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.

 

 

this week

As school draws to a close - though we don't finish until next wed - we've been busy creating yet more masterpieces!

As a whole school we created a plethora of patterned squares using pens, crayons, glitter, sequins, buttons and all manner of other bits and pieces. These were then glued onto pre-drawn paper patterns. The result can be seen below - it all occupies what was once just a blank expanse of yellow wall. Can you spot the homage to Morecombe & Wise ?

 

 

 

Each figure is about 150 cm tall - each square is 10x10cm.

 



 

 

In y5 today we were inspired by the work of Kandinsky. We used watercolours to create our own abstracts.

 



 

This one is called 'Le Tour'. Can you pick out the bicycles and the yellow jersey amid the chaos that is the peleton?



 

And finally ... here are a couple of pics of what will be my new art room! This is a view from the doorway - the windows stretch the length of the far wall, so plenty of natural light. I'll need to fit upwards of 30 children + desks, stools etc in here as well as storage.

 

 

And this is the view from the opposite corner back towards the door. It's very much a blank canvas (I've tried to remove all trace of it being the former FS2 room!) - I can't wait to put my stamp on it and turn it into a welcoming, creative learning environment.

  

 

drawing

Today we hosted a group of children from a local German school. I had to do an art activity that lasted no more than 25/30 mins. for 3 successive groups.  I decided to hit them with my trusty 'snow-cone figures' concept! From an ice cream cone (ein eis) we drew a variety of different figures - astronauts, ballerinas, skateboarders etc. I guided the children through a couple of them, step by step and then encouraged them to come up with ideas of their own.

 

They responded really positively and came up with some very interesting sketches - even more so when I showed them that an ice cream cone (with cherry!) can also be used as the starting point for drawing animals.
Their teachers seemed suitably impressed with their efforts and took away spare copies of the booklet to use with other children in their school.

today

A photo of the booty I acquired at todays flea market in town. 6 ex-table footy players (with a couple of balls thrown in) all for the princely sum of 5 euros. Not sure of what I'm going to do with them - any suggestions appreciated! They're some sort of plastic/composite and I'm guessing they're from the 50s/60s (?). There is a marking on the back - a sort of curly letter L in a small circle - any ideas?

They need a bit of a clean tho' I don't want to scrub too hard as the colours appear to be painted on.

 

 

 

more pics

Here are todays pics. Again all footy ones - sorry, but the style seems suited to the subject matter. All done with ink and pencil crayon on heavy weight paper. The last two will be listed in my Folksy shop (please feel free to click on the link on the right to see all the goodies therin). The last one depicts a couple of workers having a good-natured kickabout during their well earned break.

 

 

thwarted!

Wanted to post some new pics but Blogger seems to be playing silly beggars and won't let me upload from my own computer files. Will keep trying. I was going to list them in my Folksy shop - wonder if I can do that?
Sorry, forgot to wish folk a Happy New Year!

Update - two of the new illustrations have now been listed in my Folksy shop;

'it must surely be the best soapbox on the block' & 'he was very closely marked throughout the game'.

Please feel free to take a look at them over there. Am still trying to overcome the gremlins with the Blogger uploading process.

sari's

We wrapped the woodblock printed fabric around a balsa wood 'figure' to represent an Indian lady wearing a sari.

 

 

 

They seem happy with their new garments!

clay people

Today the little ones (FS2, 4/5 year olds) made simple semi-relief clay figures. One chap even imprinted 'bones' onto his figure, having remembered the printed skeletons we did last week ! We have plans to either paint or collage tissue clothing onto them when they have dried out.

 

 

In Y2 we completed our 'stained glass' pieces by adding thin black strips. When they're dry we intend to display them altogether on a large window -I'll try and get a pic.

today's doodle

Had a hankering to do some chaps in top hats. Decided they might look better if I exaggerated the height of the hats. Am quite liking this as a quirky doodle - though it used up a sizeable amount of pen! 

 

 

 

 

'Bankers'

18x14 cm, pen in notebook

collage faces

In y1 today we created faces from cut and torn papers. Inspired by the work of Andy Warhol we eshewed naturalistic colours in favour of bold bright ones.

 

 

even more cards

Yet another card 'design' - ballet dancers. It's quite therapeutic to draw these cards. If no-one buys any I'll have plenty to go at when I'm stuck for a last minute card! 

 

 

A6 single fold, pen & pencil.

staff room decor

Our new staff room is looking a little bare at the moment, so until we can get to IKEA (!) I decided to throw a couple of paintings on the walls.

Started this one on Monday;

 

 

 

 

This is it finished today. Was trying for a sort of scratched film look. 



 

 

And this is it on the wall.

 

 

On the opposite wall I've stuck an 'old' painting that was lying against the wall in my 'studio'. Had a couple of nice comments so far about this one;

Both paintings are 100 x 60 cm, acrylics on canvas.

ice cream

As part of our German lesson we went to the local ice-cream parlour today. The children all had to ask for their choices in German. Back at school we only had about 15 mins left before home time - so I dug out one of my ideas from way back when and showed them how to create recognisable images of people using an ice-cream cone as a starting point!

Should you be interested, I've got copies of the how-to book - 'Snow-cone Figures' - listed in my Etsy shop.

in progress

Not posted for a week or so as it's been 'assessment' time at school. Just another ball to juggle in the run up to Christmas, along with parent meetings, data collation, xmas performance rehearsals, oh, and a bit of teaching!

These are a couple of pieces currently on my painting table. Same 13x18cm format, mixed media works.

Have just added 'Skiffle' and 'Washday Blues' to my Folksy shop. It's positively bursting at the seams! Please click on the button to the right to check it out.

p.s. I am open to commissions should anyone take a liking to the style but not necessarily the current subject matter.

jazz

A quick doodle/try-out in my pocket moleskine to see if I could 'do' a figure that had slightly more about it than just being a head and shoulders. Pencil crayon & ink.

cowboy

Managed to try out a cowboy version of the model figure. Quite pleased with how he's turned out.

full picture

A footy pic that fills the whole paper! I don't usually do backgrounds but tried this out to see how effective it might be. Not entirely happy with the finished piece (should have re-painted the blue sock!) but reckon it's ok for a first attempt.

Acrylic on heavyweight, acid-free paper (courtesy of 'Moleskine'), 9cm by 14 cm.

spinning tops

Had to double up classes today - so we continued with our design tech. topic of 'moving toys' and made spinning tops. Simple quilled pieces with cocktail stick additions. They actually worked very well. The children have taken materials home to improve their designs.

Have been doodling a few 'Fougassian' (is this a word? - after Fougasse) figures. I love the simplicity of line in his work;

figure sketches

Y5 sketchbook work. Sketches produced before using the paper mannequins we made, are on the left - the 'after' pics are on the right.

proportions

We made some paper mannequins today to help us get our figure proportions a little more realistic - their previous drawings had the usual large heads/little bodies. We will add detail next time.