On Sunday, July 23 myself and my two youngest kiddos headed off to the Barbican Centre in London for a life drawing class with illustrator Rose Blake and Cadbury.
No, not the sort of life drawing that I did in my GNVQ art class at college (that would just be wrong) - this one was especially for children in support of the Adopt a Cow campaign by Cadbury.
Cadbury have created a realistic animatronic cow - seriously it's amazing and her name is Buttons - she was our life model for the afternoon.
So, we headed off to a room in the Barbican Centre for our Pi-Cow-So Masterclass. Buttons was stood in the middle of the room and what a magnificent specimen she was - ready to strike a pose. Easels were set up for the children to start sketching. Artist Rose Blake was there to help all the kids learn how to draw a cow with step-by-step examples. Plus there were chocolate buttons going begging - always a delicious incentive.
Now, we are an outdoor family, my children have seen cows lots of times so they are aware how big they are. But Cadburys launched this campaign because research has revealed that city children can be a bit confused when it comes to cows and what they look like. One in 10 believes that a cow is the size of a double decker bus whilst over 10 per cent think that they’re as small as cats. Buttons will really give them a great perspective to just how big a dairy cow is.
Below - meeting artist Rose Blake.
My kids had a really enjoyable time and they loved their goodie bags containing a sketch pad and pencils, a balloon and more chocolate buttons.
Look out for special promotional packs of Cadbury chocolate buttons where you could win a chance to stay at the Cadbury Farm - there you'll get to meet your cow and enjoy a field full of family-friendly activities. Visit www.cadburyadoptacow.com for more information.
Thank you to Cadbury and Rose Blake for inviting us along for the afternoon.