​On Thursday 21st, we were delighted to welcome artist Maeve Clancy to Cloonlyon NS for a very special art workshop as part of our Creative Schools journey.

Maeve was fantastic with the children and encouraged them to slow down, observe carefully, and really notice the details in the world around them. Throughout the day, the children explored a variety of artistic techniques and learned the importance of looking closely before putting pencil or paint to paper.

The workshop began with the children drawing their non-dominant hand, a challenging but enjoyable exercise that encouraged careful observation and attention to detail. From there, they moved on to sketching flowers, grasses, and other natural objects, taking time to study shapes, lines, and textures.

The final activity saw the children working in pairs to create watercolour portraits of one another. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they experimented with colour, brush techniques, and capturing the unique features of their partners.

The children thoroughly enjoyed every part of the day and produced some beautiful work. More importantly, they learned valuable skills about observation, creativity, and artistic expression.

A huge thank you to Maeve for sharing her time, expertise, and enthusiasm with us. We were incredibly fortunate to have her guide the children through such a memorable and inspiring day of art. 🌟🎨

Today we were delighted to welcome Breda Burns to our school as part of our involvement in the Creative Schools project.

Breda is a wonderful artist, and her visit was a fantastic introduction to the creative journey we will be taking this year. She worked with pupils from Juniors right up to Sixth Class, and it was lovely to see so many artistic talents on display throughout the school.

During the workshop, Breda showed the children how to design and create their very own customised badges. Each pupil had the opportunity to think creatively, design something personal and meaningful, and then see how their artwork was transformed into a real badge. Breda carefully guided each child through the process, explaining how the badges are made and helping them bring their ideas to life.

The excitement in the room was clear as everyone proudly wore their finished badge home. It was a hands-on, engaging experience that encouraged creativity, confidence, and individuality.

​A big thank you to Breda for such an inspiring and enjoyable day. We are really looking forward to continuing our Creative Schools journey together! 

Our art lesson on Friday was full of colour, creativity, and a real sense that spring has arrived! The children created beautiful Cherry Blossom tree paintings, using a mix of watercolours, poster paints, brushes, and cotton wool.

To begin, the children painted the sky and grass using watercolours, carefully blending colours to create soft spring backgrounds. Once these were complete, they added the tree roots, trunk, and branches, thinking about shape, line, and detail as they worked.

​The most exciting part came next! Using pink and white poster paint and cotton wool balls, the children gently dabbed blossom onto their trees. This technique created a lovely textured effect and brought the paintings to life. There was great concentration, creativity, and lots of smiles as each tree bloomed.

​The finished artwork is bright, cheerful, and full of springtime joy. Our classroom is now blooming with Cherry Blossom trees — a wonderful celebration of the new season and the children’s fantastic artistic effort. 🌸✨

Last week in art, the children from 1st to 6th Class explored a magical mix of colour, texture, and printing as they created their very own Northern Lights scenes.

The lesson began with the children experimenting with printing techniques. Using coloured paints, black card, and pieces of plastic, they learned how to drag and blend the colours to mimic the glowing movement of the Aurora Borealis. It was wonderful to see each child experimenting with different shapes and strokes to make their lights shine across the sky.

Once the colourful backgrounds were complete, the children added white paint to gently create stars twinkling across the night sky. When everything had dried, it was time for the final touch — a silhouette scene of their choice. Some chose forests, mountains or animals, while others designed cityscapes or imaginative shapes.

Placing the silhouettes over their Northern Lights backgrounds created stunning contrast and truly mesmerising artwork. Each piece is unique, expressive, and full of personality — and our classroom walls are now glowing with beautiful scenes inspired by nature.

​A fantastic blend of creativity, colour, and new art skills — well done to all our talented young artists! 🌌✨🎨

The Junior Room have been busy little artists this week, exploring colour in a fun and creative way! Our focus was on the primary colours blue and yellow, and what happens when we mix them.

The children began by looking around their classroom and school grounds to find blue and yellow objects in the world around them. Once they had explored the two colours, it was time for some colour mixing magic! When the children mixed blue and yellow paint, they discovered a brand-new colour: green! 🌿

There was great excitement as everyone experimented with different amounts of blue and yellow to make light greens, dark greens, and everything in between.

​This was a hands-on, sensory activity that helped the children learn about colour in a meaningful and enjoyable way. Our classroom is now full of bright green artwork and very proud young artists! 💚🎨