Friday 27 September 2013

FIGURE DRAWING - LITTLE MIX

I have been drawing lots of pictures of the girls from my favourite band/people (apart from my family!) Little Mix. I have been copying pictures of them from google images in different clothes and poses. It is giving me lots of practice in drawing people.







Saturday 21 September 2013

THE BUTTERFLY LION

Here is my reveiw of The Butterfly Lion in cheltenham:
 
I didn't read the book until after the performance, but when I did read the book I realised how the play followed the book so well. The actors were good and they played the parts well, without overdoing yet still having emotion. The set was very basic, but fit all the different scenes. They had a puppet as the lion which was very realistic. I could have been watching a film it was so well done. It made my mum cry as well, because it was so emotional. It also made us laugh, so it rocked your emotions but in a good way. I really enjoyed it!




Wednesday 21 August 2013

COSTUME MAKING WORKSHOP AT THE RSC

After we had looked at the costume exhibition I had the chance to learn about making costumes at a workshop. The workshop took place in a room where there were lots of examples of different parts of costumes including wigs, shoes and jewellery. We watched a video of a dresser helping an actor get ready to go on stage.


The people running the workshop were from a theatre company called The Wrong Crowd. One of the ladies was a director and the other was a costume designer who often makes puppets.They told us that we could have a go at making costumes and props of either a fairy or Bottom's donkey ears from a Midsummer Night's Dream or a witch from Macbeth. They gave us lots of ideas for making hats, masks and creepy hands using gloves and a special foam material. I decided to make a mask of a witch from Macbeth. I decided I wanted the mask to look really freaky!
First of all I cut off the mouth and chin from a plastic mask. I also made the eyes bigger.

I squished up lots of pieces of masking tape to form a big nose. I wanted the nose to turn up at the end to look like a pig.


I then shaped some eyebrows. I made one higher than the other to make the expression look questioning.
 
 
I then covered the whole mask in a thin layer of PVA glue.
 
When the glue had dried, I painted it a skin colour. I used yellow ochre, white and a bit of red to make the skin colour.I also painted black around the eyes to make them stand out.

I then used lots of strips of fabric that were leftovers from real costumes made by the costume department to make a headdress. I wanted it to look a bit like a veil. I thought the purple colours were quite witchy.

Here I am looking very scary!



 
 

COSTUME EXHIBITION THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

The exhibition was spread around different parts of the theatre. There were some near the box office, some near the cafe and some in a room near the tower. There were costumes from different plays and from different times. Some of them had been worn by very famous actors such as Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart and David Tennant. Here are some of my favourites:
 

This is a costume from a play called Cymbeline. I love the colours.

These costumes are from The Tempest. The colours and patterns remind me of a stormy sea.


 
 

Thursday 15 August 2013

COMPTON VERNEY ART GALLERY

We visited Compton Verney art gallery, which is near where my grandma and grandad live. First, we looked at the pictures in the gallery. I liked the landscape pictures of the volcanoes. They were painted by artists during the 1800s. We did some art activities:

CAMERA OBSCURA
I really liked using the camera obscura to copy the landscape outside. It works by mirrors.


OUTSIDE
Lots of people had made a shop using only felt tip pens and bits of cardboard. I made Claire's Accessories.




MAKE UP YOUR OWN COLOURS
I made up my own colours. The lady asked us to give them names, which I did not have time to do because I decided to paint a landscape. The outline of the landscape was copied from a painting by the famous painter Constable.










Wednesday 31 July 2013

WATERCOLOUR PAINTING

After we practised mixing colours we tried painting using the watercolour technique. We learned how to use a little bit of paint and more water to make areas look lighter. You have to put light colour first when you use watercolour paints.

 
 
I have also painted a picture of the Worm's Head at Rhosilli in Wales where we went on holiday. We walked quite a long way across to the island and had to hurry back before the tide cut us off. We saw an amazing sunset. I used the photograph to remind me what the scene looked like.



COLOUR MIXING

Today we practised mixing colours and learned about the colour wheel. Primary colours are red, blue and yellow. Secondary colours are green, orange and purple and are mixed from primary colours. Tertiary colours are mixed from secondary and primary colours.






Friday 28 June 2013

SOME VIDEOS I HAVE MADE IN THE PAST MONTH

First of all me and Emma made a video to 'the Saturdays what about us' for Friday download, a CBBC show. We were briefly shown on TV!!!!

