A drawing in pastels for 4B

4B children in Victoria shared their portraits in pastels. Their artwork is vivid.

Pastel Portraits

In a comment I left them, I described a drawing of a blue wren I prepared for a post in 2013. It was first outlined in pencil before being coloured with pastels. I then used a finger to smear colours for a smoother blend and finally used a pencil point to add texture. As comment sections on blogs rarely allow graphics, below in the drawing for them to see if they wish...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

You can click on the picture to see it enlarged.

38 thoughts on “A drawing in pastels for 4B

  1. Georgie(a student from 4B)

    Dear Ross Mannel,

    I loved the picture of your bird! The blue really stood out!
    With our pastel painting it was awesome to smear out our colours.

    I love the wren!

    A 4B student, Georgie 😎

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Georgie,

      Thank you for leaving a comment. Experimenting with different media (paints, pastels, crayons, pencils, etc) can be fun, especially if we find new ways of using them. The wren was just a quick sketch for a post but I have seen artist’s beautiful works with pastels. Your class portraits looked brilliant.

      Reply
  2. Eerie

    Dear Ross,

    Thank you for leaving a comment on our blog!All of 4B were glad you liked our pastel portraits!

    We looked at your pastel wren and thought it was neat and very pretty!

    From,
    Eevie

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Thank you for the comment, Evie. Drawing is only a hobby for me. I’m still discovering ways of improving. No matter how old we are, we can continue to learn if we keep our minds and eyes open.

      Reply
  3. Nell

    Dear Ross,

    4b are really glad you left a comment on our blog.

    Your picture is so nice and cool.

    Your a great artist,
    NellπŸ˜„πŸ˜ƒπŸ˜œπŸ˜œ

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Nell,

      Drawing is only a hobby and I only use pastels occasionally. With art, the most important person to make happy with what your produce is yourself. If others like it, that’s a bonus. I enjoyed looking at all of your class portraits. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  4. Summer

    Dear Ross,
    I love your drawing of the bird the blue realy caught my eyes with our pastel portraits we used lots of rainbow coulers 😎
    Ps. You are awesome at drawing

    Best wishes SummerπŸ˜ƒπŸŒŸ

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Summer,

      One of the best things about pastels is the vibrant (powerful) colours seem to leap off the page. I chose pastels over coloured pencils when I needed a quick drawing of the wren because the colours would show up much better. Keep exploring art, it’s a great hobby.

      Reply
  5. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    My name is Sienna I am not in Miss Jordons class but I work with Miss Jordon a lot.
    I love that you got to reply to 4B’s blog it was a wonderful comment .
    Your picture of the bird on your blog it is creative and Magnificent there is heaps more words I could use to describe it but it might take to long I might use one more word Amazing ,it just makes me feel happy.My class 4A did pastel portrites as well .
    Keep in touch
    Sienna 4A

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,

      I have known Miss Jordan through blogging for a couple years now (we have never met). I think you will enjoy some of the activities if you are working with her. I know her classes have had wonderful learning experiences so, even if you’re not in her class, you can be involved.
      Commenting on blogs is something I have been involved in since 2011. This blog was set up in May 2012 so I could share, photos, drawings sound and videos when commenting. A normal comments box doesn’t allow much more than typing but there can be so much more to share than words alone. If you have the chance to blog, remember the safety on line rules and see where in the world your blogging can take you.

      Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Lily,

      We all start with our first comment on a blog. I have probably left 1000s by now. I’ve lost count. πŸ™‚

      This blog was started on May 23, 2012 and replaced an earlier blog I had for a short time so it has been running for 1 year and 9 months.

      On this blog you can see it has a small world map showing how many times this blog has been visited. It now reads around 64,000 visits. The flags show since February, 2013 there have been visitors from 174 countries. It’s pretty amazing. I never thought this would happen.

      If you start a blog with Miss Jordan’s help, write about things you like and visit other people’s blogs and leave comments (remember never to use your full name). When you visit others and comment, they are more likely to visit your blog.

      Don’t worry if it takes time to get visitors. Some of my blogs have had very few visitors. The main thing is to enjoy what you do. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  6. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    Thank you for reding my comment it is very kind of you.Are blogs easy to do because mum wants to know how to blog.
    Are you a teacher? You would be a very good teacher
    Thanks again,
    Sienna 4A

    Reply
  7. rossmannell

    Post author

    Hello Sienna,

    I started as a primary school teacher in the 1970s but am now retired. These days I work with some children’s writing blogs, visit class and school blogs, am a member of my local school’s P&C, and make CDs, and DVDs for schools and community groups. I may be a retired teacher but I keep very busy. πŸ™‚

    ** The information below is for your mum. Sienna, please don’t set up a blog by yourself. Wait to learn how to use the blogs you might learn about from Miss Jordan. The Victorian educational blogs are meant for children and are designed to keep you safe. Teachers can moderate (check visitors are okay) and they will help you learn safe blogging.

