A Game of Chess anyone?

This year we began a new class in art. It is a class for those kids who have been coming to art for any length of time and who could perhaps have a step up in independence. The idea was that the children would take more ownership of their work and through some guidance of the teacher - me - they could launch themselves off .

 The chess set was the first project.

 The children could choose their own ideas for board pieces . I suggested a theme might work and so their ideas began to roll. We had the option of using clay, board , wire, waste materials etc to make the pieces. Most chose clay. Two chose board and one chose stones.

 This stone chess set here, was delightful. This child spent his time drawing on bits of paper. We stuck these onto the stones and we then varnished the end product. Just wonderful!

 Themes included Minecraft, fantasy, Trump vs Kim ; the Lord of the Rings

Drawing

 We began this term with an old faithful lesson. Drawing something from nature with a B pencil. 

I teach the kids that come to art, that any kind of B pencil is great to draw with. It is soft ad helps to create those darks and lights we use in art as we create value in our work 

 Value : is one of the 7  elements of art and we find it in all art works. It is the work of light in a photograph or the dark shading that produces the shadow in a drawing. Children are extraordinarily good at creating the extreme dark in a work and some grey lights

 I love these attempts at value.

 Look at the shadow in these works. 

 Noticing value in objects is a tricky thing to do and it is something that needs practice. It is not something we naturally look at when we observe the world around us, yet it is one of the very things that makes our world so interesting.

This is how art tells a story

We began this series with a look at some South African artists who use art to tell great stories. In reality, all art tells a story, some is a little easier to see and understand than others.

These are our attempts.

 We began this lesson by looking at different South African Artists and how their work told a story. We also looked at children's story book illustrations and the like. The children had a chance to tell what they thought was happening in the art.

Each child had to create their own story art . Each work needed to have 

1. animal

2. person

3. some kind of car / bus etc

4. a place where it was all happening

 We used pictures from magazines like National Geo-graphics to create each piece. We cut them out, stuck them onto larger pieces of paper and then we painted them with watercolour paints

 They were stunning.

Art again

Pencil drawing is usually one medium that all children enjoy. To make it simple, we use any kind of B, soft graphite pencil.

This lesson we began by drawing a quick interpretation of one another.

Then..... We had a one minute drawing sketch of the still life.

This was followed by a brief discussion around the elements of art. The children had a good half hour to work on a line and value drawing.

Art in the Community Again.

This Saturday we celebrated our second art exhibition at The Studio. I spent much of the week scattering the art throughout our home and garden. The way I choose to set the work up is to scatter projects and children's work at random. My 2 reasons for this are so the visiting parents and grandparents do not compare and it also encourages visitors to look at each work.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. It began as a windy one and my helper, dear Lily and I had to fight the effects of its gusts.

In the end it was a lovely time where community gathered and shared some tea and yummy eats while enjoying the children's work.

Celebrating oil paint - part 1

This is the very first adventure with oils we have embarked on at The Studio. The main reason is the lengthy drying time that oils take.

However, this is our exhibition term and so I decided it would be a fabulous project to undertake.

These are all work in progress. We are painting giant sweets. The children have explored the shape of these sweets and after washing the canvas with a raw amber in watery form, they set of. 

These works show the vibrant, constant colour that oils prove and the slow nature of the work with oils.

Each work is taking form beautifully and individually.