Decisions had to be made about whether the final painting should be portrait or landscape format. I was surprised at how many of the images were taken in landscape format. It didn't follow automatically that an individual would choose the corresponding format for their painting.

Placing the portrait within the rectangular page meant looking to see how much of the arms was included, where the body met the edge of the page. How far up the side? More than half-way? Less than half-way?
Was the head hitting the top of the frame: Was there a space?

Some of the composition drawings centred the person within the frame. It was good to look at the energy of the photo and see how the energy changed when the person was offset within the frame instead. Click on picture to view full image.

Each painted portrait was a wonderful interpretation of the original photo.

This image is an extreme close-up -one of the more adventurous compositions from the class.

Once the images were picked, the class took some time to sketch a basic outline. Their main task was to focus on composition for the final painting. Decisions had to be made about what to include and what to leave out of the painting. The children looked at some of the photos and tried to figure out a way of drawing what was there and not what they expected to see.

We talked about looking at things from different angles and some of the class decided to base their paintings on a less conventional angle. I haven't yet had the chance to see all of these self-portrait photos but I am keen to see the images that weren't chosen to find out if they have more unusual composition.

Mrs Wilson printed out the photos and each person chose one which they wanted to paint. Quite often the chosen image was face-on.

We compared the photo with a close-up of the painted portrait by Vermeer. This helped to reintroduce colour and tone along with composition, light and shade.

With the help of a partner, each person composed 3 self-portraits using a camera. This image reminded me of a Vermeer portrait. Very subtle colours and beautiful composition.

Two drawings from the same pose, from the same angle. Different visions. Click on this to see both images.

Some of the class found it easy to draw portraits form unusual angles, while others persisted in drawing face-on portraits. It didn't matter what they saw or what angle they were seeing their classmate from.
So I asked them to draw me and made sure that the lighting emphasized my profile. Even so, some of the drawings were still full face. I find this really fascinating. It shows that you can't take for granted what someone else sees and how they choose to communicate it.
There's something really challenging about this idea.

This image shows light and shade as well as line-drawing.

The first portraits the class made with charcoal were very small. They tried to draw different poses from different perspectives and this immediately moved them on to drawings which were less like caricatures.
We talked about smudging the charcoal to create shading. For this, the class needed to identify the lightest and darkest parts of the portrait. Some of the resulting images had real depth.

The batch of images here show quick-fire charcoal sketches that the class made of each other. One of the challenges for me is that I can't always see the detail of individual's work unless they come and take a photo of it. Taking a picture is a left-brained activity, a bit like trying to make a cross in the air with one hand and a circle with the other. Sometimes, especially with small drawings, it can be tricky to get the subject in focus.

One of the things we learnt in this exercise was that it would be good to try drawing slightly bigger pictures.

When communicating via Marratech, the group can see and be seen.

It was really exciting to see how the children form Florida instantly connected to the same topics that the children from Donaghey were exploring. Here, individuals from both classes are looking at objects which tell a story about them.

This was an experiment to see how many images the groups would need to take for an animation clip. We used the web cam to take step by step photos and everyone guessed how long they thought the clip would last once they had been put together. The class also learned what "Stand by" means when a recording is taking place.

We looked at different ways to photograph an object in order to make it look interesting, to show some details and to explain its use. This led us into thinking about how to make an animated clip to put with the sound recordings. Click on the image to see the full picture.

Getting ready to record stories about objects, the class had to think about how to tell their stories, what details were important and what information to leave out. In groups, they helped eachother to choose the facts and pieces of information which told a good story about the objects and about themselves.
Mrs Wilson started to record the stories using Garageband. Some of the children started to learn how to do the recordings themselves.

Some people found it easy to talk about their objects. One of the exercises was to try and talk about the object for 1 minute with no breaks. This helped to prepare for the recordings the following week.
The resulting statements start to give a picture of the individual, their likes and dislikes and their range of interests and experiences.

As well as drawing the objects, the class started to tell stories about them. On the top right is a photo taken through a magnifying glass. When the class looked closely at their objects they noticed some interesting details. They took time to explain their objects to eachother. It helped that they had practiced asking good questions in previous weeks.

