Poppy creations peaceful addition

Janet Keen with (from left) St Mary's Catholic school pupils Lucille Pagaduan, Anova Santhosh, Aimee Larkin, all 10, with their giant poppies created at the Anzac mosaic workshop.

MOST of the week I have been at St Mary's Catholic School running an Anzac mosaic workshop, making 16 large poppies and a sign saying, "Lest We Forget". The children had been studying Anzac the week before so it was fresh in their minds.

We involved over 120 children and everyone loved it.

I also asked them to make posters about peace and angels started appearing all over the place. I love to see so much enthusiasm about art from principals, teachers, parents and pupils, as it helps to reinforce the value of hands-on, creative learning.

Children's comments often make me smile and laugh. A girl told me she thought I had a nice, style of dressing.

A boy told me that poppies sprang up in cemeteries where fallen soldiers lay buried in Flanders and they grew big and red because they were feeding off dead bodies.

I researched it on the internet and apparently the real reason they sprung up around the graves was because the seeds had been in the earth all along and digging up of the land made them germinate.

When you spend so many days thinking poppies you tend to start dreaming about them and you start believing they are a thing for everyone to make.

Some of my after-school art pupils agreed to paint or mosaic some mini peace poppies, so I have included a couple of their efforts here.

So please enjoy making your painted or mosaic peace poppies, hang them in your garden and be thankful we do not have war-ravaged bodies buried in our back yards.

Have a go at creating a peace poster and a three-lined poem, if you suddenly have a flash of divine inspiration. It just may make you feel more peaceful.

Materials needed

12 mm exterior grade plywood

Sandpaper

Testpot of Resene red paint

Testpot of Resene black paint

Paintbrush

Jigsaw

Pencil

Black felt pen

Scissors

Computer and printer

Hairdryer

Selleys, aquadhere, exterior grade PVA glue

Red tiles

Black tiles

Two-wheeled tile cutter

Directions

Google poppy silhouette

Enlarge it so it fits width-wise on to an A4 sheet of paper and print it out

Cut your paper poppy out

Lay it on top of your piece of exterior plywood and draw around it with a pencil

Cut it out with a jigsaw

Sand around the edges

Paint two coats of Resene red on the poppy, dry off in between coats with the hair dryer.

Paint a black circle in the middle and some lines with dots at the top

You can also mosaic some red and black tiles on another poppy as an alternative idea.

-Mosaic and painting workshops, Monday to Wednesday and Friday mornings and afternoons for adults and children. Phone 346-3435 or email jkeen@clear.net.nz. See my poppy making photos at janetkeen.blogspot.com