Another 'new' word?

Am hereby claiming another 'new' word/phrase - 'mathARTmatical drawings'! (No results found on google!!). It's as it says on the tin - drawings created from numbers and other mathematical symbols. I know that many folk use such things to create images but most of them then seem to draw over/obliterate their original starting point. My pics incorporate the numbers as part of the final piece. In fact, I've also written (and illustrated) a couple of books that use this concept - 'Once Upon a Nine' and 'The 9 Days of Christmas'.

J is for...Jedi

Today's alphARTbet drawings should, hopefully, be recognisable to Star Wars fans.

alphARTbet drawings

Long time no post! It's been a hectic year what with one thing or another but have come back to blogland to 'register' a new word - alphARTbet !
The premise is that any object (incl animals) can be drawn by using its initial letter as a starting point. For instance you can draw a rabbit by beginning with the letter 'R' or a mouse with the letter 'm' or even a bike with a 'b'! This concept is great for phonics awareness in young children as well as being a nifty way of doodling recognisable images. I'll be posting more (incl. images) on my facebook page as that's where a lot of folk seem to head these days - see you there.

New book!

My newest book, 'The Gingerbread Man' is now out!
You can grab a copy in time for Xmas by following this link;

http://www.thecepress.com/product/the-gingerbread-man/

YAY!

Just heard that my book - 'Little Red Riding Hood....' Has made it through to the finals of the People's Book Prize!
Very many thanks to anyone who voted for it.

NEWS!

Sorry for the scarcity of posts of late - have been extremely busy with lots of exciting new projects - more news to follow.
The big news is that my book 'Little Red Riding Hood...' has been shortlisted for an award! I would really appreciate it if you would consider voting for it.







http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/book.php?id=1437




Many thanks.

recent work

Managed to find some time to explore variations on a theme. Instead of full colour paintings/drawings, I tried to strip them back to a bare minimum, using colour for the backgrounds only. Particularly like the skateboarder.

masks & swimmers

Long time no post - it's report writing and end of year assessment time!
A couple of recent projects.
'African' masks with our y2's - simple symmetrical card cutouts.

And automaton swimmers with y4's.

When you blow through a straw along its back, the arms 'flail' around! (the head acts as a turbine).

new ebook

https://www.amazon.co.uk/P-U-nC-S-Deletors-return-John-Fidler-ebook/dp/B01GYU9HJY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1465845304&sr=8-4&keywords=john+fidler

Have just 'published' the 2nd book in the series. 

Still waiting for those Hollywood agents to option the film rights!

another peg

Managed to find time, using another vintage peg, to create an automaton! As the handle is turned the figure goes up and down - he's supposed to be a swimmer. Not sure whether to add paint or just leave alone.

dolls and books

A couple of weeks ago I managed to find some vintage wooden pegs at a flea market.
Have just got round to making one up as a peg doll. The arms are jointed using vintage buttons and hand-made string. The wooden heart covers a hole but thinking about it now I could have left it and called this a 'broken-hearted' doll.

The reason it's taken a couple of weeks to whittle this is because I've been busy publishing again!
This time I've gone all ebook and have put a children's book into the kindle store on Amazon. It only went live yesterday but already has begun to sell. Its the first in what I intend to be a series that can stand alone as fiction books or be used in a classroom to spark an interest and enthusiasm for grammar and punctuation! Please feel free to check it out;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/P-U-nC-S-Saviours-punctuation-John-Fidler-ebook/dp/B01FPLZK8K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463412374&sr=8-2&keywords=john+fidler

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.

shed

Over the Easter hols I managed, in between the rain showers, to not only put a base down but also to erect a shed on it!

Feeling quite pleased - especially as the shed came as a kit of a million parts!

recent

Our y1's have been studying the Queen - so we created new palaces for her! We made them in the form of a pop-up with the possible idea of posting them off to her!

 Our y6's have been studying the Shang Dynasty (Ancient China) and have carefully, over a number of weeks(!), made full-size replicas of bronze ceremonial vessels out of papier mache over card armatures. We tried to add an authentic patination using pastels. (nb. bronze contains copper and so over time goes a greeny colour).

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.

steady as she goes

Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma...(etc) is continuing to sell steadily. The publisher has recently sent out some review copies so hopefully we might get one or two positive responses.


If you still haven't got your copy yet, head on over to;


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Riding-Hood-Grandma-Woodcutter/dp/0993200095/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1455205926&sr=8-15&keywords=Little+red+riding+hood

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.

pugilists

A bit of spare time - so painted up a quick pic of boxers (based on the previous sketches).
18x20cm, acrylics + ink, on paper.

recent

Some more sketches in the 'new' style. Boxers this time! Am liking the semi-abstract nature of this style and really fancy doing some large (1m+) paintings just to see how they turn out.

the Vikings are coming!

The y5's have completed their Viking longship sculptures. The hulls are made from terracotta clay - using the coil method, which simulates the wooden planking. The mast and spars are wood (dowel & lollipop stick) whilst the sail is a piece of cotton. They even made some crew members from short lengths of paper dowel. Size? About 15cm stem to stern.