Hampreston First School - Class 4 Work inspired by Renoir’s ‘The Umbrellas’ The children were very motivated at the thought of exploring a painting and discovering the potential story behind the picture. We talked about the characters in detail and used drama to act out various scenarios and conversations between the characters. We also wanted to produce a more abstract piece of whole class art work inspired by the colours and content of the painting. This could then be exhibited in our school alongside other projects that Class 4 children have completed in previous years. We would like to submit this piece of art work for your consideration.
Blue, white and orange were the agreed colour choices and would be used as a background in the children’s picture. Children brought in umbrellas to school and individually did their own observational drawings. They chose how to arrange the umbrellas and the angle they would take for their drawing.
Favourite observational drawings were then traced onto white tissue paper. Hot wax (under strict adult supervision) was applied to the tissue paper where the children wanted to retain the ‘white’ colour. Dyes were mixed at the discretion of the children to create a range of blue tones. The children then painted their umbrella images on the tissue paper.
Strips of blue and orange tissue paper were built up on a white background on hessian board. The umbrellas were then arranged on the background to create the desired effect. The children wish to add a raindrop effect to their picture and add a touch of ‘shine’ to catch the idea of water.
When the children were happy, the umbrellas were ‘ironed’ into place and hence fixed into position.
The technique of using hot wax on tissue paper has been tried before in school and the children are familiar with a picture created by a former class for Remembrance Sunday which uses this idea.
We enclose a photograph of the picture inspired by ‘The Umbrellas’. We hope you like it.
Year 1
Year 1 was first introduced to the painting displayed in the school’s atrium. They all sat on the floor, looking up at it and I asked them to talk to their partners about any initial feelings and ideas. We then held an open discussion session, and I noted all their ideas on the white board.
In Year 1 we having been focusing cross curricular on the topic of Toys. Perhaps due to this, the children were particularly drawn to the object the little girl in the painting was holding. This led on to a discussion of the sorts of toys they played with in the late 19 century, and how these differ from our toys today.
From here our idea was born. We would film the children playing with modern day toys in our playground at school. We would then ask the children to dress in Victorian clothes and play with toys from that era. Before this second session, we watched a film about Victorian toys and the children discussed how they felt about the toys and whether they would prefer them. The children were asked to imagine how it would feel to be a Victorian child before we filmed the footage depicting that era.
The sketch with the umbrellas was filmed one wet play time. The children’s imagination was captured by the multicoloured umbrella the teacher was twirling. This in turn inspired them to experiment with the other umbrellas.
Year 2
We have had so much fun in Year 2, working together to create this animation. The idea came from a discussion we were having about the lady in Renoir’s painting. The central figure in the painting does not have an umbrella and this was highlighted by the children who expressed a great deal of concern for her. After much discussion the children decided that if they saw someone out in the rain they would offer them shelter (or even an umbrella!).
The animation was our first ever attempt and obviously involved a lot of help and preparation. The children had the idea to recreate the scene of ‘a lady without an umbrella’ but by changing the setting to a more familiar one, our school field at playtime.
We took photographs and looked at some other animations on the internet. We took a liking to one in particular from the studio of Creative Cow. By using a mixture of photographs (colour and B&W), sketches, painting, inks and good old felt-tip pens the children were able to create this hand crafted effect.
We are excited to be sending our work in progress to the National Gallery and hope that someone can come and visit our fabulous school to meet the children and see what happens next.