inspecting the small

Stratford School Academy: Y7 Impasto

2012-01-13T14:23:00.006Z

Muffazil creating ice scenes.

Afzal working like Howard Hodgkin.

Stratford School Academy: Y8 Seeing the See-Through

2011-09-21T12:25:00.005+01:00

What shapes do we see? That's all this is; shape.

How many colours do we see? That's all these are; colours.

STRATFORD: Y7 Distorted Portraits

2010-11-17T08:47:00.004Z

STRATFORD: Y9 - Decorative Print project

2010-04-11T15:50:00.003+01:00

STRATFORD: Y11 - ABSTRACT, HENRY MOORE Development

2010-03-26T18:38:00.002Z

Y11 student Ajay's work (experiment/development).

Looking at the work of Henry Moore.

STRATFORD: Y8 - PERSPECTIVE PROJECT

2010-03-26T18:32:00.003Z

STRATFORD: Y11 - ABSTRACT, HENRY MOORE

2010-02-03T18:49:00.007Z

Exploring light and darkness in abstract work. Inspired by sculptor, Henry Moore.

STRATFORD: Y11 - Portraits and Expressions

2010-01-20T23:00:00.003Z

With 5 months until the end of his Art GCSE, Ashraf is looking at the work of BP Portrait artist, Matt Batt.

STRATFORD: Y11 - Continuous Line and Seurat style sketches

2010-01-20T22:27:00.009Z

STRATFORD: Y9 - Colour Mixing

2010-01-11T18:53:00.003Z

Capturing the colour and light in the work of Andre Derain.

GCSE Sketching/Drawing

2009-10-21T13:00:00.007+01:00

SURFACES: GCSE natural world

2009-10-21T12:39:00.003+01:00

SURFACES: GCSE portraiture work

2009-10-21T12:16:00.004+01:00

Clay Work - Y8: Swanlea School

2009-10-15T14:50:00.002+01:00

Year 8 students producing some remarkably mature, insightful clay work.

Penny Porridge Pot: Using Photoshop (Alex Donohoe)

2009-10-15T14:29:00.003+01:00

Penny Porridge Pot sketches

Importing image into Photoshop, and filling with colour

Filling image with subtle depth

Illustrating different uses of background tool in Photoshop

Playing around with skin tones

Graphics Work - Using the Interactive White Board at Grey Coat School

2009-10-15T14:04:00.002+01:00

The empty room, pre-arrival.

Putting life in perspective. Y8 students draw it like it is.

Using the IWB (Interactive White Board) as a teaching tool

Everyone gets a go. Great tool for breaking down barriers.

Graphics Work - Pop-up Books: Grey Coat School

2009-10-15T13:43:00.004+01:00

KS4: Pop-up books project

You have been commissioned by a large publishing house to produce an imaginative, dynamic book which has moveable parts. The book must provide information on a topic of your choice, and can be in the form of a step-by-step guide. You must clearly identify your target market. You are required to produce a fully functioning prototype of the book as well as a comprehensive design folder to support the product. You must consider:

Manufacturing in quantity

Use of CAD/CAM

Printing methods

Professional page layouts

Book construction methods

Typefaces and fonts

Mechanisms eg. Levers and linkages

EXPLORING MECHANISMS

PRODUCT ANALYSIS

BRIEF ANALYSIS

Mechanisms research

Textiles Work - The Big Issues: Grey Coat School

2009-10-15T13:28:00.004+01:00

The Big Issues, KS3: Recycling in Design

The following pieces of work were produced after 2 weeks of planning, design and debate.

Spent one double lesson in the woodwork room (with sewing machines).

Inside out 'gloves' created from an old jumper.

Although not aesthetically pleasing, still wonderfully rustic.

You can see where it's originated from, and that's why we enjoyed it.

Boring black t-shirt in the morning; recycled and fun by the afternoon.

Dad's t-shirt (permission granted), now a mobile phone / wallet case.

These were once pyjamas.

Mum's old fleece. Mum didn't like it. Now a cat cushion and bag.

Mum and daughter drank 3 Capri Sun's each the night before the lesson.

Graphics Work - Sushi Packaging: Grey Coat School

2009-10-15T12:57:00.005+01:00

Scheme of Work: Sushi Packaging, KS4

Using fine liners, thin brush and water to give depth to illustrations

You have been commissioned by a Japanese restaurant to design takeaway packaging and a menu. The packaging must contain 6 sushi rolls, each roll is 40mm in diameter. The surface graphics should reflect Japanese culture and include the name of the restaurant ‘So Sushi’. The company is particularly concerned with environmental issues which should be taken into account when choosing materials, size and amount of packaging.

