long time no post!

In y2 the other day we had a go at painting without drawing in pencil first. We drew elephants last week in our sketchbooks so just made the same marks but with a paintbrush. We added a bit of texture by scratching with a cocktail stick.

knit one

Our y3's are currently knitting! Most of them, having mastered the basics are flying along. As their current study theme is to do with cold places I had the brilliant idea (!) of getting them to knit a bobble hat! It's been a struggle but I think we may be getting there.

Meanwhile on my painting board - 'A Close Finish'. Acrylics on paper, roughly A4 size.
Playing around with my 'new', extremely pared down and simplistic style, to see if I could do more than footy players and folk diving! I would more than welcome any feedback.

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.

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!

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.

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?

Warhol & Tudors

Y6 have finished their self-portraits in the style of Andy Warhol.

And our Tudor real estate is nearing completion. Today we fixed the upper and lower storeys together and added the internal roof structures. Just the thatching to do. Hope it doesn't rain before next week!

flowers

Following on from their flower painting last week, the y1's looked at Van Gogh's iconic work and had a go at painting their own sunflowers.

It was good practice in both colour mixing and brush technique.  

flowers

In y1 today we painted flowers. Unfortunately the weather prevented us doing it 'en plein air' but they remembered what they had seen earlier in the week. We painted the stalks with brushes, after having mixed a green, and the flowers with our fingers! We have some children who need to do things in a very kinaesthetic way. We started off by creating pictures of daisies and then progressed onto wild flower meadows.

                        

finished

The paintings are now finished. I seem to be accumulating quite a few footy paintings - I must get around to putting them in my Folksy shop.

All are 18 x 24cm, mixed media on canvas board.

                        

A is for...

 Today the y2's drew cheetahs. They have been learning all about them in class and did a 'before' picture (top left hand corner). They then followed simple, step by step instructions to enable them to draw more easily recognisable images. We did both standing and running versions. We even detailed the faces. 

Meanwhile, progress on my 'painting' table.

paintings

A pic of three, first stage, footy paintings currently on my 'painting' table. Each one is on canvas board and measures 18 x 24cm.

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.

printing

Continuing with the theme 'The Great Fire of London', our y2's this week printed some 'Tudor' houses.

They used various wooden pieces dipped in black paint.

vehicles

In y1 today we continued drawing vehicles but this time in '3D'. We took it step by step, using squared paper and simple shapes. We drew vans, trucks, buses and cars.

Not bad for 5/6 year olds.

Another painting - 'Derby'.

Possibly City vs Utd. Canvas board, 18 x 24cm, acrylics. £30 (p&p free worldwide) would see this adorning your wall! If interested please comment. Should you wish to commission a footy pic of your favourite team please let me know.

another

Another finished painting. This time a Scottish rugby player in full flight. 

Canvas board, acrylics, 10 x 15cm.

£20 (p&p free worldwide!).

Please comment if you'd like it.

flames

The y2's did a bit of colour mixing today, as a precursor to creating collage pieces that represent the fire of London.

We varied the proportions of red and yellow to get darker and lighter oranges.

Meanwhile, here's one of my paintings from last week, all finished.

It's on canvas board, painted using acrylics and measures 18 x 24cm. If anyone is interested in buying it, £30 would secure (p&p free - anywhere in the world)! Please comment sold.

drawing

Today the y1's continued their topic about toys by doing some observational drawings of toy cars.

They were encouraged to look carefully and draw what they could see.

We did side, front, back and birds eye views and finished with a 3/4 view.

I don't think this 3/4 drawing of a pick up truck is too bad for a 5/6 year old!

Our y4's have also completed their totems.

panda's

Today to finish off their topic about China, the y2's drew panda's. They had a go themselves before being shown a simple way of representing the animals using shapes. You might be able to spot the 'before' pic.

We used pencil first and then switched to felt pen. The latter was chosen to bypass their reluctance to make mistakes - you can't really erase felt pen!

We then progressed on to using brushes and ink. They used the same shapes to again 'draw' their panda's.

Finally we had a go at representing bamboo by altering the strength with which we applied the brush rather than painting outlines and filling them in. I don't think the results were too bad for 6/7 year olds.