riverscapes

In y6 on Friday we combined the recent work we've been doing on perspective (tonal & linear) into landscape sketches and small, painted studies.



 

as the clock ticked down

Jenkins was far enough clear of the chasing defenders (chosen not for their speed and quick-thinking but more for their girth and resultant difficulty to get past) to allow himself a moment of composure. 'Stumpy', the Bartholomew's keeper, was well positioned but, as Jenkins noticed , seemed to be slightly off balance. Jenkins steadied himself and let fly with a tremendous right foot shot. 'Stumpy' had it covered or so he thought but as he pushed off with his right foot to effect what he was sure was going to be a spectacular (but fairly routine and comfortable save) his studs got caught in the roughly mown turf. His flailing dive fell short of the balls trajectory and the shot flew past him into the top corner. A moment of silence was quickly followed by a deafening roar as half of the crowd realised that their team was 1-0 up. Jenkins was immediately swallowed up by a sea of red and white as the referee signalled not only the goal but also half time.

 

 

 

 

Jenkins and his team mates trotted off the pitch to the rapturous acclaim of their supporters whilst the Bartholomew's lot marched away to the changing room muttering darkly under their breath and looking menacingly over their shoulders as 'Stumpy' picked himself off the ground and began the long, lonely walk to join them.

 



 

perspective

With y6 yesterday I took them, step by guided step, through the construction of linear perspectives, both 1-point and 2-point. Most of them rose to the very technical challenge and ended up drawing quite presentable images. 

 

 

firemen

The littley's (fs1 aged 3/4) were in town planning mode today. We made buildings and began the 'construction' of our town display - incorporating the theme of  'People Who Help Us'! To that end we made a fire engine (just visible on the left) and drew some of the fire fighting crew. The children carefully followed the step by step instructions and came up with some fantastic illustrations.

 

 

 

 

 

In y3 we continued with some x-stitched bookmarks we began last week (ties in with their Victorian theme). We looked at pics of samplers and then designed our own simple patterns/motifs. The children are becoming quite skilful at sewing, having previously stitched and embroidered Indian Elephants.

 

 



papier mache

FS2 read one of Oliver Jeffers' stories about the boy and his friend the penguin today - 'Up and Down'. We decided to try and re-create one of the illustrations - in semi-relief. We papier mached  a cannon (of the human cannonball variety) and a ring master. Boxes as supports pasted over with one layer of newspaper and a coloured layer of tissue.

 

arctic prints

 

Last week in Y4 we printed some arctic images - using polyprint (polystyrene tile that can be impressed using a pencil) but they didn't turn out as well as we expected. The paint/ink was a bit lumpy despite a good 'rolling' in the inking trays and didn't seem to sit on the tile surface properly.

This week, after they'd had a chance to dry, we thought long and hard how to keep the best bits (some great textures/surface patterns) whilst trying to enhance the original images. We settled on oil pastels and felt pens. Below is the work of one girl who, without any prompting, enhanced her 4 prints of a polar bear using different colours. It was too good an opportunity to miss to point out the similarities between her idea and the work of Andy Warhol. She was really pleased with the outcome.

 

 

 

It also provided a great opportunity to explain that what might at first be considered mistakes and failures (our initial prints) can often be adapted/altered into successful pieces. It really backed up my oft repeated mantra of  'you're allowed to make mistakes'.

 

ps. Over the weekend I sold the last copy of 'A is for Art' in my Etsy shop - but fear not, today I listed some more! Please feel free to browse both of my shops, Etsy & Folksy - just click on the links to the right.

the match - first half

The eagerly anticipated match got underway. The two teams, resplendent in their newly acquired strips (grudgingly supplied by their respective factory owners after they realised that the match was to be featured by the local press) got to grips straight away. The colours of the strips were, incidentally, decided on after some forceful input by the  owner's wives. Both of them fancied themselves as the last arbiters of good taste hereabouts.

Neither side was dominant in the early stages. Both sets of lads were eager to show off their finely honed break-time skills and some quite promising moves were only just stopped by some ruthless, fearsome, crunching but fair (ish) tackles.

 

 

Ink & pencil crayon on paper

Both sets of supporters loudly cheered on their teams and exhorted them to greater and greater efforts - too much of many a wage packet rested on the final outcome. Most of the action took place in the centre of the pitch and neither goalie was unduly troubled. In fact the Bartholomew's keeper, 'Stumpy' Williams (so-called because of an unfortunate accident with a spindle-whittling machine) took the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with some young ladies behind his goal. All was frenetic in the midfield until Jenkins (junior apprentice spittle mopper-upper, ) broke clear and homed in on the Bartholomew's goal. 'Stumpy' hurriedly, but politely (having a notion of continuing the liaisons later in The Feathers), excused himself from the conversations and faced the onrushing lad.....