Secret Santa Stockings!

This week we are celebrating our final lesson of the year with a colourful Christmas Stocking collage. Our stockings are filled with messages of friendship and miniature art works created by our randomly selected Secret Santas. How special it is to give and receive these hand crafted gifts that while small in monetary value are certainly big in thoughtfulness and goodwill! 

Our collages are made with joy and true Christmas spirit as we farewell 2017 and look forward to seeing each other again for more art fun in the New Art Year!

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Pandora's Box

In ancient Greek mythology Pandora (meaning "All Gifts") was the first mortal woman. Zeus gave her a box but told her not to open it. For a long time Pandora obeyed, but finally her curiosity became too much, she opened the forbidden box and all the evils escaped into the world! She quickly closed the box but it was too late, she only managed to keep 'Hope' in the box.

This week we've explored symbols! We began by creating a most beautiful, bejeweled gold or silver box, which we surrounded with symbols that represent some of the elements we do not want in the world (for example illness, greed, famine, war), and of course a beautiful symbol for Hope. I love the variety and thought each person has put into designing their symbols to create truly impressive collages! Well done everyone!

Claire T

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Phoenix Sculptures

Our clay this term is based on the Phoenix from Greek mythology.
Arising from fire, at the end of it's life the Phoenix returns to the flames to be born again!
Our Phoenixes are created from clay, wire, feathers and beads, cardboard and metallic oil pastel.
Of course we have taken some artistic licence in our interpretations, so we have Phoenixes of fire, of ice, of the oceans and of the forests! They are stunning!!

Tabitha's Ice Phoenix

Enjoy more of our Phoenix sculptures on facebook ...

Octopuses!

A creature of the oceans, the octopus moves through its constantly moving environment with fluidity and grace. The octopus motif has been a popular design on Greek ceramics and frescoes since the age of the Minoans, and has become a symbol of intelligence.

Claire

After drawing our octopuses with thick black permanent marker, we laid down layers of oil pastel followed by black tempera paint. Our original drawings re-emerged as we scratched through the layers with empty ball-point pens. The final result beautifully conveys our octopuses hiding in the ocean depths.

Octopus jar circa 1500 BC

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Happy Hippy Hair!

I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty

Oily, greasy, fleecy... shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen

Knotted, polka-dotted... Twisted, beaded, braided

Powdered, flowered, and confettied, bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!

(from Hair the Musical)

Listening to 'Hair', students worked with photos of themselves creating their own 'hippy hair' using organic line and shape while others decided to do a personal Medusa make-over, giving themselves a head of hissing snakes! Each area is filled with pattern for an intricate decorative effect before finishing with a splash of soft pastel colour.

Let it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas, in my hair
A home for fleas, a hive for the bees
A nest for birds, there ain't no words
For the beauty, splendor, the wonder of my hair!!!

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Illustrating Aesop's Fables

Fables are short stories, usually created for children, to teach a lesson... Perhaps the most famous fables were written by Aesop in ancient Greece, more than 2600 years ago! Using animals as the main characters, many of the lessons he taught so many years ago are still relevant today.

We hope you enjoy our Aesop's Fables illustrations.

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Hybrid Creatures Inspired by Greek Mythology

I've just returned from a glorious month in Greece, with so many ideas for our art!
The Greek culture is so rich in art, history and mythology, there is inspiration everywhere....

Our first project this term is based on the hybrid creatures of Greek Mythology, represented as a statue mounted on an Ionic column. We have Centaurs, Harpies, Pegasus, Chimeras, Griffins, Cerebus, Echidna, Delphi Sphinx  ... and many decided to create their own!

Did you know that while Classical Greek sculpture is usually thought of as the pure white marble statuary we see today, the ancient Greeks actually represented their Gods, and the monumental temples that housed them, in vivid, brilliant colour!

In the Cambridge University Museum of Classical Archaeology the Peplos Kore stands
side by side with a plaster copy, painted as the original would have beeen.

See more of our Greek Hybrid Creatures on facebook....

Delicious Donuts Inspired By Peter Anton

Our second clay project this term is inspired by the delicious sculptures of Peter Anton.
We've created donut paperwights with swirls of icing and real sprinkles sealed with clear lacquer.

Displayed on a collage of bakery treats, they look good enough to eat, and will look great on our desks, or make a wonderful Father's Day gift!

Go to our facebook page to see more of our Delicious Donuts!

Peter Anton at work in his studio.

Peter Anton 'Boxed Donuts'.

Letting Our Creative Out!

Did you know that the left side of your brain controls analytical, logical thinking functions such as science and mathematics, while your right brain performs tasks that are artistic and creative?

