Indigo Class worked in ceramics this week, creating our own clay models inspired by the ceramic sculptures we saw at the ESCartists exhibition at Stamford Arts Centre (see photos). We learned how to join two pieces of clay firmly, and practised using various tools to create shapes and textures in our work.
This week we experimented with different types of watercolour paint. We identified the various colours that come in a standard watercolour tin and were shown how to pick up a good amount of pigment on our brushes in order to achieve a strong, bright colour. We then talked about the use of water to alter the tone of our chosen colour, and practised painting graduated washes in our sketchbooks. Each class then created a watercolour painting using the techniques we’d practised.
Our Reception and Year 1 and 2 artists investigated the wax resist technique. We drew ‘secret pictures’ using a candle and then painted Brusho over the top to reveal them. We really enjoyed this activity! We then discussed the work of German artist Wolf Kahn (see example below) and created our own versions of his tree paintings using oil pastels and watercolour wash.
The Year 3 and 4 groups also experimented with wax resist, and practised blending washes of different colours together to create a sunset painting. We added details in silhouette using a tiny brush and black watercolour.
Our Year 5 and 6 groups built on their colour mixing skills from previous sessions to create a variety of different colours and tones. We discussed the paintings of Expressionist artist Paul Klee and created our own paintings in response to his ‘Cosmic Composition’ (see photos). Our backgrounds were created by painting patches of the different colours we’d mixed, and we aimed to vary the tone within each patch. We then added details over the top using a fine brush.
We were excited to have our work featured in this month’s I’d Rather Be In Deeping magazine! It was a lovely way to celebrate all the fantastic work our students created during Term 1.
We will be having an exhibition at Black Cab Picture Framing and Gallery (see links page) just before Christmas to showcase this term’s work!
This week our Arts Award artists in Indigo Class had a go at some very fishy printing! We are doing some printmaking based on the work of Nicola Elstone, one of the artists we saw last week at the ESCartists exhibition at Stamford Arts Centre. Some of Nicola’s linocut designs featured fish, so we decided to start off by printing from real fish! It was good fun, though it did make the studio smell a little strange…
We then worked on some designs for our own fish-inspired linocuts. We practised using tools to cut into the lino- quite a tricky job! Next week we’ll be cutting our finished designs into the lino ready to print from.
This week was all about developing our knowledge of colour mixing. We identified the primary colours, and then mixed two of them together to create a secondary colour. We recorded these in our sketchbooks in the form of a simple colour wheel, for future reference. Each group then went on to create a painting that showcased our new colour mixing skills!
Our Reception, Year 1 and 2 students created paintings of flowers. We mixed our own secondary colours and then used the primaries and secondaries (except for green) to paint flowers on our paper. We then moved on to green, and were challenged to mix lots of different kinds of green for the background by varying the proportions of blue and yellow that we used. Our paintings looked very vibrant!
The Year 3 and 4 classes worked on creating a range of different versions of the secondary colours. We recorded the results of our colour mixing experiments in our sketchbooks, then painted an abstract portrait using two different groups of secondary colours. We’re going to add the features next week!
Our Year 5 and 6 artists recorded some different versions of secondary colours in their sketchbooks and then worked on a variegated background, gradually changing one primary colour into another by adding small amounts of colour at a time. We got some great results and will be using them next week in a collage activity.
We’ve seen some wonderful creativity (and made quite a lot of mess) at the studio this week for our half term workshops! Have a look at what we’ve been up to… (Please click on an image to enlarge.)
We responded to a variety of pieces of music, initially using oil pastels, then progressing to Brusho paints. We followed the rhythm with our brushes, allowing the music to suggest different marks and shapes to us. We then used our abstract painting as a background for a silhouetted image inspired by the patterns and colours we’d created. We had some beautiful results!
We had great fun making bubble prints in primary and secondary colours, and managed to decorate our faces too in the process! We also did some blow painting, creating some fantastic autumn trees and abstract patterns.
