So Long

It's been so long since I've posted and I'm saying so long too! Does "so long" mean goodbye in other parts of the world? It does here! I really enjoyed blogging about the great art kids were doing here on the Central Coast, but I became a bit distracted with my own three bundles of joy and also I started painting regularly myself. This has become my main creative outlet and I'm really enjoying it. I've included some of my paintings below to give anyone interested an idea of what I'm chasing... If you like what you see and you don't mind Instagram, you can always see more @_joe.hall_ I will keep checking in here with the art teaching blogosphere to keep inspired for my days at school, I'm always so impressed with both the teaching and what kids are capable of. All the best - Joe : )

Scratch Art UFOs

I still remember a large mural my own class made with this technique when I was around this age - approximately 30 years ago now! : o 

It was super exciting for me and I'm pretty sure these students were equally as excited. I think our class made stars and planets back then, but this lesson was inspired by a Mambo t-shirt of mine featuring some kind of electric guitar playing, rock 'n' roll alien. It was descending from a flying saucer with the caption "Planet Rock!" So I showed this year one class my much loved and well worn shirt and we also looked at some other UFO illustrations.

We spent a full lesson with each student covering their paper in flouro oil pastels - just scribbling thickly everywhere with no deliberate structure. Then they completely painted over this twice with black acrylic paint. Once these were dry everyone was armed with a toothpick and then scratch drew their own UFO scene. It's worth noting the friendly looking aliens they have imagined : )

Plant Life Monoprints

Year 1 made these colourful hexaptychs for the Umina Beach Art Show we held in late August. And yes "hexaptych" is a thing (six panels) – just don't ask me how to pronounce it! 

Each student painted directly onto a piece of board and then scratch-drew their plant inspired image into the wet paint using the wooden tip of their paintbrush. Next the paper was carefully laid onto the paint, lightly smoothed and then peeled off to reveal their monoprint. The process was repeated a number of times and their 6 best prints were chosen for display at the art show. In the past I've done a similar lesson with kindergarten where we made fingerpainted prints, you can see it here.

Art Show

If you're in the area this weekend (Aug 27 & 28), pop in to see and even buy some great art by the students of Umina Beach Primary School and many local artists. All money raised will help purchase more art resources and materials for the school. Open Saturday and Sunday 10am -3pm.

Marcos Masks

A favourite year 5 class made these striking masks around 2 years ago, I'm more than a little late posting – and yes, I did just say favourite! ; )

We began with pencil, then used permanent markers and finished with some water colours. The masks are inspired by a Hallmark greeting card illustrator named Marcos Roman. I know this because I pretty much verbatim, used Don's excellent lesson on his always inspiring blog Shine Brite Zamorano.

Vertical Landscapes

Year one made these vertical landscapes in three steps. Initially I led a guided drawing lesson in pencil. Next, the students traced their "good" lines with black markers and did a little erasing. Finally they coloured them any way they chose with watercolour paint.

We had just completed a science unit of work about landscapes, and it seemed only appropriate to attempt this classic art form. I took inspiration from one of Kathy Barbro's many fine lessons on Art Projects For Kids. For any eagle eyes out there, please ignore the missing comma on the class display text!

A New Addition

One very proud dad right here.

I will post some art again one of these days too!

Kandinsky on Computer

Inspired by Kandinsky. Created by year 3 students. This collection is the final in a short series, the original post including more context can be found here.

Newspaper Sculpture

Newspaper sculptures courtesy of year 5 in the final week of school last year. Inspired by my previous Geometric Sculpture post. I might have art directed the bottom left one a little more than the others... They all looked great and were a really effective collaborative task.

Manly Pop

Year 5 sketched their “manly” men (beards, goatees, moustaches etc!) in lead pencil and then charcoal. We used watercolour paint to add the “pop” by finishing with a single-colour background and another t-shirt colour. The effect is reminiscent of one of Warhol’s Marilyn prints, but obviously a lot more manly : ) 

I really like these, and they looked pretty rad on the back wall. You can see my previous Manly Men post courtesy of Year 1 here (sans the pop background).