Self-portrait with the threes

The focus for term 2 for the primary 3 is on line drawing from observation.... 

(A) i started with asking the pupils to draw a self-portrait from looking at their photos as a pre - teaching activity for comparison purpose at the end of the term ... i would say, none was fantastic.... oopx.... but no worries, it's my job to make some of them fantastic by the end of the term.... =P 

(B) Then i took photos of each and every kiddo in my P3 art class showing 4 expressions - 喜怒哀乐 - and printed them in A4 size... 

(C) I taught them how to trace the their photos with the help of newspapers ... this first activity was just to let them be familiar with the lines that made up their faces... they would realise that in order to get a trace that looked exactly like them, they had to follow all the lines very accurately.... 

(D) This segment consisted of 3 x 1 hour lessons where I continued to let the pupils practice identifying the lines on their faces using the printmaking technique picked up from Ms April Ng during the last 2 workshops.... the kids had lots of fun rolling the different colour block printing ink onto the acrylic board and getting their faces printed onto the art paper..... the headache was always the huge mess at the end of every lesson due to all the washing... i wish i have an artroom assistant who can help in preparing all the materials before the class and also to help with all the washing... =S

note the missing eyebrows and lower lip???? oopx... that's what happens when not all the lines were accounted for... 

side note: see all the brayer marks on the paper???? so DUN ever purchase brayers/rollers from sesco... 真的是一分钱，一分货... i had no choice as due to bulk purchase, I had to make my purchase via gebiz/ITQ and could only choose the cheapest quote... seriously, it is not as cost saving as the system hopes it will be cos i plan to throw the inferior ones away soon and to buy the better quality one in smaller quantities from other more trustworthy suppliers just so that i do not cross the 3k mark ... =S 

(E) The second last lesson of the term was a 30 minute observation drawing 'test'.... presenting some of my term 2 little artists' pre and post lessons work.... =) 


Little Artist Rui Yu

Little Artist Jeroy

Little Artist Kai Xin

Little Artist Wan Bin 

Little Artist Preeya

(F) the very last lesson was kept for reflection purposes... have started the pupils on art reflecting at least once a term for the P3 in semester 1 ... will try to increase it to at least 2 per term for semester 2.... =) 


compared to the cartoonish drawing before this term's lessons, i thought most of my kiddos had made a remarkable improvement in their observational drawing .... I am now thinking if i should introduce (will 9 year old be too young????) and how should i introduce 'value' to this group of little artists ..... 

anyway, I would grade myself a 7/10 given that it is my first attempt at teaching these lessons.... original idea was just to do portrait printmaking based on the scheme of work i created after attending Ms April Ng's lesson 3 years ago ... observational drawing was something that i added in this year ... 

and for next year, i would first get the pupils to use a marker to outline the lines on their photos to hep them visualise the lines better, then have them start practising their line recognition and drawing skill at the printmaking stage instead of tracing their photos... =) 

Singapore's Q stands for Qoo10 - miniature series 1

though not a physical location in Singapore, but it is definitely one of the 'places' where i spent a hell lot of time in/on browsing through the many many items on sale in the many many 'stalls'.... this is where most of my shopping $$$$ goes to too....bought so many dresses, t-shirts, decal stickers and ling ling longs longs from qoo10 in these last few years lo... =S 

anyway, was shopping in qoo10 some time back and chanced upon a miniature series.... just couldnt resist the temptation to buy one of them though i know i may not have the time and/or energy to complete it.... 

but who cares, buy first, think later.... wahahahaha.... 

as it was a pre-order purchase, i waited for about 2 weeks to receive it through registered mail.... 

