We asked Carine Roberts- one of our oh-so loyal Facebook fans to write a post for us on her experience with the Face Britain campaign and boy, she didn’t disappoint

What a fantastic week it’s been! I organised and ran two Face Britain art afternoons at my children’s school, St Philips R.C Primary School, Uckfield. I originally read about the project on the Photobox Facebook page and thought that it was a fantastic project to be a part of.

I was inspired to approach my children’s school and ask if they wanted to take part in this project and become a part of British history. I had help from several parent volunteers, and we were really lucky that all the teachers were on board too. The children were thrilled that their works of art would be used to make up a gigantic portrait of the Queen and they were also amazed that their pictures would be held in the National Archives. I was adamant that they shouldn’t get too bogged down with trying to make their pictures perfect works of art (I used to find drawing myself so difficult at school – especially my nose!)

We were really nervous about using acrylics on canvas with the reception children, but it was a huge success. The children loved finger painting and exploring different effects by using different parts of their hands. I am now in the process of collecting the parent consent forms and once they’re all in, I will be uploading them onto the Face Britain gallery for all the parents to see. It’s not just about getting them printed as photos or even greetings cards, Photobox can transfer your children’s art onto mugs, mousemats and even t-shirts! I’m thinking that my children would love to see their mugs on a mug… All in all, it wasn’t too difficult to organise and it was well worth it – I’m still on a high after seeing so many excited children creating such happy, colourful self-portraits!

Carine xx