Aargh! The sickness bug is getting a real grip on the school now. Teachers, cleaners, students, everyone. Environmental Health closed the school down this afternoon, so there was no late evening and no life drawing. I'm feeling fine, myself, but it's the kind of thing that leads you to keep asking yourself whether you're actually starting to feel a little bit ill …
Nonetheless, it was a good day. My Fouth Form lesson first thing this morning went well. I got the students to draw their poppyheads in the form of archaeological diagrams: well, might as well use the resources you have at hand, and I do have an archaeologist as a husband! The students were bemused but soon caught on and did a great job.
The big achievement of the day was getting a metre-square stretcher made by the kind man in Design & Technology, stretching and priming a canvas, and dividing it into 16 squares, numbered in charcoal. Then I attached it to the wall upside down and there I had it – the basic structure that will enable me to have a go at making my first oil painting. I've been watching the Lower Sixth all around me working on their self portraits using exactly this starting point, so I thought I'd jump in and have a go too. Not a self portrait, I hasten to add. It'll be something Festial related, needless to say. Now I just have to decide on an image and cut it into 16 little squares to copy. Easy – maybe!