Y10 students produced:

A design folder

A prototype package suitable for batch production

A menu design using Photoshop

Initial ideas being put into practice

Using simple origami techniques to create containers

Loose graphic sketches to illustrate design layout

Each page meticulously stylized to encourage individuality. Ownership of work.

Novel idea for packaging handles

Complex origami techniques mastered over a double lesson

Another example of the above

Stripes?

2009-07-16T08:23:00.002+01:00

Oliver Jeffers

2009-07-08T12:08:00.010+01:00

Coffee Ring 1

Coffee Ring 2

Coffee Ring 3

Coffee Ring 4

'Whatever their dreams, help them get there'

Advertising campaign for the Irish Times.

Places that begin with B (painted on a suitcase)

Snowden's Secret, Part 2

Snowden's Secret, Part 1

BP Portrait 2009

2009-07-08T10:07:00.012+01:00

Mother, by William Wright

Francis, by Mieke Teirlinck

Broken Heart, Donald McDonald

Debs, by Matt Batt

Grandmother, by SACRIS

Self Portrait, Daniel González Coves

Iris, by Clare Drummond

Imagine, by Jose Luis Corella

Lindsey, by Peter Jameson

Tom, by Michael Gaskell

Changeling, Peter Monkman

Georgie, byMary-Jane Ansell

SEURAT SKETCHBOOK

2009-05-19T15:22:00.002+01:00

This link will take you inside Geroge Seaurat's sketchbook.

Georges Seurat: The Drawings (from an exhibition between October 28, 2007-January 7, 2008)

Once described as “the most beautiful painter’s drawings in existence,” Georges Seurat’s mysterious and luminous works on paper played a crucial role in his career. Though Seurat is most often remembered as a Neo-Impressionist, the inventor of pointillism, and the creator of the painting,A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, his incomparable drawings are among his–and modernism’s–greatest achievements. Working primarily with conté crayon on paper, Seurat explored the Parisian metropolis and its environs, abstracted figures, spaces, and structures, and dramatized the relationship between light and shadow, creating a distinct body of work that is a touchstone for the art of the twentieth century and today.

LAND ART

2009-05-19T14:52:00.014+01:00

Here you can see parts of a "triptych of temporary structures: waveforms marking three successive points on the predicted line of coastal retreat over the next hundred years" (quoted from National Trust leaflet: "Red Earth: Long Shore Drift", late summer 2008)

In 2008, I went to see The Storm Surge in Dunwich, Suffolk. Three vast sculptures towering over the yellow gorse. Thick guy ropes pulling the tension into and out of the twisted birch.

The Modernist perception of beauty is found in grids, in unity, and in mathematical symmetry. Is Andy Goldsworthy's work Modernist?

How do you create a circle using straight lines?
The parallels between Mondrian and Goldsworthy's work, though created and deconstructed from entirely different medium, illustrate the ether of land art.

These works show a high spirited commitment to function and unity. There is a true beauty in order.

Culture Meeting in Nature. Jorn Hansen, 2001

Displaced Egg, Max Nowell: Westmorland green slate. 7 feet tall.

The Neuberger Cairn, Andy Goldsworthy, 2001

San People. Rock Art, 400AD

Andy Goldsworthy, 2000

Cooling Towers in Soweto. There's an FNB Bank advert on one, and scenes from township life (plus Madonna and Child) on the other.

...while in our green and pleasant land we have this news bulletin from the BBC. The Tinsley Towers demolition in August, 2008. (Featured in The Big Art, Channel 4).

A DEFIANT FIGURE OF THE NORTHBOUND TOWER POINTING JAGGEDLY IN THE SKY.

In October 2005 Channel 4 asked the nation to get involved in the Big Art Project. The response was overwhelming – over 1,400 members of the public across the UK said they wanted some art for their communities and proposed a site.
The Big Art selection team tackled the huge task of working out which of those sites should go forward.

Selection was based on a list of practical criteria, including:
planning and political support
aesthetic and educational potential
funding availability
the range of art that might be possible
enthusiasm and flexibility of the nominating community
achievability within the time-frame
the potential to maximise public access to the commissioning process and the final art work.

The programme is currently in its fourth year and is being shown on Channel 4, Sundays, 7pm.

