhile the other Y2 class have been working on an island theme. We painted our clay thumbpot islands and added a card 'house'. When put together en masse they look a bit like the British gas advert on telly, except that ours are on 'water' and not in the air!

'River'

Y6 have completed their river piece.

 

 

We decided to hang the fish with wire instead of thread as some of them are quite heavy.

 

Not sure whether it looks better with the added blue wool or not (?). I might put a blue sheet against the wall behind it 'under' the table and a simple riverbank above.

friends, romans...

Back to school. In y4 the children have started to look at 'The Romans'. Therefore today we constructed legionaries using a simple card template. Each figure stands about 10cm tall and brandishes a thin wooden 'pilum'. They look quite good en masse.

 

 

vehicles

In y1 today we made moving cars as a follow-up to our 3d vehicle drawings from last week. The children had to carefully follow step by step instructions but still had freedom to add quirks of their own - see the second pic! A bit of a come-down from commanding the Death Star!

 

 

 

3D

In y1 (5/6 year olds) today we followed up our observational drawing from last week by creating 3d drawings of vehicles. They were guided step by step and used gridded paper to help get the lines in the right places. They drew vans, buses and lorries using cubes/cuboids as basic 'building blocks'.

 

I know quite a few adults who would struggle to draw a 3d bus as good as this!

monarch of the glen

When y4 made polar bears some children also made other 'cold land' animals.  Once it had been fired, this girl went away and found the perfect twigs to complete her stag!

 

today

I've recently had a go at a few bits and pieces clay-wise and here they are on opening the kiln after their final firing. You should be able to spot the footy supporter from last week (quite pleased with him), some small pendants (an experiment that I might pursue with members of my weekly art club) and various parts of a bird (pigeon?) that I've got a crazy idea to make into an automaton piece!

 

Meanwhile in Y4 we glazed our polar bears and carefully added basic facial details.

For those who had finished we then went on to imagine that there was a polar bear who was not like other polar bears - essentially the 'Elmer the elephant' story by David McKee, but obviously altered. We drew and coloured them. The class teacher became very enthusiastic at the writing possibilities that this threw up and is keen to explore the theme with the children - altered stories, shaped books etc.

3d supporter

Tried making one of the footy supporters that I've recently sketched. The first pic is after bisque firing, the second is with glaze applied. 

 

It might be a week or so before he gets the final firing as both I and the children need to make other stuff to ensure a full kiln.