Classroom Murals, no2

So, after painting murals of the "Hungry Caterpiller" and "The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me" in one of the classrooms last year, I have been asked to paint another one!! This time, I had two themes to chose from; Disney's The Jungle Book or Winnie the Pooh (Disney style). The brief was to decorate the empty space(s) in the classroom with something in particular that could be used as an alphabet line for the reception children to learn from.

I felt that of the two options, Winnie the Pooh would be the friendlier, lighter option; The Jungle Book  is visually quite dark and jungle-ly with some quite scary characters that might be intimidating for 4 and 5 year olds (I remember being quite scared by it myself!). An Infant school classroom needs to be bright, cheerful and friendly so Pooh it was!

I had quite an unsual space to fill; long and quite thin across the top of the display boards and the door so I looked at some of the stories for inspiration. I went through a lot of ideas for the alphabet line; butterflies, honey pots, bunting, leaves and dandilion seeds but I settled on the story of Winnie the Pooh and the Bees, where each bee will (eventually) be holding a letter.

Here's the results:

 Over the cupboard doors:

I want to do a Tigger in the last empty space in the room at a future date but for now, I just hope the new intake like their classroom come September!

If only I could do this sort of thing everyday... It would be a dream!

Some things that caught my eye in Agadir, Morocco

Me and the other half took our first holiday together (in seven years!!) in June to Agadir in Morocco. Our hotel (Riu Tikida Dunas) was beautiful; very clean, large rooms, massive lagoon type pools and an abundance of food to choose from in the restaurants. The staff were lovely too and although the evening shows weren't West End quality, everyone enjoyed them and had a good giggle.

We went on two excursions; a camel ride which was enjoyable but after 2 hours in the sun, in the desert wasteland of Agadir, we were cream-crackerd! Our second excursion was the Atlas Mountain 4x4 trip and my favourite of the two. The scenery was breath-taking and we saw lots of little villages who, although have no running water, every house had a satellite dish and a TV!! We had a Berber breakfast in a traditional Berber house of "Moroccan whiskey" ( mint tea with honey), Berber bread, argan oil, olive oil, honey and this stuff which tasted like watery peanut butter. It was ok but I'm not a fan of peanuts so not something I'll be recreating at home! The only downside to the day trip that I got quite ill on our return so that was me out for the count for the next few days! Still, we saw and tasted some amazing things and, although I probably wont go back to Morocco ( I don't like to go to the same place twice), it was good to get away and relax! But the question is, where do we go next holiday?!!

In the lobby of our hotel, there were loads of these huge and beautiful paintings signed by an artist called Garcia Gutierrez. I'm still trying to find out who this is but all of the paintings are stunning. A sort of quirky mix of traditional Moroccan life with a modern, vibrant twist. If anyone knows who this artist is, please tell me

Again, I haven't the foggiest who did these (I imagine one of the chefs) but different food sculptures were displayed in the hotel restaurant every evening and they were a visually edible delight to see!

A Lovely and Eventful May Weekend

Well, what a weekend!! After my stressful time trying to un-delete my blog, I went to the cinema to see The Lucky One with my best bud. What a lovely, lovely film... and Zac Efron is just... mmmmmm! However, I am yet to see or read a Nicholas Sparkes film/book where someone doesn't die...So if anyone can recommend one where that doesn't happen, I want to read it!!

It's definately one to add to my DVD collection but the highlight of the film wasn't the shower scene with Efron but the experience of the poor boy three seats away. For some reason ( I can't think of one) the wee Goosberry had come to the cinema with his friend/sister/cousin and her boyfriend who snogged constantly throughout the film whilst the poor boy hid his head in his hood trying to make it all go away! On one side he had Efron doing his thing and the other, loves young dream. What could he do but hide, bless him!!! I've never seen someone leave a cinema as quick as he did as soon as the credits started to roll!

Now this is going to sound really old and boring and whilst I don't mind PDA's, I would have thought that if you are going to go to the cinema and pay nearly £10 plus nibbles for the privaledge, at least actually watch the film!!! Haha I sound like my Nan!

Now Sunday was another kettle of fish altogether! I took my Dad to Bruges in Belguim for the day (birthday treat) and it was grand, apart from having to get up at 5! It's a really beautiful city and I definately recommend a trip, even if it's only for 4 hours! We had frites and a bratwurst in the square and wondered around all the beautiful chocolate shops. People were putting up fences and we didn't know what for but then there was a huge cheer and it was the Bruges Marathon! You don't see one of them every day! And, the clean up afterwards was so quick it was amazing! All the runner's cups and bottles were picked up in seconds and within 5mins you wouldn't have known there had been a marathon at all!

Now another recommendation is the Salvador Dali Gallery in the square- he's an artist I've always found very interesting and intriguing.

And very, very odd.

Maybe that's why I like his stuff! My favourite pieces were the Three Elephants (elephants with long spidery legs, carrying strange objects) and his images combining photos with other mediums but (annoyingly) I don't know what they are called. Not overly fond of the strange squiggly stuff  but Alice in Wonderland and Dante's Inferno are also must-see pieces!