My Visit To The Hepworth Art Gallery

I went to the Hepworth Art Gallery in Wakefield for the launch of the Reading Pictures Seeing Stories Festival of Visual Arts with a group of other home educated children.
We had the privilege to look around the gallery and attend workshops by Chris Mould, Teresa Flavin, and Kate Pankhurst.

 Chris Mould

The first part of the visit was a talk from children's book illustrator and writer Chris Mould. He spoke about how he started drawing, his latest projects, and gave some demonstrations. I really enjoyed listening to him speak about the process that he goes through when creating art and it was fascinating to see how he breaks down a seemingly complex drawing into basic shapes.

Looking Around The Gallery

After the entertaining and enjoyable talk from Chris, we set off to explore the many fascinating sculptures in the gallery. As well as the abstract bronze, marble, wood, and stone sculptures by the great Barbara Hepworth, there were abstract works by other notable artists, including Mona Hatoum and Cerith Wyn Evans. Here are some that I particularly liked.

Pierced form by Barbara Hepworth.
 A bronze sculpture with wire strings.

Involute II by Barbara Hepworth. Bronze sculpture.

                                                   

Hot Spot by Mona Hatoum.
Wire globe with neon tubing representing the edges of the continents.

Turbulence by Mona Hatoum.
Made from thousands of black marbles!

                                                   

These pieces of art are fascinating to me- the colours, textures, shapes, and patterns all combine to make very visually pleasing artworks.

Teresa Flavin 

Having explored the gallery, we walked downstairs into a small side room to attend a workshop by Teresa Flavin, children's book illustrator and author of The Blackhope Enigma. She taught us how to create a small book by folding paper and encouraged us to make up a story with illustrations. I decided to make one about one of my pet guinea pigs, Frosty.


            

We then made a badge. Yet again, I used Frosty as my subject.
   I enjoyed this workshop, though I didn't really learn any new techniques from it.


                                                          

Kate Pankhurst

Finally, we attended a talk and workshop from Kate Pankhurst, writer and illustrator of The Mariella Mystery series and Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World. She spoke about the powerful women that she describes in Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World, and demonstrated how she draws the characters. Finally, she encouraged us to try drawing a suffragette in her art style.


                              

   

 

Skillshare Workshop - Guitar

Plan

For my skillshare workshop, I decided to teach some basic guitar skills to other children.
My plan was to teach them the following:

• The notes of the six open strings.
• How to tune the guitar.
•  Hand positioning and pick(plectrum) control.
• How to play some basic chords. 
• If time allowed, to make up simple tunes with the chords.

   It went mostly to plan, though the children didn't have much of a chance to make up their own songs.

Why I chose guitar for my Skillshare

I have been playing guitar for 3 years and I thought it would be a good idea to share some of my knowledge and enthusiasm with the children in the Skillshare. It is also reasonably easy to start playing tuneful melodies and chord progressions.

Preparations

I gathered all of the guitars, my picks, and the tuner. I also made sure that all of the guitars were in tune.

Materials

4 Guitars

1 Electronic Tuner

Some picks(plectrums)

                               

   I think the workshop went well, though it was difficult to help all of the five children, as I had to check on them individually. I also had to cater for different levels of guitar skill, as some of the children were complete beginners and others were quite advanced. It was also quite noisy in the building so it was difficult to make myself heard. It would have easier if the skillshare was done in a smaller room, in my opinion.
  I was pleased that the children said that they enjoyed the Skillshare.

An artist who inspires me - Chris Riddell

Chris Riddell is an artist whom I have always admired. The incredibly detailed linework, shading, and carefully placed highlights all combine to make an eye-catching, 3-dimensional piece of art.

The Banderbear by Chris Riddell. (From the Edge Chronicles)

                                 
Every time I see a piece of art by Chris Riddell, such as the one above, I feel inspired to try drawing in a similarly detailed style. So I decided to try drawing one of my pet guinea pigs, using some of the techniques that Chris uses.

Here is the result:

I tried to replicate the cross-hatching that Chris Riddell frequently uses in the fur and hair of his characters, and I tried to keep the highlights and shadows in the fur and eyes in logical places.

Here's another attempt at drawing in Chris Riddell's style:



                             

                    Techniques used by Chris Riddell

I have also been researching the techniques and materials that Chris Riddell uses when creating his artworks.  

  First, he sketches a rough outline in pencil, and draws in elements such as facial features, folds in the clothing, etc. He then goes over the lines in ink with a very fine brush, before finally adding any necessary highlights with white gouache paint. To add colour, he uses concentrated watercolours and dilutes them as needed.

                              About Chris Riddell

Chris Riddell is primarily an illustrator, but he has written children's books such as the Goth Girl series, and he co-wrote(and illustrated) The Edge Chronicles with Paul Stewart, all of which I have enjoyed reading.

   Chris also writes political cartoons for The Observer and in June 2015 he was appointed the UK Children's Laureate.

My Art Projects

                                     Guinea Pig Mask 

One of my art projects involved making a papier mache mask. I decided to make mine into the head of my pet guinea pig, Frosty. 

     First, I blew up a balloon and tied a knot in the neck. I then dipped some strips of paper in PVA glue and began placing them on the balloon. It was a little tricky at first, as the paper strips started sliding off the balloon, but as more layers were applied, it got easier.

In progress.

Once I had a sufficient amount of layers on the balloon, I cut the structure in half and burst the balloon. I then cut a little bit off one half to form a more comfortable space for my head to sit in. The two halves were then glued back together.
  To make the eyes, I scrunched up two pieces of tissue and covered them in glue.
After the eyes had dried, I covered the entire head with a coat of white paint. Once that was dry, I painted in the red-pink eyes, the grey ears, and the details in the fur.
                     

                         

                     Guinea Pig head + Human head fusion

My next art project was a piece of art which combined a photograph of me(side profile) and a  watercolour of a guinea pig. First, I sanded the area that I was going to paint so the the watercolour wouldn't just run off the paper. I then sketched the rough shape of the guinea pig's head and facial features. After that, I painted the ears, eyes, and some of the fur details. I completed the rest of the detail once this had dried.

Finished!

                          Guinea pig photo + drawing

The next art project was taking a photo of a guinea pig, cutting it in half, and drawing the missing half.

First, I sketched the rough outline, followed by the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

                                

        

      

 I then added the patterns in the fur and added any necessary detail. I was quite happy with the finished product and I really enjoyed making it.