book day & maths

Today, as it was World Book Day, I got our y4's to combine their love of books and Maths(!!). They used the shapes from a tangram to create book characters. They came up with lots of really inventive ones like these - Peter Rabbit & The Ugly Duckling.

fire!

The y2's have completed their mixed media 'Great Fire of London' pieces. They've painted, printed, drawn and collaged wonderful representations of the conflagration!

 In y4 today we did a bit of 'action' painting - though a little bit more controlled than Jackson Pollack would probably have been. We dripped, splattered and poured volcanic eruptions.

remember, remember..

Today the little ones (our 3 yr olds) created firework pictures. 'Scraper board' explosions and a simple collaged rocket with a lollipop stick.

trees

Yesterday the y2's enhanced their Autumnal pics by adding stitched 'grass' and 'bark'. These mixed media pieces have involved printing, collage and now ' textiles'.   

collage

Using the potato printed leaves that they produced last week, the y2's today created Autumnal collages.

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. 

fire & flowers!

The y2's have begun to collage all the bits and pieces (printed buildings and painted flames) together for their 'Great Fire of London' pieces.

And here's a pic of one of the finished pieces that the members of the ceramics club made as Mothers Day gifts.

in progress

Decided to repurpose some canvas boards with footy & rugby paintings.

The peg-clipped pieces of paper are to remind me which team they are supposed to represent. The one on the left is a painted version of the sketch in the previous post. Foot and specs included for scale purposes!

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

Inspired by the poppies at the Tower of London we've started to make some very simplified ones of our own. The intention is to 'plant' them as an avenue to be walked through by the parents attending our Remembrance service in November. Afterwards we hope people will offer a donation in order to take one home with them.

Today's painting.

painting & Poland

This weekend saw my wife and I venturing to Poland to stock up on pottery. Whilst there we visited the site of the POW camp from where the 'Great Escape' took place - stalag luft 3. There's a small museum with artefacts and poignant information regarding the fate of the escapees. There's also a reconstruction of a section of tunnel and a replica of one of the huts.

We didn't manage to get as far as the actual site of 'Harry' as time was short but hope to return early next year. 

Currently on my painting table - a small (12x12 cm) mixed media piece. 

Another portrait

The rest of y1 completed their collage self-portraits today. This one is actually quite a good likeness as her hair is exactly like that!

Again, not at all bad for a 5 year old!

Portraits

Today the y1's finished their collage self-portraits. I think they turned out quite well. We added nostrils and eyebrows as well as eyelashes!

And a couple more cards - should have taken the pic before putting them in the cellophane packets!

more cards

Made some new cards - collaged patterned papers for the dresses and drew the rest.

Packaged with envelopes- am still thinking £2 each or 3 for a fiver.

collages and kicker!

Today the y1's (5/6 yr olds) started to create collage self-portraits. We stuck to using simple shapes. Think these will look quite effective when complete.

Latest automaton to leave the workbench is a prototype 'kicking' figure. It's a very rough creation just to test the mechanism. The squares on the cutting mat are 5cm just to give you an idea of scale.

It works...

...but I'm not happy with it. The mechanism is too fiddly to make and install and I've already worked out how to make it much simpler!

There's also no reason for the arms to be 'loose' as they don't really move. Am already thinking of two players tackling for the ball!

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.

card

This years Father's Day card with Y1's. A jacket opens to reveal a shirt and tie which then opens to reveal the message. Simple but effective.

 

 

printing

In y2 as a follow up to our colour-mixing from last week ('flames') we have been printing 'Tudor' houses. We used short lengths of wood and black paint. 

 

 

 

We didn't worry about printing them as a street scene as we are going to be creating the final 'Great Fire of London' pieces by collage next week. Hence the bits of buildings in this picture which, when assembled, will resemble a street of closely packed rickety wooden structures.

 



cityscapes

Excited - because the 'rice bowls' are currently being bisque fired in batches. I'll underglaze them all in white before the children add the blue patterning in their next lesson.

Meanwhile, y6 have continued with their rivers/perspective theme and have created some collaged cityscapes.

 

today

In our maths lesson today, inspired by the 'picture pie' work of American illustrator Ed Emberley, we reminded ourselves all about simple shapes and fractions by creating pictures from circles.