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Today we spent the class learning about Richard Long. I prepared a PowerPoint presentation covering the various different elements of Long’s work. We discussed these in detail and I gave the students a quick questionnaire to reinforce the ideas presented. The questionnaire included the following questions:

1. What is the term used to describe Richard Long’s art?

2. What materials does he use?

3. Where does he make his sculptures?

The students got the main points and ideas about Long’s work correct which is what I was hoping for. I explained that after Easter we would be going on another trip but making art similar to Long’s.

Afterwards I asked any students who had not finished their mono prints to do so.

We rearranged the ideas board with the most recent work done by the students to keep it fresh. his will also be the first thing they see when they return from their Easter holidays which will hopefully inspire them and help them to get back into the project with more ease.

The mono prints have a very sketch-like quality which, I believe, lends itself well to the theme of the field trip and drawing out of doors.

We set up a printing area. On one side the girls made mono prints and on the other they made their cardboard prints. Below you can see two students making their cardboard prints. Once again the students were either working on the subject of STRUCTURE or TEXTURE.

This is how this particular mono print came out. The student worked from her original drawing made on the field trip.

The cardboard prints gave some great abstract works. The shapes are interesting. I also thought the way each student took a completely different approach to the cardboard printing was very interesting.

These are some original drawings made on the field trip. They both depict the same scene however one student has used oil pastel and the other Biro. They have both shown a huge level of detail in their drawings. It is interesting to see these side by side since one deals with colour and the other purely with the forms. Working on the field trip in this way allowed us to gather a rich variety of data.

Once again, two completely different drawings of bridges.

The students worked from these drawings and from photographs taken by the students to make their prints.

The mono prints proved to be very popular with the students. The instant satisfaction allowed them to enjoy their work immediately! This student worked from an image of a bicycle taken just outside the school.

Here we can see a variety of textures.

The cardboard prints could not give the students the same level of detail they had in their drawings and so pushed their work in a more abstract direction.

This student got the image of the crane in her print. She worked from her original field trip drawing.

This student found it difficult to get the swan detail in her print although you can certainly get a sense of some bird-like shapes in the print.

This silhouette proved to be quite an interesting and successful print.

Bold and strong images worked best for the cardboard printing.