Managed to do a bit of sketching with Y4 today. Showed them some easy ways to draw recognisable images of dinosaurs. Nothing too specific, but a simple framework that can be adapted and altered as appropriate.
Today at school we celebrated 'Black History'. In art we looked at the work of noted artists, namely Stephen Wiltshire and the indigenous people of Australia. We attempted to work in the style of Stephen by looking at an aerial view (of Venice) and then trying to draw it from memory in as much detail as possible. Not the same as actually being there I know, but when you've only got 50 minutes to introduce, undertake and then evaluate the activity, its the only viable option. With regard to Aboriginal art, we looked at examples and then tried to paint in a similar way. We used previously 'textured' paper to represent rock/bark and used our finger tips to apply the paint.
In Y4 we have just completed a science unit about moving and growing. As an assessment activity I decided to get them to print, in as much detail as possible, human skeletons. This is what one girl produced which, I think, clearly shows an understanding of how the skeleton changes as we grow.
We used white paint, cut-down lollipop sticks and finger tips!
I recently cobbled together a few bits of wood and painted it up using acrylics in the style of a Kokeshi doll. The hair was made from Fimo but didn't turn out exactly as I wanted. It stands around 12cm tall.
Today just showed Y4 how to do a wash, which we then overpainted with simple, representational images of animals. Turned out in very much a naive/folk art style.
Y3 have been studying the Romans. We made semi-relief sculptures from air-drying clay, painted them when dry, and today mounted and displayed them against a wax-rubbed (over a card block) background depicting Celtic warriors.