    Blogs can be easy to do once your mum learns the basics. Most suppliers are pretty good at helping a new user set up. She could try WordPress or any other supplier her friends might know about and see if she likes blogging. They normally allow a free blog for new users.
    Here is a link for your mum if she would like to try…
    https://signup.wordpress.com/signup/

    I hope your mum enjoys blogging. When I started in 2011, I didn’t know how much a part of my life it would become. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    Hi Ross,
    Thank you for reading my comment again,My Mum will be very proud to do her own blog she said that she wanted to know about the blog.
    How long have you been doing this blog for? I read it every single day even at night if I don’t have time after school.Yesterday the grade 3-6 went to swimming it was our last day we have been doing it for 2 weeks,I felt sick in my tummy after snack I told a teacher and they said when you get to swimming see how you are feeling, when we all got to swimming I felt really sick I told the teacher and they said I couldn’t do because I was really pail.They called the home phone because he had the day off it didn’t answer and I didn’t know he’s number so we had to ring my mum she was at work,my Mum answered she rang my Dad and he came to get me it was past 1:00pm.So that was my day what did you do?
    What country do you live in?
    I am writing so much don’t worry I am nearly finnish.Thank you for telling me how to do a blog and putting a website on so it could show us how to do a blog I will show my Mum.
    Over and Out,
    Sienna

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,

      I was sad to read you weren’t well. As a teacher, I have been to many swimming carnivals and know it’s never a good idea to compete when we’re not well. You have the weekend to recover.
      I live in a far distant country called Australia in a state called New South Wales. πŸ™‚ Like you, I’m an Aussie but, through blogging, I now work with children around the world. I think your mum would enjoy blogging. Like me, she might end up with more than one blog each with it’s own topic.
      This blog is my strongest blog and is now 21 months old. It was started in May, 2012 because I wanted to share video, photos, drawings and sound but couldn’t using just the comments box on a blog. The blue wren post is the 172nd post so later this year I should celebrate my 200th post.

      Reply
  9. Sienna

    Hi Ross
    I have been on your new post of all the animals and other things I really like them.How did you get that idea it is really good I love how you show different pictures.
    I am 9 years old which means I am in grade 4.

    Over and Out,
    Sienna

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,
      This is from the teacher part of me… It’s nice to see how interested you are in this blog. Just one small reminder when leaving comments on a blog, try not to give out too much personal information. It’s okay to let people know you enjoy a post’s topic or want to ask questions as I always try to answer questions or give more information if needed. You have to remember anything you leave as a comment could be seen by a large number of people. On my blog, I can edit comments left by others so I can remove personal information but others might not do that. I can see you have been careful not to leave important personal information (addresses, phone numbers, last names) so I think you understand but I always like to warn keen blog commenters.

      This is from the keen blogger and blog commenter part of me… One of my favourite blogging topics is animals. Many posts have included photos, videos, and/or sounds of animals but I also write about many other subjects because I find so much interesting. In Miss Jordan’s previous school, there were some students very keen on horses who shared their interest with me so I shared photos of horses I had taken. Other students have been interested in history, geography, science, maths or even music, dance and gymnastics. If a post by a class or student or a comment they leave catches my special interest, I will sometimes write a post to share special information. I never know when something will spark a memory for me. When it happens, a simple comment isn’t enough so a full post with lots of information might be written.

      My secret (not a very good one) is I keep my mind and eyes open to what’s happening around me. There are so many topics we could write about if we have the time (I don’t always have as much as I would like). I have, over the years, taken thousands of photos and quite a large amount of videos to help me when I blog. The last few weeks I have been scanning old 35mm colour film slides I took on a trip to Uluru I organised for families and students of my school back in 1985. Over 300 are now stored on my computer (my iPhoto has over 48,000 photos) and have already helped me when two students in England wrote about Australian deserts. Here is the link…
      http://rossmannellcomments.edublogs.org/2014/01/16/australian-red-centre-for-declan-and-connor/

