Cézanne's Apples.

Form VI Q set has started the year trying to recreate Paul Cézanne's apples using some of the seasonal windfalls we have found around the College!  For some, it is their first real taste of painting and they are beginning to realise and to understand how colours relate to one another especially when paint is applied in many layers. Unlike Cézanne, who painted with oil paint, the pupils are using acrylic paint. The paintings posted below are still works in progress, and it is hoped that they will be completed by our first exodus weekend.

Portrait Painting

Congratulations to Samuel Clarke in Form IV who has been awarded a special merit in the Texaco Children's Art competition for his portrait titled 'Mother'. His painting can be viewed on the Texaco Children's Art website HERE.

Samuel also won the Earl of Meath Senior Art prize last term. Among the work that he submitted for that exhibition were three additional portraits which are posted below.

Marley Park

Before half term, the Form V Q set visited Marley Park during one of its lessons to make a record of some of the beautiful scenes the walled garden has to offer. Although still early in the year the garden has plently of inspirational images suitable for execution in watercolour. Work on these compositions began today. Even the group shot by the water fountain is forming the basis for a painting! It is hoped that some of this work will be ready for the annual exhibition and competition which will be held close to the end of term.

Molly Buckingham

Louisa Gibbs

 

Jennifer Kim

Snow

Form V Q Set rose to the challenge of depicting a snow scene in their lesson this week.

Q Set Watercolours

The College looks beautiful today with snow falling gently.  Perhaps it may be the inspiration for the next set of watercolours to be painted by the Form V Q Set.  Posted below are a few examples from last weeks lesson.

Watercolour painting

Q Set classes have begun to experiment with watercolour painting this term.They are employing a number of techniques including washes, using media such as masking fluids and texture medium.

The Creation of the Sun and the Moon.

Dena Al-Hamdan, Form V Q Set Art,   was inspired to paint a version of a detail from the 'The Creation of the Sun and the Moon' which is part of Michaelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel. Her inspiration came as a result of attending a cultural trip to Italy, which was organised by The College earlier this term.

Form IV, Street Art Project

The street art project started with a brief look back to prehistoric cave paintings, then ancient Greek and Roman graffiti, and then onto more contemporary work on the subway trains of New York and the Berlin Wall. Street Art has now become a much more accepted and respected art form and is more refined and highly finished than before. This project was designed to get the Form IV art sets working together in groups/teams with a site specific piece of street art as their goal. Since we could not actually paint the walls, we took measurements of some particular places and worked up some scaled designs which, when developed and finalised were up scaled and painted onto big sheets of paper which had previously been taped together and cut to the appropriate size. When they were finished we took them to the chosen site and blue tacked them in place and took photographs as a record. 

Peter Watts.



Certificate of Commendation for Pia Gromotka

Congratulations to Pia Gromotka in Form IV who was awarded a 'Certificate of Commendation' for the work she submitted to the Texaco Children's Art Competition. Her striking image 'The Helping Hand' can be viewed below.

Pia Gromotka     'The Helping Hand

Texaco Children's Art Competition

Form V Q set pupils are preparing to enter the annual Texaco Children's Art Competition. Full details on the competition can be found HERE. The theme of the competition is 'anything that interests me'. Posted below is work by Julia Xie and Dena Al-Hamdan.

Any pupil interested in entering must submit the work to the Art Department on or before Monday 20th February.

Life Drawing

Life sketching is an integral part of the Leaving Certificate curriculum. Form VI pupils take time once a week to practise this section of the curriculum to ensure they do not lose momentum.  Posted today are examples of some gesture drawing by Ciara O Byrne and Henry Roe.

Ciara O Byrne

Henry Roe

New Term!

Welcome back to a new term here at The College! Art classes just began yesterday so we took time to look through the archives for some examples of pupil work. Posted today is work by OC Greg Howie . His distraught and angst ridden portraits still adorn one of the supporting pillars in the Art Room. They are somewhat reminisent of the infamous Edvard Munch painting 'The Scream' (shown here as a print).

That said, we are looking forward to another hugely creative and  productive year! Congratulations to the Form VI leavers whose overall exam performance was, once again, incredible. We are also looking forward to a very exciting exhibition which is none other than an exhibition of Old Columban Artists which will take place here at The College during the coming Michaelmas Term; more news on that in the coming weeks. We also look forward to working with the new budding artists some of whom displayed their talents for us last term.

Gala Concert Poster Competition

Gala Concert Poster Competition entry

by Fenia Miescke, Form V.

3rd place prize.

Gala Concert Poster Competition

Gala Concert Poster entry by Rachel Rogers, Form IV.

2nd place prize.

Landscape Painting

The painting posted below is by Susannah Cooke who is a member of the Form VI Q Set art class.

She worked from a secondary source (a photograph) for this painting and the medium she used was acrylic on canvas.

Life Drawing

 Form V has been practising their life drawing skills. Often it can be difficult to critically analyse one's drawings whilst working on them. It is common practice to 'stand back' from our work in order to assess its qualities. It is for this reason that Form V worked on large pages and used a long paintbrush with chalk taped on to the end (literally standing at a full arm's length from their pages).  This way of working forced the pupils outside their comfort zone and allowed for evaluation of their drawing while drawing. The results are very promising and show a greater understanding of the elements involved in life drawing, especially that of proportion.