The class drew close -up views of their objects. Sometimes the pencil drawings were quite faint in the photos we shared. Strong colours were easier for the web cam to record. the drawing of a drinking straw looks very stylised.

These are some drawings of the objects that the class brought in.
Some of them had time to begin to add colour to the work, which made a huge difference.

Each person in the class brought in an object to school. These objects had to tell some kind of story about that individual, what they liked to do for a hobby, an interest, a feeling or story.
These objects are the stimuli for the next phase of work.

The size of your personal space isn't necessarily related to your height.

Each person took turns to be the sitter, recorder, writer, artist, photographer and actor.
The sitter sat still for one minute during which each of the others watched them closely.
When the minute was up, the rest of the group gave feedback through movement, spoken and written words, drawings and photos.
It took a lot of concentration. The one minute portraits were difficult because they had to be done so quickly.

We spent some time discussing the previous session. This led us to talk about energy and physicality. We did a whole page of words describing our own energy.

Way back last term when I was working withe this class, some of them were quite timid about making big pictures and using a lot of movement as they worked. In this exercise they were working so freely and confidently that I could hardly keep up with the demand for more chalk.

Some of the class were tall and could easily stretch quite far but some of the smallest people drew the biggest shapes. Some drew more lines than others, producing a denser pattern.

While some stayed firmly within their circles, others reached out as far as they could. The size of the personal space didn't rely on the height of the individual.

This exercise shows the class starting to make their drawings with chalk. Each person needed to estimate how large their personal space might be so that that they could stand at a suitable distance from their classmates. Their rules were that one foot had to stay within the circle at all times.

Once they had stepped out of the line, everyone took turns to photograph eachother. The images added together will make an animation. You need to double click on this picture to see the full image.

This picture shows the class lined up from tallest to smallest. They took photos as each person stepped to the front and then out to the side. It took a lot of concentration.

We tried to catch actions on camera. The timing was tricky, especially with something fast like catching a ball. This linked to images by Eadward Muybridge, a pioneer in photographing motion.

Part of this session was about communicating and asking good questions. After this interview we tried to think of how we could get longer answers from the person we were talking to. How can we learn to ask good questions?

Everyone made another "passport photo" drawing. This time they imagined how they would look in the future. Some people thought 10 years ahead, others much further. Some of the class interviewed these older selves, who had now become experts on horse-riding and darts. Part of the exercise was about using the phrase "Yes and.." to begin every reply, creating humour and drawing out imaginative responses.

Back for a new term with a new topic- My Self. This session was an introduction to the topic. We looked at a variety of portraits - different people, some the same age as the class, from different periods in history. Then they made a drawing of themselves - like a passport photo.

I described the view from my window, answering questions posed by the class. They made drawings based on what they heard (and imagined).

Working with maps, zooming out to find Donaghey, naming features and exploring the Lough Neagh area.

The class went on a journey round the school, counting steps between corners. Each person in the class made another cut-up poem about their journey -what they saw, smelled and heard.

The big paintings were really beautiful.

Each group chose an image from their shortlist and got ready to make a big painting, again, mixing colours but this time in bigger quantities.

More ground photos. The groups' challenge was to stick to the perspective they were given,

One group took photos of the ground, taking a few steps between each image.

From the start, photography was a big part of the work. In groups, the class took photos from various perspectives around the boundaries of the school.

Playing with the whiteboard tools, getting comfortable with the whiteboard.

Experimenting with colours on strips of cardboard used as palettes.

Everyone got very excited about mixing colours. Sometimes it helped to describe the colours verbally -e.g., a yellowy-green might have more yellow in it than a basic green colour.

It was interesting to zoom in on the white spaces in the line drawings and describe what was there. Made paintings from small objects with particular textures and patterns - stones, bark, grass & leaves. Mixing colour became very important.

After an exciting planning meeting where the class drew pictures of their favourite place, everyone made cut-up poems. These were created very freely. Lovely spontaneous work.

On April 14th, 2009 anndonnelly says:

We are at the beginning of the new phase of Further Afield. I'm getting to know Mrs WIlson and her great class in Donaghey and they are getting to know me. All of us are looking for common ground and enjoying the process of experimenting with different creative ideas. Lots of good work. Images and more information to follow.