Room with a View (based on Matisse) by 2nd grade

I have always loved Matisse. He is a total favorite!! His bright colors, inventive patterns and overall compositions just make me H.A.P.P.Y! I think our paintings based on his window views turned out pretty great. I got the fantastic idea from (once again), Hope Knight, my friend and colleague at Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists. Hope is about the coolest art teacher in my opinion!

We just began our Matisse-inspired collages this week.....stay tuned!





Day #1: Students sketched out ideas for the window view after we looked at several examples.

Day #2: We used a brush to freely "draw" our compositions using paint and then added the color by mixing paints directly on our paper. This continued into day #3.

  

Day #3: We began with oil pastels for a few minutes to bring out and emphasize/sharpen details, then the paint was brought back out to finish these works!

 

1st grade Matisse Interiors

I really enjoy the work of Henri Matisse. I find that his artwork really lifts my spirits, especially his interiors. My students worked so hard to create their own interiors in the style of Matisse using pattern, shape and composition. They even added a window with an outside view as part of the overall collage. This was a challenge for the kids, but they proved successful!

Kindergarten Room with a Fishbowl

This is a project I originally found on Artsonia, but adapted for use with my students. These will be on display at our art show in March!
On day #1, we reviewed secondary colors and each student divided a piece of black paper into 3 sections by drawing a large letter "Y" and applying paint. Then students set about designing a fishbowl onto a small piece of light blue construction paper.

On day #2, I introduced the artist, Henri Matisse and we looked at his colorful artwork and talked about his use of fun patterns. Students noticed that a lot of his work shows the insides of rooms, often incorporating a still life. We discussed how our painted paper from the previous week could be the inside of a room with a floor and two walls. I asked students to use oil pastels and draw a different line in each section: zigzag, straight and wiggly. Then, I showed students how to cut out a large oval and skinny rectangles using brown paper to make a table. Fishbowls were cut out and placed on top.