Mattise room interior paper cuts, year 8/grade 9

Students began by drawing a collection of objects from still life in the classroom.  They then simplified their drawings and re-did them using coloured paper and glue.  Students were encouraged to add as much detail as possible.  They had to include a window and were not allowed to pre-draw their shapes or use rulers.

Take a line for a walk, year 7/grade 6

In this project, students completed timed drawings from still life.  Once they placed their pen on the paper they could not take it off until the time ran out.  They had to add as much detail as they could and every student took their turn to sit for the class.  Each sitting lasted about 3 minutes.  

Picasso Faces, year 7/grade 6

As part of a portraiture project, students created Picasso inspired faces.  They based their designs on original self portrait drawings.  They studied the work of the artist Picasso and used tracing paper to develop their own drawings to include Picasso inspired features. They created these on heavy cardboard and used paper mache to build up their lines and features.  Once dried they used paint to complete them.

GCSE, Natural forms and Pop art units

This is a collage created from the sketchbook of a student who achieved 100% at IGCSE.  Her first unit was Natural forms and the second was Pop art.  Each unit involved considerable research, investigation and experimenting with different media and techniques.  She also had to reference artists related to the unit topic and create an original outcome in response to her findings.

Mixed media shoes, year 9/grade 8

As part of a larger unit of work, students created these mixed media shoes using a variety of media.  This included, graded pencils, watercolours, black fine liners, collage and colouring pencils. 

Wash off technique, year 10/grade 9

The 'Wash off technique' is fun to do but a bit complicated and you wont know if it works 100% until you complete the final stage.  First, students draw their image onto watercolour paper.  A watercolour wash is then added (in both cases here, yellow). After this, gouache paint is used to fill in the design -however you must not paint right to the lines of the drawing (leave a gap of a few millimeters) fill in the background with white gouache (also staying away from the lines).  Leave to dry and then cover the entire paper with black indian ink.  Leave to dry and wash off in a tray of water using a brush to help aggravate the ink and gouache. 

Observational drawing, Year 11/grade 10

Grade 10 students started by assembling objects to draw from observation using graded pencils.  Once finished they selected and enlarged areas with a viewfinder to complete in medias of their choice.  

Colour contour drawing, year 7/grade 6

I learnt this technique from a colleague, Sarah Plant and it is one of my favorites.   Students love it and you always get interesting and great results.  Students start by selecting coloured ink and using a pipette they drop some onto a square piece of paper.  Using a straw they blow the ink into different directions and leave to dry.  Once dry they use different coloured felt tip pens to follow the contour of their ink splots until the entire square is filled.

Repeat pattern print, year 8/grade 9

Students based their repeat pattern prints on observational drawings.  They created a design on A5 paper.  This was photocopied twice, scanned, printed and photocopied again so that when all four pieces where placed together they created a repeat pattern.  This was attached together and coloured using watercolours and then outlined in black fine liner to give the pattern greater definition.  The second image shows how a repeat pattern print could be repeated indefinitely to create wallpaper.

Natural forms in mixed media, year 7/grade 6

This is a mixed media project I created for Year 7 / Grade 6 students.  Students started by completing a tonal drawing worksheet and proceeded to draw a selection of plants from observation.  Once completed, they took a viewfinder and selected an area of their drawing to enlarge onto A3 paper.  This was then divided into four sections and each section was completed in different media. They were colouring pencils, paint, charcoal and scrunched up tissue paper. Once finished the work was put up on display within the school. The main objectives of this unit was to introduce graded pencils to students, develop observational drawing, enlarging and building confidence in using a variety of media.