1000 Colours Blue

Good news - we have just been told that the Arts Council of Wales will fund the '1000 Colours Blue' performance in Castle Gardens square 1st Oct!!!!!

cat

Oriel Bach

Just had response from Oriel Bach in the Mumbles about our planned post card show - they are up for it so it's booked. I am going to sort out the tearing in half cards this week too, due to open Oct 1st!

Catrin

Sea View Primary School Thursday the 19th of May 2011 Day 2

There were less children taking part today as many were off doing other activities, so we worked with years 2, 3,4 which was much easier. We all did some looking exercises and some watercolour painting, not to mention collecting colours for Catrin to mix and then put on her painting.

Sea View Primary School Wednesday the 18th of May 2011Day 1

Today was a muggy start, and a drive up a very dark and dreary Townhill, visibility was about a foot, sea view there was not! We started with the youngest groups and did some 'big draw' story drawing with charcoal and rubbers, all got very messy but just about managed to stay dry. The weather cleared by the time we got to our last class of the day, therefore we were able to do the planned exercises. We used the warm up (finding your viewfinder) then moved on to clip board drawing of horizon lines and on inside to printing the skies. From this the children then coloured in the rest from memory. We are back with Sea View tomorrow so we have been able to leave most of our kit there ready for tomorrow’s classes.

I felt it was easier to work with the younger students, as they were more willing to listen and to contribute ideas and comments. Whereas the older ones were more easily bored with the simplistic activities and slow pace requiring patience that not all had.

We did have some real super stars today, and got help between groups from a number of children, so we would like to say a big thank you to you!

here are some picture from the 1st day:

St Helens Primary School Friday the 13th of May 2011

For our third workshop we went to St Helens Primary where once again a team of four of us alongside Catrin took six classes, from reception to year 6.

Although very windy, the weather stayed dry and we were able to use the playground for both exercises and drawing within groups.

With all the classes today we started with the two looking exercises out in the playground, moving through to initial drawings on paper and then onto postcards. We then moved indoors to cut the postcards, creating templates followed by using paint to print the sky on each. The children very much enjoyed using the paint and the different effects you could get when using both blue and white.

During lunch break and throughout the afternoon Catrin started her painting, the children were both fascinated watching, many asking questions while others played in the van! As the photographs show they had a great time!

All the children seemed to be very engaged with what they were doing, which resulted in some fantastic artwork! Year four were especially well behaved and produced some great postcards.

Emma Simmonds :)

Cila Primary School Thursday the 12th of May 2011

Our Second Workshop was at Cila Primary School, where a team of four of us worked alongside Catrin with pupils aged from just 3 up to 11 years.
It was a lovely sunny day; therefore we were able to use their playground freely :)

With the 2 youngest classes we practiced looking exercises, finding a view finder, and understanding a 360 degree 'looking' angle. They also drew what they could see on their clip boards and following that onto their postcards. Both classes used the oil pastels and were extremely enthusiastic about all the different colours.

After break we had years 3 and 4 and were able to use the clip boards again but this time we concentrated on the children finding the skyline. Continuing this drawing on to their second and third pieces of paper to gain a greater perspective of what they could see and how you could express this onto paper. After, we cut the postcards and used the bottom half 'the land' as a stencil for the child to print, with ink, the sky above.
We had some great effects and the children were amazed at how differently the skies printed each time.
They then from memory drew their skyline back onto the postcard and their land underneath.

We repeated this with years 4, 5 and 6, with the older years applying colour onto their postcards and drawings over the ink which provided a great effect!

During this time Catrin was able to concentrate on her own painting, which we had set up outside under the gazebo. Her influences this particular day were from the beautiful sky clearly visible from the spot in which she was painting. The children were fascinated by the painting and we had a small question and answer time where the children expressed their thoughts about the work.

We had a fantastic day, and I think that the children thoroughly enjoyed the concept and making the artwork.

Emma Simmonds