After painting our donuts (more of these delicious pop-art sculptures next week!) we finished our session this week with some right-brain creative initial doodle-art!
Beginning with the blank slate of our initials glued onto black, we randomly drew a line.... which became.... well, something different for everyone!
It's always fun to let our creative right brains have free reign! Well done everybody!

See more of our Right-Brain Doodles on facebook ....

Beautiful Jellyfish Mobiles

Our Jellyfish Mobiles feature hand painted ceramic caps with lacy leaf texture, layers of tentacles with hand made ceramic coil beads and acetate spirals, beads and sea creatures. Created over 2 and a half lessons, they have been a major project, but so beautiful! It is easy to imagine these delicate creatures are floating through the ocean at the whim of the tidal currents...

See more of our Beautiful Jellyfish on facebook ....

UFO Sightings Over Sunshine Coast!

Have you heard the rumour? Last weekend aliens were sighted beaming into the school grounds, playing on the swings, dancing on the roofs and climbing the trees.... breaking all the RULES!!
UFOs and alien creatures at school .... What fun!

See more of our Aliens at School on facebook ....

A Whale Of A Time With Migaloo!

Migaloo, together with many of his friends, passed by the Sunshine Coast last week on his annual migration up our eastern coastline. While the Humpback population is thankfully increasing, Migaloo is a rare white humpback, and has become a much loved individual with many people eagerly awaiting his arrival each year...  

We created our Migaloo pictures using an oil pastel mono-printing technique. We started with a heavily coloured oil pastel background, with krill and plankton in metallic oil pastel. We used our backgrounds as a ground to lift our image as we drew our whales (like hand-crafted carbon paper), adding lots of pattern to symbolize the effect of light shining through the water and the movement of the water against his skin. I love how some of our artists have created a sense of swirling ocean currents while others have captured the stillness of the ocean depths. Well done everyone!

See more of our Migaloo pictures on facebook ....

Jailhouse Rock!

We loved the latest 'Despicable Me 3' movie and especially those cute, finger-snapping Minions!

After watching the jail scene from the movie, and a very young Elvis singing 'Jailhouse Rock', we were inspired to create our 'Minions in Jail' cartoon & collage pictures... Aren't they fun?

See more of our Minions in Jail on facebook....

Terrific Designer Tree Houses

We looked at some amazing tree houses before designing our own... If you look closely you'll discover some very innovative ideas about how to get up and down the tree, and how to move between the platforms... Tarzan vines, rope bridges, trampolines, slides, roller-coasters, fireman poles, trapezes.... Wow!

Happy holidays everyone!!

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Robots!

Robots - such fun!
After looking at robots in film (Wall-e from the Disney movie Wall-e, Star Wars' R2D2 and CP30, The Jettsons' Rosie and Lost in Space's imaginatively named Robot) we were inspired to create our own robotic characters....
I always love watching my students in creative mode, and their resulting art is amazing!

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Lily Ponds, Frogs and Dragonflies!

Our mixed media Lily Ponds with Dragonflies (inspired by Claude Monet's 'Waterlilies' of course!) are a perfect setting for our Frog sculptures!

We used dashes of oil pastel softened with an overlay of white to achieve the Impressionist broken-colour effect of light reflections on the pond surface, and added collage waterlilies and dragonflies. A perfect home for a perfect frog!

See more of our Lily Ponds, Frogs and Dragonflies on facebook ....

Claude Monet 'Water Lilies' 1903

Exotic Frogs!

Our clay frog sculptures are fired and ready for painting!

After looking at pictures of exotic frogs from around the world, we painted our frogs.... We have some lovely green tree frogs, red-eyed rainforest frogs, Panamanian Golden frogs, various Poison-dart frogs and of course lots that we just created ourselves because hey! we're artists, and we can!

They're looking great now, and are just waiting for their final varnish coats next week before they go home!

Our Pets Inspired By Dean Russo

Our art this week is inspired by contemporary American artist Dean Russo.

A Street Art influence is evident in Russo's work, in which he can use up to 10 different media, often including graffiti-like words, spray paint, hand cut stencils and collage to create vibrant pictures full of colour and movement. We've looked specifically at Russo's dog pictures which so beautifully reflect his love of animals.

Our mixed media pictures are created using photos of our pets and layers upon layers of pattern in mixed media - including crayon watercolour resist and black, silver and colour permanent marker on acetate. They are spectacular!!

See more of our Russo Inspired Pets on facebook ....

Dean Russo: 'Hey! Smile!'

Mad Giraffes

The giraffe, the tallest land dwelling mammal with distinct markings and enormous eyes, has been the subject of many works of art through the ages.

Our giraffes are completed as guided drawings with 2B and 4B pencil with lots of contrasting tone, then adding humorous props with mad bursts of colour!

