Monday 1 July 2013
Friday 21 June 2013
Art
This is an artwork that I have drawn recently. It is a still life of a plate of fruit which was in front of me when I drew it.
Post Impressionism
Recently we have been to Paris and seen many famous artworks, in the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay and the Orangerie. I have seen many styles of paintings in these three art galleries and one of my favourites is post impressionism.
Post impressionism, is the name given to a group of artists in the late 19th and very early 20th century. The artists were inspired by impressionism, and some of their paintings are quite similar to this style, but they are not centred on nature, unlike the impressionists. A lot of post impressionist paintings have vibrant colours and a lot of emotion.
My favourite Post Impressionist artist is Vincent Van Gogh. His paintings had thick, clearly visible brush strokes and a lot of emotion. Some of his most famous paintings are "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night". I have seen a lot of paintings by him at the Musee D'Orsay and my favourite is "Starry Night over the Rhone" (not to be confused with his most famous artwork, Starry Night).
The artwork is a painting of the River Rhone at night, painted by Van Gogh in 1888. In the foreground there is the bank of the Rhone, with two lovers on it and two boats floating in the water. As you can see, it is not a realistic painting but undoubtedly a good one!
Post impressionism, is the name given to a group of artists in the late 19th and very early 20th century. The artists were inspired by impressionism, and some of their paintings are quite similar to this style, but they are not centred on nature, unlike the impressionists. A lot of post impressionist paintings have vibrant colours and a lot of emotion.
My favourite Post Impressionist artist is Vincent Van Gogh. His paintings had thick, clearly visible brush strokes and a lot of emotion. Some of his most famous paintings are "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night". I have seen a lot of paintings by him at the Musee D'Orsay and my favourite is "Starry Night over the Rhone" (not to be confused with his most famous artwork, Starry Night).
The artwork is a painting of the River Rhone at night, painted by Van Gogh in 1888. In the foreground there is the bank of the Rhone, with two lovers on it and two boats floating in the water. As you can see, it is not a realistic painting but undoubtedly a good one!
Tuesday 18 June 2013
Paris
Last week we caught the channel train to Paris. The train went under the English Channel and across the French countryside before we arrived.
Paris was amazing and we did heaps of great things. Here are a few of my favourites:
1. Place de la Concorde
The place de la Concorde is a square in Paris between the Arc de Triumph and the Tuileries Gardens. It was the square where the guillotine was set up during the French Revolution so it is the place where Marie Antoinette and her husband were beheaded. When we arrived at the Place de la Concorde, my sisters and I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. We also saw the Arc de Triomphe. In the centre of the Place de la Concorde was a huge Egyptian obelisk, set up in Victorian times to distract people from the square's grisly history.
2. Montmartre
The hill of Montmartre is the highest point in Paris and was the home of many artists including Van Gogh. At Montmartre we visited the beautiful church of Sacre Coeur, positioned on top of Monmartre with a great view of the city. We also saw the 'je t'aime' wall (a wall covered with 'I love you' in all the languages of the world), a square with heaps of artists there painting portraits of tourists, and the Moulin Rouge (Red Mill). We had gelatos, too!
3. The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the Paris World Fair. The tower was meant to be temporary but became permanent instead. For 41 years it was the world's tallest man made structure! When we visited the Eiffel Tower, I climbed to the second level with my family and took a lift to the top. The view was amazing. I even saw a hot air balloon!
4. The Louvre
Once a palace, the Louvre is a magnificent art gallery with over 30,000 artworks including the Mona Lisa. When we visited the Louvre we saw many famous artworks: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and heaps of other great things!
Paris was incredible.
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| Me and Becca on the train |
Paris was amazing and we did heaps of great things. Here are a few of my favourites:
1. Place de la Concorde
The place de la Concorde is a square in Paris between the Arc de Triumph and the Tuileries Gardens. It was the square where the guillotine was set up during the French Revolution so it is the place where Marie Antoinette and her husband were beheaded. When we arrived at the Place de la Concorde, my sisters and I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. We also saw the Arc de Triomphe. In the centre of the Place de la Concorde was a huge Egyptian obelisk, set up in Victorian times to distract people from the square's grisly history.
