Blue Dog Art Lesson

This Blue Dog art lesson is accredited to Art Projects for Kids, which is a wonderful resource for art teachers!! I frequent the blog often because it has excellent how to draw worksheets to go along with lessons, there are MANY art lessons for children!! I used the “How to Draw a Dog” reference sheet with my prek-5th gr. after school art class and they LOVED this Blue Dog art project! This lesson was created with elementary art students, but really middle school and high school art students would enjoy this as well. Instead of a tempera painting, this would be a great beginning level acrylic painting lesson!

Supplies: Sharpies, Tempera Paint, paint brushes & “How to Draw a Dog” Reference Sheet from Art Projects for Kids

Delivery:

Blue Dog is the creation of artist George Rodrigue. He is a Cajun artist that was born, lives, & creates art in Louisiana. Rodrique is known worldwide for his creation of the Blue Dog series of paintings, that features a blue-hued dog in a large variety of settings. The Blue Dog paintings are attributed to his deceased dog named Tiffany and influenced by the Loup Garou legend—the first painting in the series bears the title Loup Garou. Wiki-George Rodrique

View George Rodrique Artwork: George Rodrique Official Website

We also watched a short video I found on youtube about George Rodrique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K130TkYjlwA

Tempera Painting Techniques Lesson Plan & Worksheet

Instructions:

Use the “How to Draw a Dog” Reference Sheet to draw Blue Dog large on your paper in pencil first, then outline in Sharpie. Add details taking inspiration from Rodrique’s Artwork. (background, cape, etc.)
Paint with tempera paints-BOLD colors. Make sure to paint his body blue, his nose white, & his eyes yellow with a black center.
Paint the background.