      Remember, learning isn’t only something we should do while we’re in school. It’s a journey we should take throughout our lives. No matter how much we learn there is always so much we don’t as yet know. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  10. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    I feel much better now it was really nice of you to leave a comment I felt much better.Iwent to bed at 9:30pm but before I went to bed I went yo put my book away and there was a big black scarey spider in the wall, I told my mum and dad my brother all so came they couldn’t find it so I elwent in there and showed then where it was but it was it there so I screamed and cried they looked everywhere but they couldn’t find it the last place they looked was a cup bed there it was sitting on my typo bag y mum got the vacuum cleaner then whoosh there it went up the vacuum cleaner so that was my story of the big black white tail.You are the kindest teacher I have met not including BHPS teachers.
    Do you check the blog everyday?
    Keep in touch,
    Sienna

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hi again Sienna,
      Whenever I can, I check this blog daily but some days are very busy so I have little time to add posts,

      I know spiders can be scary for very many people, including my mother, but I have always found them interesting. When called to a class to remove a spider, I wouldn’t kill it, I would take it out and release it in the garden. Spiders can be helpful because they mostly like to invite insects to dinner but I don’t think they let the insects know they’re on the menu.
      There are some spiders I have a healthy respect for. They are our more dangerous types, particularly the Sydney funnel web spider. I was once called to identify a spider our school principal had found. I agreed it was a funnel web but explained to the principal it was already dead. Even so, she wanted me to be very careful handling it so I had to scoop it into a plastic container. She was, rightfully, worried there might be more so she had the school treated.
      The safest idea if you don’t know what a spider is would be to leave it alone but if it’s in your house it’s safer to kill it with a spray. Did you know they can survive in vacuum cleaner bags for some time? It’s better to empty your vacuum cleaner bag if you have sucked one up.
      You mentioned the spider was big, black and had a white tail. I think we have the same spiders here. If so, I call them white-tailed spiders. For people sensitive to their bite, their poison can cause problems but, luckily, most people, including me, aren’t that sensitive. I have been bitten more than once as they roam my house. Where they have bitten, I get a small itchy lump that goes away in a couple days. If you are interested in learning more about the white-tailed spider, here is a Wikipedia link…
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_spider

      Thanks for your kind words, Sienna. Keep learning. It opens up the world. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  11. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    Sorry next time I will try to not put personal information on is it ok if I can put on my favourite subject and what I did? But I will never put my birthday.
    I am so sorry,
    Warmly Sienna

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,

      You did nothing wrong. None of the information you gave was too personal. I just like to warn keen bloggers and blog commenters about safety online. On this blog, I can change any comments people leave so I can take out any information if I think it might be too personal. Many blogs don’t do that so it’s better to be careful on all.

      As a young student, the sort of information you shouldn’t share online are last (family) names, phone numbers, and addresses or even where you will be on a certain day or time. You were careful not to do this. Well done. πŸ™‚

      If your school allows you to have a blog of your own or you have a class blog, you most certainly can list favourite subjects and your learning adventures or hobbies. Being interested in the world around us is wonderful and it’s great to share with others who enjoy the same things. It would be okay to share where you have been such as having been to the zoo or hiking or on a day out with friends because you might want to share something you’ve seen or learned. This is the sort of information that can make blogs interesting for others.

      In comments, it would be okay to share your favourite subject and what you did if you think it has something to do with the blog you are viewing. It’s probably better not to use comments like email to write about anything. I think you are going to discover many wonderful class blogs this year. If you look at some of the other posts on this blog, you will find I am sharing with classes in other countries as well as Australia. If I am writing a post as a comment for them, you will find I have a link at the top of the post so others can see the class blog for which I am writing. For 4B in your school, the link is “Pastel Portraits”. For the Battalion Bloggers in Canada, it is “A Surprise Package Inspires Action!”. You could click on a link to see what other classes are doing. There are even some posts that were written for children in Miss Jordan’s previous school. You will find blogging can be exciting. It is for me. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  12. Lily

    Hi Ross,
    Your blog is amazingπŸ‘§. Did I say I love your art workπŸ†. I wish I can draw like you, please teach me how.
    Lily

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Lily,

      We can all draw. It’s only practise that has helped me but, compared to many sketch artists whose work I’ve seen, I still have a great deal to learn.

      Online, there are a number of sites sharing how to draw. I can give you the link below for just one. Scroll down to see the different types of drawing it shares…

      http://www.my-how-to-draw.com/

      Here are the “How to” topics the site shares. Just like reading, maths or playing sport, it’s practise that helps us become better.