BIRDS

2009-05-19T14:14:00.009+01:00

Lunar Bird, Joan Miro, 1945

Woman and Bird Before the Moon, 1944, Joan Miro

Taken from How To Draw A Cartoon Bird.

It is your decision, aptitude aside, how intense or abstract, the detail it is you choose to include. If you can draw shapes, you can draw anything you wish. It is up to you how you want it to look. You don't have to use cross hatching to shade an object and you don't have to use scissors to cut paper. It just so happens these skills aid eye to hand coordination. Once learnt, you can't un-learn them.

Quentin Blake's take on birds. The feathered kind.

Flying parrot with a pen clasped in his feet. Pen, ink and watercolour on Arches paper, Quentin Blake, 2003.

Darwin's Rhea, John Gould, 1841

This diagram of the skulls of different pigeon breeds is from Charles Darwin's Variation of Plants and Animals Under Domestication.

PORTRAITS AND EXPRESSIONS II

2009-05-19T09:50:00.025+01:00

Examples of similar portrait techniques, produced (in some cases) 500 years apart

The Smudge Tool spreads and mixes content of image areas, (c. 2000).

This album is often referred to as Melt due to its cover photograph by Storm Thorgerson.
The photo was taken with a Polaroid SX-70 instant camera, and subsequently modified by Thorgerson or Gabriel. (Thorgerson does not recall whether he or Gabriel manipulated the image.) (1980)

Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gates of Paradise, 1403

Juan Muñoz, Two Seated on the Wall, 2000

Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986.

Banksy, Self-Portrait, 2007.

Addison Scurlock, Family Portrait, 1925

Liz Shaking Fist at Ray, Richard Billingham, 1995

Myra, Marcus Harvey, 1995, Acrylic on canvas
The image has gone from being an image in the press, to being a painting and then back into the press again.

Anne-Karin Furunes, Unknown from Archive, 2003.
Furunes perforates the surface of black or white canvas or unpainted aluminum with hundreds of handmade holes.

Cries Of London, 1996, Grayson Perry

Moche Ceramic Portrait, 1400, Larco Museum Collection

Albrecht Durer, Self-portrait, 1500

Zuzana in Paris Studio (acrylic on wooden board, 1300 x 1100mm), Hynek Martinec, 2007.
Check out his drawings here. Don't let anyone tell you this style of painting isn't clever. It's very clever. What a wonderful feeling to gasp at a piece of Art. Likewise below, and for different reasons.
A close up.

Shahnoza, pole dancer, 2006 (Vinyl on wooden stretcher), Julian Opie

Look above and below. Delicious mouths. Confident, deep creased line creating illusion of that biteable soft bottom lip.

Gilbert Stuart, Portrait of George Washington c.1796

Double Self-Portrait, Egon Schiele, 1915.

Triple portrait of King Charles, Anthony van Dyck

"The aim of Art is to present not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance; for this, not the external manner and detail, constitutes true reality."
Aristotle

"If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it."
Andy Warhol

"I can't believe you morons actually buy this shit".
Banksy

"There are only two styles of portrait painting: the serious and the smirk."
Charles Dickens

"I loathe my own face, and I've done self-portraits because I've had nobody else to do."
Francis Bacon

FAMILY: miscellaneous

2009-03-08T14:42:00.006Z

My Nanny Rik (real name Henriette Adrienne Klijn) would coo this warning every time we left her place. This image was taken in Kalk Bay, Cape Town. A wonderful little place by the sea. Nik nak shops, tumbling gardens toppling the brickwork, wrought iron twisted through reclaimed floorboards.

THE QUEEN'S BDAY

2009-03-08T14:32:00.004Z

Happy birthday dear Liz (x 4)

ART: The Big Draw, Bethnal Green, London

2009-03-04T16:02:00.004Z

THE BIG DRAW: Bethnal Green, London, 2007 - www.thebigdraw.org.uk

Just up the road for me and throughout the whole of October every year.

Hundreds of little people running around the gardens with polyblock pieces and rollers in small hands. The five images below are based around an idea by Gavin Turk.

A little volunteer helps out.

Kids get measured.
Kids then colour in, using charcoal.

At the side of the stage hung ceremonial military uniforms. Everyone got to try on the bearskins. The standard bearskin of the British Foot Guards is 18" tall, weighs 1.5 pounds and is made from the fur of the Canadian Brown Bear - and is dyed black.

This is a great idea for a SoW to encourage teamwork. Great for cross curricular with History.