Friday 21 June 2013

CROOME PARK SKETCHING

Just remembered something........ in the last couple of weeks we went to croome park. The first time I drew a picture of the house, the field in front, the trees, the pond and using artistic license I moved the Malvern hills over a bit! The second time we used view finders, (lovingly made by mummy) to find sections of the orangery we liked. I did three, one with patterns and the two others quick sketches of the building itself. Afterwards I also added shadows! For fun while Emma was playing I drew the church, using artistic license to make it more colourful!!







 

THE SMALLEST ART EXHIBITION IN THE WORLD - 21st FRIDAY

Today we went to a village near Pershore called Pensham. Unfortunately, well kind of, it wasn't opening til tomorrow, Saturday, but it was better because they were setting up, so we got to chat to them. It was in a telephone box! Lots of people had given these people art on a post card, and they were hanging them up in the windows. They showed us some. My favourites were the mosaics, a picture of a water fall, and a bright and bold picture of some fruit. We will back tomorrow and pick our favourite to by!  I liked the painting of the waterfall by an artist called Jane Hordern. We bought it for £5. It is called "Cascade". The painting has inspired us to do some watercolour painting too.





DYNAMIX - CONTEMPORARY CHOIR

Me and Emma have started a choir, but don't imagine boring hymns or whatever. We actually do old and new pop songs. For example we have recently finished walking on sunshine by Katrina and the waves. We were doing the middle part, but next time we can choose whether we do the high or low. I am mostly looking forward to doing Emelie Sande wonder and Christina Agliera Candy man. I go with my friend Allana. We are going to do a christmas concert at a fayre in December!

PLAYBOX THEATRE COURSE

Since the end of April I have been doing a drama group at the playbox theatre, Warwick. It is a home ed group and I have really enjoyed it. We did these things:

  • Battles - We were either being defated, where we had to look scared, or we were attacking, where we had to act violent. We used music to create a sort of dance. That was the only sound. It was slow motion, which created a dramatic effect.
  • We used our bodys to describe colours. For example for red I put an angry facial expression, and for blue I looked like I was mourning something.
  • We did arguments. When we were doing it in pairs I was a bit nervous, but when in a group I really acted angry and they even listened to my idea! Stacey, the instructor was really impressed.
  • Most of all I enjoyed the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. I loved being the main characters, even though we didn't use words. I even enjoyed being turrets and wardrobes!
We also did some other things. I really enjoyed doing it, and I learnt you don't need to talk when acting for a story to be told.

Thursday 20 June 2013

BIRMINGHAM ART GALLERY - 20th JUNE

Me, mummy and Emma, after mummy had been to a dentist in Birmingham, caught the bus to the gallery. It was very fun. I enjoyed looking at the landscapes rather then the potrairs. The people in the portraits always look sad. I want art to make me happy. I also liked the foreign pictures like an Egyptian garden. I didn't like the modern art. It is to creepy and abstract. When I get older I might like it, but at the moment I like the more historical things. Some modern art sculptures; especially of people I don't like, but some more like the stuff that would be in a house I quite like. Here are my favourite things I saw:





Monday 10 June 2013

MANCHESTER BBC TOUR - 10th JUNE

For a birthday treat me, mummy and daddy went to Manchester on the train. Because we had time to spare we went to Manchester art gallery. We only had a quick wander through, but I still noticed some nice pictures and sculptures.

The main part of the day was the BBC tour. We started of in the BBC breakfeast. It was a surprise to realise the 'window' isn't actually a window, instead a pre-recorded view of MediaCity. There was an interactive room where you can be on fake BBC breakfeast or question of sport. Mummy was on BBC breakfeast, and daddy was on question of sport. Mummy had to read from a screen on a camera that showed her what she had to say. We also went to the radio 6 studio. They had a left and right control pad for people that were left handed and right handed. My favourite part was the blue peter/ DNN (CBBC show) studio. I recognised the props from TV. If you looked up you could see the hundreds of cameras and lights. It looked cool.

The day on a whole was perfect!!

Thursday 23 May 2013

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH - 23 MAY 2013

Towards the end of may, me, mummy and Emma went to Cheltenham to see James and the giant peach. I really liked the dry ice effect, how it was very versitile - it could be clouds or waves. It was clever how there weren't very many cast at all, in fact about ten, but they still managed to create atmosphere by using bangs, props and also their voices and actions. For example the cast played the musical instruments and sang, while using great facial expressions, so when they were happy they played a happy beat, sang with joy and showed the joy by using their bodies and faces. It also followed the book very nicely, better then the film - Roahl Dahl would have been pleased. All-in-all a great, exciting production.