Rousseau Animals

I am absolutely in love with these Grade 1 paintings! As our last unit of the school year, we focused on art history under the theme of Where We Are in Place and Time by inquiring into the central idea of understanding others inspires us.

The students were introduced to Henri Rousseau by watching a Mati and Dada video about the artist. We also read the book The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel and Amanda Hall.

They then brainstormed about animals they were interested in and chose one for their final artwork. In their sketchbooks, the students listed their chosen animal and the animal's habitat. They thought about the best lines and colors that could represent their animal's habitat in an abstract way in order to plan their background.

The background was then created with oil pastels and water colors based on their sketchbook plan. Their animal was drawn large on a separate paper and filled in with water color as well. I had a lot of scrap painted paper that had been saved through out the year, and this was used to collage extra details into their background like grass, seaweed, or flowers. Myself and the students were so impressed with their final results, I couldn't be a happier art teacher!