NNFN Ideas: Postcard Competition 2

The theme of National Non-Fiction November this year is ‘Wonderful Water’, and our competition has been inspired by ‘Sea Change: Save the Ocean’, edited by Tobias Hickey of the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society at Worcester University. Published by Otter-Barry Books, this is a collection of original postcards and messages from 50 illustrators across the world, working to celebrate and protect the precious life in our oceans.

To enter, children are invited to create their own postcard. On one side, they should create (paint/ draw/ collage/ print etc) a picture of their favourite watery location and then on the reverse, write about why this place is so important to them.

There are three age group categories: 5-7 (30-40 words) 8-10 (40-60 words) 11-12 (60-100 words)

 Each will be judged on their originality, creativity and presentation, according to age.

Please send entries to Sea Change Competition, 123 Frederick Road, Cheam, Sutton, SM1 2HT

or email to nnfn@fcbg.org.uk

Closing date: Monday 4th December 2023

Bubble printing is always great fun to try (no matter how old you are) and creates some wonderfully watery pattern- perfect for using as a background for our postcard competition! Put down plenty of paper as this can get a little messy…

You need some wide rimmed cups or small bowls, food colouring, washing-up liquid, drinking straws and paper. Put a small amount of water at the bottom of your cup/bowl and add s few drops of food colouring and several drops of washing up liquid. You can use paint instead of food colouring, but might need to experiment with this! Give this a good mix.

Blow steadily into the mixture through a drinking straw until bubbles rise above the rim of the container (In the picture below, we hadn’t added enough food colour so just added more and blew again). Lower a piece of paper carefully onto the bubbles and as they pop, they will leave patterns on the paper. Repeat this until you are happy the paper is covered. More than one colour can be used to add to the interest.

Once dry, this can be used as the background for a drawing, painting or collage. My pictures show a few poor examples as by the time I got around to taking any, most pieces had been taken away! Will they be used to create entries for the competition?

Have fun!

NNFN2023 Ideas: Postcard Competition

The theme this year is ‘Wonderful Water’, and our competition has been inspired by ‘Sea Change: Save the Ocean’, edited by Tobias Hickey of the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society at Worcester University. Published by Otter-Barry Books, this is a collection of original postcards and messages from 50 illustrators across the world, working to celebrate and protect the precious life in our oceans.

To enter, children are invited to create their own postcard. On one side, they should create (paint/ draw/ collage/ print etc) a picture of their favourite watery location and then on the reverse, write about why this place is so important to them.

There are three age group categories: 5-7 (30-40 words) 8-10 (40-60 words) 11-12 (60-100 words)

 Each will be judged on their originality, creativity and presentation, according to age.

Please send entries to Sea Change Competition, 123 Frederick Road, Cheam, Sutton, SM1 2HT

or email to nnfn@fcbg.org.uk

Closing date: Monday 4th December 2023

Inspired by the gorgeous illustrations created by the contributors to ‘Sea Change’, we decided to play around with some ideas for creating the picture side of a postcard. Living close to the sea, beaches and seaside trips were a common theme when discussing places which are important.

Encaustic work is a form of painting which involves using heated wax. The molten wax is then applied to a surface, usually wood or canvas. The word ‘encaustic’ originates from the Ancient Greek ἐγκαυστικός, which means ‘burning in’ and the oldest examples of this art form are the Romano-Egyptian mummy portraits from around 100-300 AD. These days, small irons are generally used to melt the wax which is then applied to card, paper or other surfaces.

As a teacher, I have enjoyed teaching children Encaustic art as part of work on the Egyptians. When keen to have a turn at something (and I have never known a child who hasn’t wanted to have a go at this!), they are keen to pay attention to safety guidance and quick to understand and follow ‘rules’. Working with a small group, however, is much easier. Having watched a demonstration and experimented a little, everyone was keen to have a go!

Soon, filled with confidence, lots of experimentation was taking place and much ooohing and aaahing as different effects were discovered and more colours added! We have more ideas to explore and share before anyone decides what they might use as their entry to the competition, but everyone agreed encaustic art is great fun!