Jungle Landscapes with Henry Rousseau

I work at my children's school, LDV, with the Art Link program. We were asked by the Cheetah Wildlife Foundation to create works of art to be on display and sold at  well-known gallery here in Sacramento. 

Here is the lesson plan idea we used during the two Open Studio events:

LANDSCAPES: 

To have a landscape you have a horizon line

The horizon line separates the earth from the sky. The line is horizontal and usually the middle of the page. It is not always straight.

Foreground: bottom of your paper things are brightly colored, big and details

Middle ground: middle of the paper less detail, smaller and less colored

Background: Top of the page no detail, small and dull color

Henri Rousseau 

1844-1910

French artist

He was a self taught artist who often painted images of jungle scenes and animals. 

His work was usually bright and colorful 

He took up painting as a hobby and accepted early retirement in 1893 so he could devote himself to art.

He is part of the Post impressionists.

He showed his extraordinary ability to retain the utter freshness of his vision even when working on a large scale and with loving attention to detail

He is best know for his Sleeping Gypsy painting of 1897.

PROJECT: Create a Rousseau Style painting for wildlife foundation

Step1: grab your matte board and pencil

Step2: LIGHTLY draw your jungle scene. Be sure to include an animal, plants, and a tree

Thin about where to draw each Your cheetah could be in your foreground

or middle ground but to be in the background he would have to be 

where? up in a tree

Plants should be everywhere. Large in the front and small in the back

Step3: decide what materials you will use in the artwork

watercolors and oil pastels

tempura paint

Step4: think about what colors you want where and begin to apply them

Step5: continue until you feel the work is complete.

MATERIALS: watercolor

tempura paint

pencils

oil pastels