Rupert House Artists Create Giant LP Treescape

An artistic cohort of Year 5 students from Rupert House School, Henley, arrived at Leighton Park hungry for food and creative sustenance on Tuesday 5^th July. Fortunately their sketching workshop was preceded by a delicious lunch in Oakview restaurant and they were able to assuage their preprandial cravings with a variety of hot food, pasta, salads and lashings of scrumptious dessert.

Once fed and watered, the group gathered on the field opposite Townson, where Head of Art, Mark Wood, and Artist in Residence, Tom Scotcher, had set up a large drawing board, capable of accommodating 19 pupils. Tom demonstrated the use of charcoal to effectively outline the horizon of trees along the upper edge of the Park and the students eagerly got stuck in to their giant masterpiece. They paid careful attention to the variety of foliage and the difference of heights and perspective needed to accurately recreate the view in front of them. Once the treeline was drawn the focus shifted to the sky and the spaces between the trees were sketched in. The overall piece was extremely effective and the students admired their finished work over cookies and juice.

“It was very fun!” exclaimed Juliet. “My favourite part was drawing a big picture together and combining our artwork.” reflected Lara, whereas for Arabella May it was “that you could have fun and express your creativity”. “It was the best Tuesday of term!” concluded Zahra.

Rupert House teacher, Julia Smith who accompanied the class, commented, “It was a fantastic workshop; the children loved it.” Head of Art for the group, Nicki Poulter, added, “I hoped the children would gain the experience of a different art teacher and approach (I am the only one at Rupert House) and the workshop was really strong in successfully achieving our aims. The children loved it and their skills really improved by the end of the workshop.”