Tag Archives: National Gallery

Owl goes to London

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This is a guest post by Owl.

Two weeks ago I went to London with Granny.  We went on a Southern train and then on an Overground train.  We got off at London Bridge station and walked to Granny and Grandpa’s flat.  We had supper there and then Grandpa came home from work.  I went to bed and read “Secret Seven Fireworks” and then I went to sleep.  When I woke up I had breakfast and then we went out into London.  We took a bus to Trafalgar Square and went into the National Gallery.

We saw lots of paintings, including Monkey’s favourite one, “The Archers.”  My favourite was “The Cornfield” by John Constable.  We also looked at “Bathers at Asnieres” by Georges Seurat.  Granny told me about Pointillism which is using dots of different colours which merge together when you look at them from far away.  This painting was not painted with this technique, but later Seurat added dots of colour to some parts of the picture, including orange and blue dots to the boy’s hat.  I also like “The Umbrellas” by Renoir.  I like its detail and the little girl with the hoop (like Rabbit.)

I also liked “The Skiff (La Yole)” by Renoir, and we looked at the brush strokes and how the artist created the effect of the water.  After we left the gallery, we went on the train to Granny and Grandpa’s house.  When we got there Granny and I drew a picture together using pastels.  It is a picture of a boat on the water, and in the distance is the riverbank and a big hill.  We showed the reflections on the water by doing the colours faintly, using several different colours and making the strokes go sideways.  It was fun going on a trip and doing a picture with Granny.

What is your favourite picture?  Share it here!

Monkey goes to London

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This post is written by Monkey.

On Tuesday I went to London on a train with Granny.  On the way we played I-Spy and we sang “Yellow Bird.”  When the train stopped we got off and went on an underground train.  We walked past Tower Bridge and we saw that the bridge was open so we walked nearer to it.  We saw two boats go under it and we watched it close.  I noticed there was an Olympic sign on the top part of the bridge.  We went to the flat and I saw my bed and bedroom, and also Grandpa.  Then I had supper which was pasta with cheese and tomato in.  After supper, Granny read me a story called “Katie and the British Artists” by James Mayhew, and we watched some football on the television.

Next morning at breakfast I had Oatibix and Weetabix, and then I had a bath and hair wash.  Granny checked that everything was in my backpack and then we went out.  We went on an underground train and a bus to the National Gallery.  First we went to the cafe and I had some lemon cake and juice which I shared with Granny. Then we went in a room with some pictures and we saw one which is in the book about Katie.  It is a picture of a horse and it is called “Whistlejacket.”  It is by George Stubbs.

We found all of the pictures from the book, except for “The Painter’s Daughters Chasing a Butterfly.” I also saw another picture I liked which was called “The Archers” and I decided to draw it in my notebook.  It is by Sir Henry Raeburn.

When we were going out of the gallery, we heard the sound of bagpipes, and a few minutes later we saw the piper.  Then we went home on the train.