Some brilliant boats, made entirely from paper, glue and a little bit of string!
Another messy workshop! We used willow withies held in place with masking tape to form a dome shape. The willow was freshly cut so it was nice and pliable! Once we’d finished the basic structure, we covered it in a layer of wet strength tissue paper dipped in a diluted PVA glue mix. We then added pieces of coloured tissue paper to create our designs.
Even more fun with PVA glue! We went through several stages to create these abstract designs using textiles. Firstly, we made some rubbings of textured surfaces onto pieces of cotton using oil pastels. We then added Brusho over the top, before laying our work onto a board covered in thick PVA glue. We manipulated the fabric by pinching, pushing, pulling and twisting it into the desired form. We then wrapped strips of patterned fabric around a cardboard frame, adding embellishments before attaching the frame to our artwork. The results were fantastic!
We made some sparkly hanging decorations by arranging sequins, glitter and other bits and pieces between layers of sticky back plastic and acetate. We also created a square frame (with a star shaped aperture!) for our miniature watercolour paintings. Our decorations will look lovely hanging in the window to sparkle in the sun!
Well done to everyone who attended workshops this week- you all worked brilliantly and created fabulous artwork! We look forward to seeing you again soon 🙂
This week was all about learning to look in detail at our subject, developing the relationship between what our eyes are seeing and what our hands are drawing.
Turquoise class began by describing some of the objects we were looking at in last week’s texture lesson. We discussed the colours, textures, shapes and patterns found within the objects in as much detail as we could. We then drew a bike from memory in our sketch books- a really tricky challenge! After that we investigated the shapes and textures of a real bike, before having another go at drawing the bike. This time we had the bike in front of us and, using our new detailed looking skills, our drawings were much more realistic and full of detail.
Magenta and Violet classes warmed up for looking carefully by comparing a selection of objects in front of us. We described each one, both as a stand alone object and in relation to the other objects- for example, the marker pen was longer but narrower than the chalk. We drew a quick freehand outline of each object in our sketchbooks, concentrating on getting the proportions right in comparison to the others. We then did the bike drawing challenge- again, our second drawings after looking at and discussing the bike in detail showed a huge improvement.
Emerald class began with an exercise in slowing down our looking and drawing. We held up our hand and spent some time letting our eyes travel around the outline of our hand, as slowly as we could. We then repeated this but drew the outline at the same time (without being allowed to look at the paper!) This helps to develop the relationship between what the eyes and hands are doing. We practised the Look-Hold-Draw technique too, which involves looking at a specific part of the object, holding that shape in your mind, then drawing it. We used a combination of the techniques we’d practised, plus our knowledge of showing line, tone and texture, to complete a drawing of our shoes.
Last week we ran three days of workshops, which was a lovely way to launch classes in the studio! On Monday 22nd August there was a workshop based on Ellie’s picture book, Follow Me, and a ceramic painting class. We even had some two year old artists joining in with the creativity!
On Tuesday 23rd August it was the turn of Ellie’s picture book Copycat Bear, plus some fabulous printmaking.
Finally on Wednesday 24th August we designed some lovely birds based on Ellie’s first book, Birdsong, and then visiting artist Craig Pattrick showed us how to create our own plasticine characters.
You can see some of Craig’s work on his website, Craig Pattrick Illustration
A big thank you to all the young artists who participated in our summer workshops- we look forward to seeing you again some time!
Today was the Art Stars Open Day! After a rather rainy start to the day, it brightened up and we had a really lovely afternoon. We had free art activities and an exhibition of local children’s art work as part of Peterborough Artists’ Open Studios. The children’s work got lots of really lovely feedback from visitors, and we even had star and paintbrush themed cupcakes (courtesy of Ellie’s mum!)
We held an art workshop at the Deepings Carnival on Sunday 3rd July, where children were encouraged to decorate a star to add to our mini exhibition. We had some really creative and colourful additions!
Artivity 