Art Lesson w/ Ms. Jennifer: Henri Rousseau Inspired Tiger Collage
In honor of Henri Rousseau’s birthday on May 21, 1844, let’s make a tropical jungle collage project!
About the Artist:
Rousseau was a completely self taught artist. He day-dreamed of jungles filled with wildlife and plants. He would go to the botanical garden to sketch and paint the tropical plants found there but never traveled to a jungle himself.
“From his studio in Paris he dreamt of the deep green wilderness, but never once stepped foot outside of France!”
His artwork has a unique way of seeing space and dimension, which we will honor with our collages today.
If you would like to read more about the artist visit: https://kids.kiddle.co/Henri_Rousseau
Art Creation Guidance
Now let's draw a gold and gem-encrusted Egyptian sarcophagus in the style of King Tut, then write our name in hieroglyphics!
Materials:
1-2 sheets of paper to paint and later cut out
Paint - I am using tempera, but watercolor or acrylic would work fine.
Brush
Scissors
Glue - school glue spread with a brush might work better than glue sticks
1 sheet of thick Drawing Paper (if you have something like 12x18”, or just 9x12”)
Pencil and eraser
Black crayon or Sharpie Marker
Paint** one or two sheets of paper with various shades of green and bright colors to make our jungle foliage. Use loose brushstrokes rather than blending things to a flat color.
Pick one of the tiger drawing prompts, or draw a different jungle animal.
Draw your tiger large on a sheet of drawing paper. You can use pencil to begin, or be bold and start with the crayon or Sharpie. Trace the pencil outlines in black.
Now draw some plants around/behind the tiger’s head.
Paint in the sky, plants, and tiger face. Allow it to dry. You might want to trace the outlines of the animal in black to make it “pop!”
Cut large shapes of plants from your first painted papers. You can look up tropical plants such as banana trees or bird of paradise flowers.
Glue the plants on your tiger painting. Overlap some of the plants with your background as well as the tiger’s face.
**If you don’t want to use paints today, cut pieces of green construction paper, or cut out photos of plants from magazines. Use markers, crayons, or colored pencils to color your jungle animal.
For Doodlebugs Ages 2-5:
Your 4-5 year old may be able to follow along with the “easy to draw” tiger , with some assistance.
For younger Doodlebugs, process paint with yellow, blue, and green paints on 2-3 scraps of paper as in the above lesson. Allow it to dry. Now cut the paper into strips.
For the youngest artists, cut it into strips for them, then allow them to cut some of the strips into smaller scraps. Glue your paper pieces onto a background to make a jungle.
What animals like to live in their jungle?
Yay! You did it!
Please don't forget to email your artwork to Jennifer@BlowingRockMuseum.org to be shared in our Youth Gallery. We will be printing selections of Youth Artwork submitted digitally, and framing them in our new Youth Gallery on the 2nd floor of BRAHM.
And if you find value in our mission to bring art enrichment to community students through programs such as Young at Art, please consider supporting BRAHM by donating or joining as a member.
Did you know that a membership at the FAMILY LEVEL ($75) and above gives you FREE access to our weekly youth art classes?