Painted Mural Project

We have the exciting opportunity to produce the artwork for a painted mural which will be sited in Cardiff (location to be confirmed still)

This project is a partnership between the UK and a group of artists in Indonesia, and a similar mural will be created there and sited in Jakarta.

The theme of the mural is ‘The Impact of the Covid Pandemic on Disabled People’.

Due to the restrictions that we are currently experiencing due to Covid, this design work will have to be done remotely. Although this situation is changing constantly, and it might be possible to carry out some of the painting and artwork in school at a later date.

We are inviting parents and pupils of Ty Gwyn to participate in the project by producing the artwork at home.

The artwork can range from photography, written word, doodles, scribbles and abstract mark making in whatever medium or materials you have at home.

These different elements will then be collated and made into an overall design, between Lisa Tann and local mural artist Andy Bolton. The boards will be painted either at studios at home or possibly at school if future changes in circumstances will allow this.

I have attached a contact form to this page so any parent who wishes to get involved please fill this in and send. Then we will set up a “mural group” on Hwb email so I can work with you, give you more details, ideas, and help in any way.

I am in touch with the artists in Indonesia who are very excited about the project, and keen to share their ideas with us.

The project will be documented digitally so we will need consent for the pupil’s photographs to be included in any documentation.  If parents would like to be involved but don’t want any images to be included in the documentation, that is fine too, just state that you don’t give permission.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Lisa Tann

These are some of the art activities pupils have been involved in this term.

Some pupils created these bright and colourful daffodil collages as part of our Welsh month context for learning.

This simple activity can be broken down into simple steps.

• Choice of paint applicators e.g brush, sponge, hands, fingers, feet, encourage student to show a preference .
• Choice of colour; yellows, oranges and greens.
• Mark make, try to do independent painting or hand over hand onto scrap paper.
• Draw into the wet paint to create further pattern and texture, this can be done with fingers, pencils, sticks, paintbrush handles.
• Leave paintings to dry.
• These paintings can be worked on again by layering over colours with pastels, colouring pencils, and markers.
• Tear/cut the paintings up into different shapes and sizes. Count the pieces; compare shapes and sizes for numeracy ideas.
• Draw a simple daffodil shape onto a piece of cardboard, scrap paper, or maybe newspaper.
• Stick the pieces down onto the drawn template, this can be randomly done, or more carefully depending on the student.
• Lots of praise and encouragement for students work and add to your scrap book or stick on the wall!

This activity doesn’t have to be just daffodils, we used the same technique to create these wonderful Welsh landscapes last year. They were  admired so much that we made them into coasters and mugs! 

Maybe start a scrapbook to collate the artwork made by you and your child during this time? This doesn’t have to be an actual book, it could be a collection of artwork stapled/put together with string or wool.

Why not carry on the colour theme? An activity you can do at home with your child/children could be based on the following idea:

What are the colours of the rainbow? Can you find a picture of one online or in a book and make a note of the colours? 

Find an object in your house or garden for each colour. This could be anything from clothing, cushion, a toy, to a piece of fruit.

These will be made up of different surfaces, and textures so encourage your child to feel the different texture and notice the difference.

Put your rainbow hunt objects together and take a picture of them.

Discuss the activity with your child and encourage them to make connections, colour match and use their imagination.

Colour Count

Let’s use colour to practise counting. Try to find:

•    5 objects that are red or have the colour red in them.

•    4 objects that are blue or have the colour blue in them.

•    3 objects that are green or have the colour green in them.

•    2 objects that are yellow or have the colour yellow in them.

•    1 object that is purple or has the colour purple in it.

Take a photo of your collections and add to your scrap book! 

    Foil Mono-printing

• Get a piece of tin foil and smooth it out.
• Then apply paint to the surface; this can be done randomly in an abstract way, or in a more controlled way, painting a shape or a simple object.
• You can also mark make into the paint using a cotton bud, pencil, stick or any mark making tool.
• Then lay a piece of paper over the tin foil and smooth down with your hands.
• Carefully lift the tin foil up and admire the result!
• The image shows a tree made using a cotton bud into tin foil.

Foil Impressions.