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| our family at the Place de la Concorde |
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| the Obelisk |
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| Place de la Concorde with the Arc de Triomphe behind |
2. Montmartre
The hill of Montmartre is the highest point in Paris and was the home of many artists including Van Gogh. At Montmartre we visited the beautiful church of Sacre Coeur, positioned on top of Monmartre with a great view of the city. We also saw the 'je t'aime' wall (a wall covered with 'I love you' in all the languages of the world), a square with heaps of artists there painting portraits of tourists, and the Moulin Rouge (Red Mill). We had gelatos, too!
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| me at the top of Montmartre |
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| in front of the house where Van Gogh lived |
3. The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the Paris World Fair. The tower was meant to be temporary but became permanent instead. For 41 years it was the world's tallest man made structure! When we visited the Eiffel Tower, I climbed to the second level with my family and took a lift to the top. The view was amazing. I even saw a hot air balloon!
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| climbing the Eiffel Tower |
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| at the very top! |
4. The Louvre
Once a palace, the Louvre is a magnificent art gallery with over 30,000 artworks including the Mona Lisa. When we visited the Louvre we saw many famous artworks: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and heaps of other great things!
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| in front of the Louvre |
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| in front of the Mona Lisa |
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| Dad and me in front of The Rebel Slave by Michelangelo |
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| looking at one of the works of art with dad and Bec and Elsie |
Paris was incredible.
Saturday 15 June 2013
Imperial War Museum Duxford
On the 5th of June, we visited the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. It was an amazing place and has an incredibly interesting history. Since before WWI it was a military base and continued to be one until the 70s when it became a museum.
Many of the rooms housing the exhibits are the original rooms from when it was a RAF base, huge plane garages and long runways between them. One of the exhibits was the operations room, where decisions were made about where to send out squadrons of planes and what planes should be sent.
The main exhibits were WWII planes and other things from the World Wars. Some of the latter were searchlights which would have scanned the skys of London during the blitz for planes flying overhead under cover of Darkness, and gun turrets (I think that was the name, please correct me if I am wrong) that were dome shaped and made of concrete. There was a slit in them and a man would sit inside and fire out of the slits with a gun. There was also a truck with a winch on it for inflating barrage balloons.
However the imperial war museum mainly housed planes, from modern planes to biplanes and WWII fighters, it had it all, even a piece of the Wright Brothers' flying machine, the first ever flying machine capable of powered flight. We went inside a Concorde plane, explored the science of how planes fly in some science experiments, and saw many WWII fighters and bombers. It even had a Harrier plane, the only plane able to take off and land vertically!
The Imperial War Museum was great!!!!
Many of the rooms housing the exhibits are the original rooms from when it was a RAF base, huge plane garages and long runways between them. One of the exhibits was the operations room, where decisions were made about where to send out squadrons of planes and what planes should be sent.
The main exhibits were WWII planes and other things from the World Wars. Some of the latter were searchlights which would have scanned the skys of London during the blitz for planes flying overhead under cover of Darkness, and gun turrets (I think that was the name, please correct me if I am wrong) that were dome shaped and made of concrete. There was a slit in them and a man would sit inside and fire out of the slits with a gun. There was also a truck with a winch on it for inflating barrage balloons.
However the imperial war museum mainly housed planes, from modern planes to biplanes and WWII fighters, it had it all, even a piece of the Wright Brothers' flying machine, the first ever flying machine capable of powered flight. We went inside a Concorde plane, explored the science of how planes fly in some science experiments, and saw many WWII fighters and bombers. It even had a Harrier plane, the only plane able to take off and land vertically!
The Imperial War Museum was great!!!!
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| Me in front of a replica Supermarine Spitfire |
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| Grandad and me looking at an aircraft |
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| Me discovering the science behind flight |
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| Me at the air and space exhibit |
Thursday 13 June 2013
Nottingham
Several weeks ago we visited Nottingham, a town in the midlands of England which is associated with the legends of Robin Hood. One of our ancestors, Joseph Woodward, came from Nottingham and was involved in the Nottingham reform bill riots of 1831.
The first place we saw in Nottingham was Nottingham castle. The history of this castle dates back to the reign of William I. He ordered a wooden fort to be built on castle rock, a tall, natural rock formation. Nottingham castle was changed in many ways over the centuries until it became the elaborate Georgian palace it is today. However, the Georgian palace was almost entirely destroyed in 1831 when reform bill rioters burnt Nottingham Castle and turned it into a scorched, empty, shell. It remained a ruin until 1875 when it was repaired, and turned into one of the first museums outside London.
The highlight of Nottingham castle was for me, definitely the cave tour. It was a tour through the medieval man made caves that wind through castle rock and their history.
