Birds of a feather

 This was one of my absolutely favourite art classes this term. We created paper mache birds by using plastic bottles filled with some sand to stabilise them. Then we  created a bird base shape using tin foil and or paper and masking tape. The children used many pictures of different birds as inspiration for their creation.

 This project spanned two weeks as the first bit was the messy papermache  bit and then the second was the painting the bird bit.

 The end product was simply beautiful.

A collection of art

I am writing a post on this year of art at The Studio. 

I am going to try an give a broad brushstroke picture of this year with the children.

we Began with a pencil drawing of wooden toys. I love to offer children an opportunity to draw something that they might not have drawn before. It really means that they have to look very carefully at the object.

These are some of our upside down drawings! They are absolutely delightful.

We have continued to focus on the 7 elements of art and especially using line and value.

These children range from 6 and 7 to 14 years old.

I have so enjoyed sharing pencil drawings with them:)

"Never" art

Never Poems

Here are some of the Never Poems the children wrote in art class this week. They are simply delightful!

Never look at your food before you eat it,

otherwise you will not eat it.

Never look at a Nargol

because they will steal your shoes and put them in strange places,

like high up in a tree or some place where you have to climb to get it. They tie your shoe laces to the high places.

Never eat a blue carrot before supper,

or you will turn into a blue apple.

Never eat a bug

it will taste like very old jelly,

smashy and horrible

Never drop a blue shoe with a red lolly pop down the loo,

because it will fly!

Never pick a red flower because the next thing you will see is a bull chasing you 

ah, oh, oh

Never pull Daddy's tie,

because you will get a smack!

And your dad will get angry

and mad.

Never follow a snail to nowhere

It may take you through a world of imaginary 

colours, shapes and other things

Never eat a shoe

It could be stinky

It could be hard

Never look into a cyclops eye

It will suck you up and leave you to die

You may wonder how to get out?But the thing to ponder is why you ever had a doubt on the words of a trout

Never cut your finger off

cut and bleeding you will feel like a clote

your yell will send the birds flying

finger cut they will be crying

off with your finger it will feel like dying

Never pour hot steel on yourself

It will make you very hot and perhaps it will make you so hot

Then you will go to water to make you cold again

Never go as slow as a sloth

Ill tell you why

because algae will grow on you

Never pick up a snake for bait or it will make you a fish cake

Never sit on a spinning top when it is spinning around

Because you will get flung into the sea

far, far away!

Never eat cupcake mixture

because it sticks and you will NEVER get if off

Never take a bite of an old kangaroo

because it might get angry at you

and then it might kick you away

get you knocked out and never see the light of day

Never jump off the moon

never speak to Mrs Loon

Never ride on an old Rangoon

never eat a spotted prune

Never sit on a frog

Never shout at a mouse

Never sit on a bear

Never touch a dog!

you should not sit on a dog

because you would pass away

you shouldn't sit on a frog!

Never sit on a pin cushion

Without your grans permission

but of course she will not tell you too

unless she likes to pick pins out of you

Never pick up poo

because it will put a spell on you!

You might be thinking to yourself what do these amazing , weird poems have to do with art? 

Well, we used them to in our art with pastels and shape and warm/ cold colours.

It was a great lesson, one that shared language and art. 

Art Exhibition 1

 Welcome to our very first art exhibition at Art@TheStudio. 

We held it in our garden on a cloudy, almost rainy day. 

It was a community affair.

Parents, grannies, aunties and siblings from all different environments shared life.

 So many things conspired against us! Our lights failed in the art room and so I had to display outside. The weather was rather tricky and threatended to rain on and off. I was so fixed on the art exhibition that I failed to consider the number of people who might turn up. I have 45 children in art and so if you do the maths....

 Having said all that...... and

 I spent the good part of the day setting up the pictures. I decided to randomly put them together .

 This meant that the art children had to search and enjoy as they searched.

 It was a joy to host this successful event.

 It created an opportunity for children to share with parents and families to enjoy time together.

Would I do it again?

Yes!