Excited to see all the tiny tiny parts

 yet cursing myself at the same time.... why oh why did i itchy backside go buy such stuff to deplete my energy with??? 

anyway, it came with a pretty pretty glass ball that i had been trying but failed to get since last year.... 

it came with an instruction booklet 

that was in chinese.... so most of the time, i was relying on the graphics instead.... luckily, the graphics was rather easy to understand... 

surprise, surprise.... the excitement gave me more than enough energy to start on it on the first night of receiving it, and it took me 3 nights and 1 full day to fit and glue the pieces bit by bit to complete the whole exterior of this mini up-uP-UP house model.... 

some of the bits were so tiny that i had to use my retired eyebrow plucker to help me 'kiap' them off the table or to hold them in place while i glued them together

by right, i was supposed to use a penknife to trim off certain pieces (eg: the roof) at certain angles so that they fit perfectly together, but by left, a little bit of imperfection dosen matter to me de lo.... heee

by another right, the inside of the house should be lighted like this pic below

and packed with all the even tinier furniture

and by another left, candy moi thinks nobody is gonna see the inside of the house anyway and so it shall be left empty like this.... 

oopxy!!!!

the wire connection instruction for the lightings was way way way too complicated for me to handle lo.... and the lights will definitely go off after a while and i know i would definitely not be bothered to change the battery after that so why bother to set it up in the first place now right???? heee 

making the furniture was gonna to be much much much more tedious than making the exterior which already took me 3 nights and 1 full day as i had to measure, cut and sew the whole thing from the 5cm by 5cm square of fabrics provided and which i totally have no patience for..... =S

so i have decided to be contented with this 70% completed model... =D

And, the purple and green combi of the up up house fit my dopey corner on mr ang's shelf to a T.... happiness.... =D ... bet he din realise that it's there until he read this blog post lo.... 

am gonna clog up his shelf with more from this miniature series as there are at least 6 other designs .... heeee  

so which one should i do next leh??? 

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other posts in the Singapore's A to Z blog challenge series:

A stands for Art garden 2013

B stands for Botanic gardens

C stands for Chinatown heritage centre 

D stands for bloodbank @ Dhoby ghaut 

E stands for Esplanade

F stands for Fire station

G stands for Garden festival 2014

H stands for Haji lane
I stands for Ice exhibition & I-light 2014
J stands for Just a bad day (theatre forum)
K stands for spa @ Ktm resort  
L stands for Leisure world 'cruise'
M stands for Musical - hairspray
N stands for Night festival 2013
O stands for art transit tour by art Outreach
P stands for 50 greatest Photographs of national geographic 
Q stands for Qoo10
R stands for River safari 
S stands for Staycation @ mbs
T stands for Terminal 1, 2 & 3 of changi airport 
U stands for Universal studio singapore 
V stands for Vision challenged activity @ dialogue in the dark
W stands for Water theme park - adventure cove 

X stands for ?????

Y stands for wheeler's Yard cafe 

Z stands for Zoo

fashion design with my sixers

I introduced Gustav Klimt and some of his famous work to my sixers earlier this year. I had them focused on Gustav Klimt's signature style - repeat patterns, swirls and luv for bronze-y colours.... 

Then i asked my sixers to use the colours, shapes and patterns in their first ever fashion designs....though there were a few that were rather impressive, i was not particularly satisfied with the majority ..... 

knowing that i could do better in my facilitation and that the pupils could do even better in this designing task, i introduced fashion designing inspired by nature, right after their land art lessons.... i also shared with them one of my favourite blogger - kaiami, a young taiwaness lady who is studying fashion in new york and some of her nature inspired designs which i madly luv luv .... =D .... 

Presenting some of my little designers' work 

wanting to focus the pupils' attention to only fashion designing, i told the kids to use the simplest of all 'painting' material - colour pencils..... regret big time.... probably could have asked them to use water colours instead.... =S.... 

anyway, saw Angie's and Mayhem's video on paper fashion on youtube after the closure of the lessons

 and i have decided it shall be part of next year's fashion design lessons.... woohoo!!! Maybe i should get a few mannequins for school too?!?!?! anyone know where i can get lobang for cheap cheap or even free ones???... heee