Well, hello Summertime! (Shame about the weather)

So, this last week, we have had our Summative assessments, these being the IMPORTANT ones of the first year, and so I've been trying to get all my work together and to a presentable standard. If I didn't pass these, I would have to re-do the year again. Luckily though, I PASSED!! Which I am chuffed with, and as of now, I am FREE for the SUMMER!! (Although, we have been given summer work!)

Welcome to the Enchanted Forest...

So, after weeks of stressing over this piece, here is the final product. There have been a few times when I've wanted to throw it out the window, but I stuck to it, and in the end, I am quite pleased with it.

P.S. I am typing this blog on my brand new MacBook Pro, which I am quite excited about (I know, I'm a geek!)

Altered Book design

So, this is another brief we were given, based on collage, assemblage and altered art. We had to use the alphabet work to develop into either of these pieces. I chose to develop the dragonfly square, using the altered book technique. These books are amazing. A lot of work goes into them, and I love the way that you can take something old, and that could be falling apart, and then use it to create something completely different.

These are the ones I made. This picture is the two books together to create the scene:

These are a close up of the individual books:

The Owl and the Pussycat v. Photoshop

So, we were given another brief for over the Easter vacation, and this was to take one of the illustrations from The Owl and the Pussycat brief, and develop this digitally. Now, when I first saw this my first thought was "run away...QUICK!". But now that I've gotten into it, I have actually enjoyed working with it, as I quite like the final result. Photoshop maybe something that I use to enhance my work and clean it up in the future, but anyway, here is my final piece for this brief (click image for a larger view):

The Enchanted Forest

So, we were given a brief, well, I say we were given one, we haven't actually seen the tutor for three weeks yet, so we're just guessing what we've got to do, but anyway, yeah, we were given a brief, and using the alphabet work we produced, we have to produce a 3D model inspired from one of the squares. The square I chose was "flamingo, a fox, and a fairy pick flowers in a forest".

So, using this square, I am planning on making an enchanted forest scene using these characters, however, I am struggling with the flamingo as he is very top heavy and very thin legs, so I have got to have a think about him. But here are what I have made so far: (they're all made from air-hardening white clay, and then painted using acrylic paint)

The Owl and the Pussycat Final Illustrations

So, after a frantic week of trying to get these finished before I go on holiday Friday morning, I have finally finished the illustrations for this poem!! Here they are:

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey and, plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are."

Pussy said to the Owl "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing.
O let us be married, too long we have tarried;
But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-tree grows,

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?"
 Said the Piggy, "I will"

So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon.

And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand.
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

I'm going owl and cat CRAZY!!

So, here they are! The final line drawings of my illustrations for 'The Owl and the Pussycat'. They have to be black and white, so I now need to figure out how I'm going to fill this in and with what media. I'm thinking watercolours or soft pastels. Not quite sure yet...