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Folk Art Flowers for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a day for celebrating the special women in our lives - Mums, Grandmas or even favourite Aunties! And what better gift to show our love and appreciation than a beautiful vase of flowers? Our folk art collage is an adaptation from Cassie Stephens, inspired by the wonderful, colourful art of mexican folk artist Kerri Ambrosino.

See more of our Folk Art Flowers on facebook...

Making Waves!

We looked at art by local Sunshine Coast artist Terry Cooper, loving his use of line and colour to capture the energy of the waves... before making waves of our own!

Terry Cooper

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Scribbly Gums

Our art this week is inspired by Gustav Klimt's 'Birch Forest' and this lesson from Angela Anderson.
Our version has a uniquely Australian twist, taking the Australian Scribbly Gum for our subject. This tree hosts the Scribbly Gum moth larvae, which leaves a distinctive and quite beautiful squiggly pattern as it burrows beneath the bark of the tree.
We masked our trees with adhesive contact before painting on canvas sheets and embellishing with stamped gold pattern. When the paint dried we carefully removed the masking and finished the trees with pen & oil pastel. A final smudge of gold paint adds a shimmering shadow along the length of each tree.
This painting is so effective, yet not difficult to do, so that every child experiences the pride of achievement!

See more of our Scribbly Gum Trees on facebook...

It Must Be Easter!

Our last lesson for the term - and the holidays are here again!

We are recognising Easter time this year with our wonderful rabbit drawings in fine black gel pen, mounted on a pile of collaged coloured paper and soft pastel Easter eggs! We have also thought  about what Easter means to each of us and many children added words into their art to show this!

Have a wonderful holiday, and I will see you all next term!

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Colour! Colour! Colour!

This week we're using a new technique - painting with oil pastels!

For inspiration we've looked at paintings by Contemporary American artist Woody Jackson (also famous for his designs on Ben & Jerry's ice-cream containers!), admiring his effective use of bold colour and shape.

Woody Jackson 'Dawn Whispers'

I knew we'd have fun with some great art this week! We completed our landscapes with oil pastels, choosing colours opposite to the expected for visual and emotional impact. We used cotton-buds and oil to blend and buff the pastels for solid fields of colour and a rich, painterly effect. 

See more of our Woody Jackson inspired landscapes on facebook...

Rock Gardens!

Our snails (and other creatures) are happily sitting on rocks in the garden... but pick them up for a surprise!

Our clay bells are finished, fired, painted and varnished. This is an example of functional art, so not only do our bells need to look good, they also have to work well! For example the handle of the bell, in the shape of an animal, needs to be comfortable to hold, and the bowl of the bell had to be constructed carefully since a cracked bell will not ring with a clear tone. We've also discovered that each bell has an individual ring tone, depending on the thickness of the clay and the shape of the bowl.

Our gardens are created with contour line drawings of rocks, sticks, leaves before adding detail, shading or pattern and grassy flicks of colour.

Beautiful work!!

Damsarani G

Jettson F

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Pop Art Emoji!

When words are not enough... say it with an emoji!

Who isn't familiar with these cute icons that have become such a staple of our modern communication?

Today we've invented our own emoji using black marker and the option to add colour with fluoro oil pastel or soft pastel. This fast and furious 30 minute Pop Art activity is a snap, and everyone has done a great job expressing such a variety of emotions!

Chloe T

If I Were A Shape-Shifter (Like Maui) ...

Another project inspired by the Disney movie Moana, what a fun movie!
This week we imagined what animal we would be if we could be a shape-shifter like Maui.....

Liam A

Night Skies & Silhouettes

This week we have considered a range of paintings from artists as varied as Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Signac, Monet and Turner. Our purpose was to explore some of the very different ways artists paint evening skies and the effective use of silhouettes.
We painted our skies with tempera, mixing all our colours from the 3 Primary colours of red, blue and yellow. Our silhouettes were then created from cut paper and added once our paintings were dry.

Laughing Kookaburras!

A familiar sound in many Aussie backyards - the call of a kookaburra that sounds so uncannily as though it really is laughing at some hilarious joke that you cannot help but smile along too!

Our kookaburras are completed with 2B pencil on backgrounds created using texture plates and water soluble oil pastel.

Hei Hei Hei! It's the Year of the Rooster!

Welcome to 2017 and a new year of Art Fun! Over the Christmas break many of us escaped the heat at the movies, and a great favourite was the new Disney movie 'Moana'. Hei Hei the rooster is one of the very lovable characters, and impossible to resist coinciding as it does with the Chinese New Year of the Rooster!

According to the Chinese Zodiac, people born in the Year of the Rooster are loyal, trustworthy, honest, highly motivated and hard working!

Cartooning is a very specific art form and cartoonists are artists who use exaggeration to communicate the personality of a character! 

Our art is a combination of guided drawing and collage. 
What a great way to start our new year if art fun!