Young artists from across the Axe Valley enjoy a stay at the Beaford centre in North Devon

Midweek Herald: Axe Valley arists at BeafordAxe Valley arists at Beaford (Image: Archant)

Youngsters from across the Axe Valley produced some colourful paintings during a stay in North Devon.

The Axe Valley Community College organised the residential course at the Beaford Arts Centre and invited along youngsters from several local primary schools. These included All Saints, St Mary’s RC, Beer, Musbury, Seaton and Shute .

Emily Slade, a Year 6 pupil from Seaton Primary School, said she had really enjoyed her stay at Beaford - a rural arts organisation which specialises in providing high quality art experiences for schools and communities.

She said: “I feel that the skills I have learnt will help me in later life. We all had a wonderful trip and the days were so crammed with art that they flew by.

“We experienced drawing plants and our fellow students in the woods. After that we made silhouettes, using graphite powder and templates made from our drawings and foliage we had collected.

“The next day we played with tissue paper shapes and harmonious and complementary colours. Finally, we combined all that we had learnt into our final canvases, we worked and built up our pictures in stages from rough sketches to glorious masterpieces. There were a few minor hiccups along the way, but overall none of this would have been possible without the help and guidance of Gemma Fletcher and Charles Sinclair, the art teachers at The Axe Valley Community College who came with us on this trip.”