      How to Draw Farm Animals
      How to Draw Dogs
      How to Draw Cats
      How to Draw More Animals
      How to Draw Disney Characters
      How to Draw the Simpsons
      How to Draw Superheroes
      How to Draw More Cartoons
      How to Draw More Characters
      How to Draw Machines
      How to Draw Mythical Creatures
      How to Draw People
      How to Draw Plants
      How to Draw Scenes
      How to Draw Flames
      How to Draw More Cool Stuff

      Drawing is only a hobby for me. During the school holidays, I help a vacation care group as a volunteer and often draw for the children. They like the cartoons I draw. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  13. Sienna

    Hi Ross ,
    You are always on the blog,you draw amazing I wish I can draw like that because it is fantastic.
    Over ad Out
    Sienna

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,

      Time can be a problem for me but I try to visit my blogs at least once a day. It’s comments from people like you that keep me interested. There are some great ideas in the world just waiting for a blog post and comments sometimes give me an idea. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  14. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    I have got to go on your blog for a long time,but I would like to know how do you draw like that.😍
    You are a very nice person I bet everyone would’ve loved you when you were a teacher.
    What grade dud you teach and what school?
    Over and Out
    SiennaπŸ˜‰

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,
      It’s nice to hear from you again. Drawing is like many things in life, the more we try the better we can become. It’s just a matter of practise and trying to improve. I first started drawing pictures for children when I was 20 so I have about 40 years practise and still don’t think I draw well. Maybe in another 40 years I’ll get it right but then again, maybe not. In 40 years I’d have to live to be 100. πŸ™‚

      I have taught classes from Kindergarten (Prep) to Year 6 and tutored Year 7 to 12 children in maths over the years but I mostly taught Years 3 to 5. If you click on the link below it will take you to a post on this blog where you can see the first school where I had a full time teaching position. I was the only teacher in a school 100km from the nearest town. The school appears in the second and last photo on the blog.

      http://rossmannellcomments.edublogs.org/2013/05/06/great-britain-and-australia-compared-for-our-world-our-numbers/

      Reply
  15. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    I have forgot to go on your blog for a long time,but I would like to know how do you draw like that.😍
    You are a very nice person I bet everyone would’ve loved you when you were a teacher.
    What grade did you teach and what school?
    Over and Out
    SiennaπŸ˜‰

    Reply
  16. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    My comment went on twice because first it didn’t work.
    I am so sorryπŸ˜‚
    Sienna😌

    Reply
  17. Lily

    Hi Ross,
    Thank you for giving me some Ideas for drawing. I haven’t got round to draw much. I love drawing things

    Over and out

    Reply
  18. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    Thank you for the reply.πŸ˜‰
    Eevie is so lucky yo be on you’re post😊
    Sienna

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,

      I never know when I will read something and end up writing a post. For Eevie, she mentioned history can be hard to understand and I had some ideas I wanted to share. The ideas included photos but photos can’t be used in the comments area. This meant I had to write a new post.
      At this time, I am reading through comments left by a class of 23 Canadian Year 3 students. Most get a comment with just words but one person wanted to know more about emus. In order to answer his questions, I wrote a complete post you can see on this blog by clicking the next link…
      Daniel wondered about the evolution of emus and other things
      Blogging can be fun but I love learning new information and it seems as though I always learn new things when researching for a blog post. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  19. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    I have not wrote a comment for agesπŸ˜ƒ

    We have been learning about Oceans for our inquiry topic.I have found out some information but I would like to know more
    Best Regards
    Sienna😍

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Sienna,

      Oceanography (the study of the world’s oceans) can be very interesting. I have seen data telling me 97% of the world’s water is found in our oceans and seas. Our oceans and seas cover over 70% of the Earth’s surface.

      Earth is the only planet in our Solar System known to have liquid surface water. Mars has ice at the poles and the harsh temperatures of Venus prevent liquid water. Europa, a moon of Jupiter, has an icy surface but may have an ocean below the icy surface.

      With so much liquid water, and being the only known place to have liquid surface water, the more we know of our precious oceans the better. Here is a link packed with information…
      http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/ocean

      I know information can sometimes seem hard to understand. In the link there is a great deal of information and no pictures to help. WE have to be able to read, understand and use the information we gather. This becomes easier the more you learn. If I find new information, I do my best to understand what it is. If I can’t, I try to find other information to help me. Yes, I also find things I don’t understand at times but I do like trying to find out.

      Keep learning.

      Reply
  20. Sienna

    Hi Ross,
    When I try to know facts about oceans sometimes I can’t understand it so I think they should put more pictures on so we can understand them more.
    From Sienna

    Reply

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