• Make beautiful impressions and rubbings by simply finding a variety of items with an interesting texture to lay under the foil and gently smooth the foil onto the objects.
• The images show a tree made from cocktail sticks and rubber bands, and a twig from the garden. 

Nature prints.

If you have access to a garden or outside area, can you collect:

- leaf    - flower   - twig   - stone

Using a sponge / kitchen scourer or brush, paint one side of your leaf etc. 

Then lay a piece of paper, kitchen roll, newspaper etc over the painted object and carefully smooth down to transfer the paint onto the paper.

You can layer different images over each other leaving each one to dry first.

Here are some more ideas to try out. Be experimental with the materials and you could create abstract patterns and textures without trying to make an animal

Leaf Rabbit

•  Can you collect 6 leaves from the garden or on a short walk?
•  Place the largest leaf on a piece of paper for the bunny’s body.
•  Place the next largest leaf on the side to add the bunny’s head. 
•  Tuck the thinnest leaves you’ve collected behind the head to add bunny’s ears.
•  Place two small leaves for bunny’s paws.
•  If you have glue, you can glue the pieces in place.
•  Now you’re going to give bunny eyes to see and a nose to smell. This can be done using felt tips, paint, a button or even a bottle top.

Leaf Parrot

• Can you collect different shaped leaves and some twigs from the garden or on a short walk? Ideally some need to be rounded and some need to be slim. 
• Place the largest leaf on a piece of paper for the parrot’s body.
• Find a different colour/textured leaf and place it on top for the wing.
• Can you find a circular shaped leaf for the parrot’s head? Or if not, cut a circular shape from one of the leaves you’ve collected.
• Use 3 or 4 slim leaves to create the tail feather.
• Now you’re going to give parrot some eyes to see, a beak to peck and some claws to perch. This can be done using felt tips, paint or cutting coloured card or paper.
• Now we’re going to give the parrot a branch to perch on. Place one of the twigs you collected under parrot’s claws. Or you can draw it.
• If you’d like to decorate the branch, add some leaves below it.

Leaf Butterflies

• Look at the leaf butterflies above. Which one is your favourite?
• Can you make your own by layering different colour and shaped leaves?
• For the butterfly’s body, use an acorn, a nut or part of a twig.

Coloured Lasagna Sheet Mosaics and Stain Glass windows

What you will need for colouring the pasta.

• Lasagna Sheets
• Vinegar 
• gloves
• bowl
• Food Colouring
• Trays or kitchen roll for laying out pieces

Break up the sheets into irregular size and shaped pieces (bring in some numeracy skills by counting the pieces and looking at the different shapes and comparing sizes)

Put the pieces into a bowl and pour a small amount of vinegar over the pasta, let it coat the pasta and then pour off the excess.

Then add the food colouring to the wet pasta and stir (or rub in while wearing gloves to prevent fingers becoming multi coloured!)

Wash the bowl out after each colour to stop the colours becoming mixed unless that’s the effect you’re after!

Lay out the pieces of pasta onto trays or kitchen towel and leave to dry.

This method can be used for any shape pasta or spaghetti.

The colours dry beautifully uneven giving a painterly texture to the surface. 

If you have some clear sticky back plastic (the sort you use for covering school books) you can use this for the pasta stain glass windows . 

Cut out two pieces the same size. 

Lift the backing off one of the pieces and lay down, sticky side up. 

The pieces of coloured, dry pasta can then be laid onto the sticky surface either randomly or in a pattern. Leave a gap in between the pieces.

Then using the other sheet of sticky paper, peel off the backing and lay sticky side down onto the other piece and gently press in between the gaps to secure the pieces of pasta. 

You can then use black felt pens/markers to colour in between the gaps to create the lead effect. 

Stick on the window!

If you haven’t got any sticky back plastic you can create a mosaic by sticking the pasta pieces onto a sheet of card or paper with pritt stick. Colour in the gaps with pens or pencils. 

Artists to look at for stain glass inspiration are :

A local artist/maker Christian Ryan (you can see his work in Crafts in the Bay and on his website)

Marc Chagall a painter who also created beautiful stain glass windows for churches 

Henri Matisse also designed stain glass windows

Gaudi Stain Glass windows in Barcelona’s cathedral Sagrada Familia