PORTRAITS AND EXPRESSIONS

2009-03-02T17:16:00.009Z

Sleeveface: "One or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion."

WIRE PORTRAITS

Wire portrait of Elena.

Lamp, A2 paper, pencil, chicken wire, wire cutters, masking tape

Model sits in front of wall with a lamp shining onto their face - aim to get the silhouette fitting into the A2 dimensions. Tape a piece of A2 up behind the shadow and draw around the shadow in pencil while your model sits still.

Once done, cut 1m lengths of chicken wire and stick down the beginning of the wire to the start of the pencil line. As you mold your way around the portrait circumference, you will need to tape down the wire to stop it shifting.

Think about the continuous line. The eye can't sit in space, it needs to join itself into the profile. Have fun with the hair. Twisting and turning and bunching and bending.

If this is part of a group project it should take two lessons. Once completed, suspend each wire portrait from the ceiling (white sewing thread and plenty of blutac). With the lights off, turn on a few direction lamps, move around until happy as Larry (ask Larry if he's happy) and start taking photographs.

Wonderful shadows emerge.

You could also create continuous line drawings from the collective pieces.

A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant.

If the SoW brief is Portraits, where do you start? What does your face say about you? If 100 people who didn't know you, looked at a photograph of your face, what would they think about you? What do you want them to think? What's your best feature? What are your character traits? Write 5 of them and get a friend to write another 5. In this section, we will look at different portraiture techniques. Below are a few examples taken on the same day, of my silly old face.

CLOSE-UP OF EYES

Take a digital photograph of one of your eyes using digi macro. Make sure the light is good. Print it out and when copying it out onto a piece of A3, look carefully at every single crease. You may click on my eye, enlarge it and print it - but please, please, please - do include every single wrinkle.

COMMISSIONED PAINTINGS

2009-03-02T16:53:00.002Z

During 2004/5 happened to sell a few paintings. The first exhibition ran for 4 weeks at Joogleberry Playhouse, Brighton. Police were on the scene within the 1st week as my 4' x 4' Morrissey painting got nicked. How can you STEAL a painting that big? Gutted but flattered.

Oscar was on the flyers/posters for the 2nd exhibition. One of my favourites and the only one not to be sold, well - apart from Dusty who to this day, still resides lopsidedly in my mum's kitchen. An exciting and eccentric lady, Heather Appleby (I'm 82 you know), bought Judy and Freddie. She'd met Judy a few times in the 60s. I'd captured her fear very well, she said.

I met Heather on a number of occasions. We'd drink brandy until 1am. She said I'd look good draped in velvet. Good old Heather.

Wesley

Freddie

Johnny

Oscar

With Stephen, I wanted the feel of tweed and postage stamp meets textiles. He's safe with Jason and Sue now.

Stephen

Replacing black with dark green is much more menacing. I hope I've captured his thickly spread concentration.

Stanley

Robert

Nina (inky outline)

Nick

Cheeky one really. With just 2 hours before all paintings had to be hanged, I was still tarting around with the background to Michael. If truth be told, this one should have Alison Swann's signature on it too. Thanks Alibob.

Michael

The fear I captured.

Judy

The first one I sold. Based on an excellently grubby Liebowitz photograph. Ellen is standing on a Kauai beach in Hawaii and is grasping her breasts through her bikini top. She has a white mime face and is smoking a cigarette. This painting is in Tracey and Julia's wonderful Wiltshire home.

One of my favourites. This was for Joel's birthday. I adore the bleeding orange background. Once again, no black needed.

Brian

Barbra

Mrs Singer

Mr and Mrs Singer

Me, aged 5

Mum, aged 34

Mum and Dad, 1972

Me and Miles

This is my favourite of all. Ibiza 1982. Milly with a bucket on his head. Once again, the red bleeding background omits a third of his features but it doesn't matter. It never does.

Miles, aged 3

SCHOOL PROJECT: MURAL AT OSMANI SCHOOL, E1

2009-03-02T16:33:00.001Z

28/29 AUGUST, 2008.

This project was in conjunction with Swanlea Secondary School, Whitechapel.

Year 7 pupils at the school were asked to produce drawings based on 3 themes: Outer Space, Jungles and Ocean Life. The brief was to base their themes on the style of Naive artist, Henri Rousseau. We embraced all ideas with bold colours, bold ideas and a huge dollop of imagination.

Taking their final pieces to Osmani Primary School, we recreated the very best of the images onto the whitewashed walls. Using Photoshop, I was able to illustrate the speed at which an artist / architect can make definite design decisions.

