Three days or six lessons of making montages with year eight. We are using Paint Shop Pro 7 which is OK, it works. It is pretty complicated but a lot simpler than Photoshop. I have taken shots of the pupils which we have trimmed out and the intention is to show them how to use layers and effects. The project has got a bit bogged down this year in Facebook browsing which I don’t remember being the case so much last year. We aren’t getting as many printed outcomes as quickly this year. Two groups have printed off.

My examples have become quite Baroque as I have fiddled about with every effect in the box and I have had some fun with the controls on the layers, blending and darkening and using duplicates and so on. The original idea came from a Max Ernst collage and there are some Ernsts in the mix on mine. I dare say I could have used a more contemporary artist. Any suggestions?

So far the Identity project has been much the same as last year but next week I intend to go off piste with some life size paintings, using the space in the old DT room and looking at work directly made on the body.