After Nottingham castle we visited the old Nottingham jail, now a museum, the gaol where Joseph Woodward, one of our ancestors was tried for burning a hovel down during the Nottingham riots.
In the gaol, we saw the court room where Joseph Woodward was tried, many of the cells including the pits, horrible cruel dark cells cut out of the rock that were so horrible they were outlawed by the Victorians, dark cells, cells that were almost pitch black, even when the door was open, "improved" cells an improvement to the pits but cold, dark and horrible, that like the pits, had no toilets so it all went on the floor, a medieval cell and an Oubliette, basically a pit dug into the ground where victims were just dropped in and left to die.
We also saw the gallows and the exercise yards as well as
the name of Valentine Marshall, etched into the brick of the mens exercise
yard. He was transported to Australia, like Joseph Woodward.
The first place we saw in Nottingham was Nottingham castle. The history of this castle dates back to the reign of William I. He ordered a wooden fort to be built on castle rock, a tall, natural rock formation. Nottingham castle was changed in many ways over the centuries until it became the elaborate Georgian palace it is today. However, the Georgian palace was almost entirely destroyed in 1831 when reform bill rioters burnt Nottingham Castle and turned it into a scorched, empty, shell. It remained a ruin until 1875 when it was repaired, and turned into one of the first museums outside London.
The highlight of Nottingham castle was for me, definitely the cave tour. It was a tour through the medieval man made caves that wind through castle rock and their history.
After Nottingham castle we visited the old Nottingham jail, now a museum, the gaol where Joseph Woodward, one of our ancestors was tried for burning a hovel down during the Nottingham riots.
In the gaol, we saw the court room where Joseph Woodward was tried, many of the cells including the pits, horrible cruel dark cells cut out of the rock that were so horrible they were outlawed by the Victorians, dark cells, cells that were almost pitch black, even when the door was open, "improved" cells an improvement to the pits but cold, dark and horrible, that like the pits, had no toilets so it all went on the floor, a medieval cell and an Oubliette, basically a pit dug into the ground where victims were just dropped in and left to die.
Tuesday 28 May 2013
Badger Watch
On the 28th of May, I stayed the night at the house my grandad and nanna are staying in in England. It is a small cottage with a backyard 4 acres in area and has a newt pond and an orchard. Green woodpeckers, foxes, rabbits, pheasants, partridges and muntjac deer have been seen in it by my Grandad.
A little later, a fox's silhouette crossed the meadow and another silhouette crossed the meadow a minute later. The second silhouette was different to the first, it was much stockier. The silhouette shuffled towards the hide and suddenly, it was close enough for me to see its head colour. Its head was white, with black stripes. It was undoubtedly a badger!
Grandad and nanna picked me up from my house and took me to their house. After a snack we went pond dipping in the newt pond. Pond dipping is when you scoop up pond life in a butterfly net. We caught lots of the wild animals that inhabit the pond - water striders, an aquatic leech and lots of common newts. The male newts were very colourful with a long crest and the females were plain and brown.
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| A female newt |
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| Me freeing a newt |
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| Me watching the newts |
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| A male newt |
Then we had to go inside and after having dinner, left for Tewin Orchard nature reserve. We were going to stay up late, in a badger hide!
We arrived at the hide at 7:45. There were lots of rabbits outside it and we caught a glimpse of a muntjac deer, trotting across the meadow into the undergrowth. About an hour later, we heard the scream of a barn owl and the hoot of a tawny owl. A muntjac deer came right up to the hide windows and started eating the nuts laid out to attract animals.
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| Me, Nanna and Grandad |
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| The muntjac deer |
After that it just got better. The badger came right up to the hide and after sniffing the air, settled down to a dinner of nuts. Soon another badger arrived, and a mangy fox which sat behind a log right near the hide. Then a third badger and a young fox arrived. The foxes ate a few things on the ground and I think one killed a rabbit. Anyway, the other fox came to the one with the rabbit and the two started fighting rearing up on their hind legs and narrowing the eyes, they snarled and showed their ferocious toothy jaws before one of them trotted off towards our hide. More and more badgers arrived, feasting on the nuts. It was an incredible experience!
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| A badger |
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| four of the badgers (the fifth was just outside the camera view |
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| Me with my binoculars |
Soon we had to leave the hide. After briefly getting very lost in the nature reserve, we reached the car. We got back at 12:30 and on the drive home I think I saw a bat!
The Tewin Orchard Badger Hide was great!!
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