A great transitionary project for both Year 6 and 7 pupils.

I looked at parrots for far too long. Draw it. Draw it. Draw it. Draw it.

How gorgeous to recreate childlike illustrations within the climbing plants. 2D meets the organic 3D. Delicious.

The project was executed over 48 hours. The wall is 8 ft by 24 ft. I started planning it out in pencil, but with limited time decided to paint directly onto the wall. The results were less fussy and illustrated the pupils' work perfectly.

The tall alien on the right was fun to copy onto the wall in such large scale. The boy who drew this alien was delighted at the result. How wonderful that a pupils' work is on display like this.

DOG IN A BAG

2009-03-02T16:27:00.000Z

He's a gift from the Gods.

RUBY & EVAN (STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER X LABRADOR, AND A DACHSHUND X BASSET HOUND

2009-03-02T15:56:00.000Z

DOG CLOSE-UPS

2009-03-02T15:52:00.000Z

Evan's paw

Evan's nose

Dobby's paw

Dobby's nose

There's a Daschund Club meeting at The Spaniard's Inn, Hampstead, once a month. Sadly, too short to reach the bar.

THE WAY CATS MOVE

2009-03-02T15:34:00.000Z

WORMS

2009-03-02T15:31:00.000Z

SPIDERS

2009-03-02T15:26:00.000Z

STUDIES OF CATERPILLARS

2009-03-02T15:19:00.001Z

I'm very fond of Eric Carle's work. I've recently purchased a 24 Piece Jumbo Floor Puzzle of his hungry caterpillar which I intend to put up on the kitchen wall.

I love the work of David Shrigley, Spike Milligan and Suzanna Gretz. Nothing is ever too strange to draw and create. I tend to draw in pencil, fine liners and then work through each creation with Photoshop. I enjoy erasing the insides of drawings and leaving them pure white.

This little fellow was created using a glossy magazine page which has a glorious grassy photograph plastered across it.

SLUG EGGS

2009-03-02T15:14:00.000Z

Lift and discover.

CATERPILLAR JOURNEY

2009-03-02T15:02:00.001Z

This is a study of a beautiful caterpillar I found on the decking. I had to be quick as we were already running late for our Dorset camping trip. The light that day was wondrous.

A close-up of grinning caterpillar.

Try clicking on any of the images. The larger the image, the more shocking the definition. Its chubby green flesh is joyfully translucent.

BUTTERFLIES ON MY NOSE

2009-03-02T14:43:00.000Z

Sorry, could you pass me a tissue? I seem to have something up my nose.

How embarrassing, it's still there.

Sneezing with a broken arm. Not the greatest combination.

Closing mouth in fear of shocking butterfly consumption.

Very much at peace here.

In faux shock. Just for the camera, mind.

Told you.

MARVELOUS GRUBS

2009-03-01T22:18:00.002Z

Ok hands up; I was responsible for the 1978 Ladybird Genocide. I thought they were buttons, and buttons should be pressed, hard. What inky red fingertips I must have had. Quick smart, Mum started to regularly pushchair me to the Science Museum in London where there many more (non organism) buttons to press. Three hours and an aching index finger later - all was well with the winged, black dotted beings in Tunbridge Wells.

This little one was re-born an hour before this photo was taken.

Hello world.

Twenty thousand green pupas, hanging on the wall..

Feasting on squished bananas and torn apple pieces.

I don't know what I'd do without insects. I don't think I'd like walking outside too much. I certainly wouldn't enjoy hoiking up paving slabs hunting down slug eggs. Bumblebees aren't just yellow and black. Bumblebees are light bulbs and lemon, mustard and custard, sunshine and starlight, charcoal and onyx, bruises and clingfilm. Bees are edam and New York taxis, butter and corn, grapefruits and JCB trucks, sou'westers and omelettes, gold bullion and yolk; they are sunflowers. Bumblebees are top hats and tar, thunder and burnt toast, bin bags and blackbirds, blackboards and pupils. Bumblebees throw imaginary buzzing pizza dough around my knuckles.

Bees make this world go round. Wasps aren't bad either. Butterflies land on my nose.

DEAD WASP ON THE DECKING, EAST LONDON

BUMBLEBEE COLLECTING POLLEN, MUM'S GARDEN, HERTFORDSHIRE

GRASSHOPPER / CICADO, ON BALCONY, KEFALONIA 2008