Middleborough Public Schools Fine Arts Department
MHS/ Jared Kenneally
Visual Arts Program

Title: Landscape Painting from the Zoo inspired by Henri Rousseau
Grade Level: Advanced Studio
Objective: To have students create an exotic landscape in acrylic paints from their animal and plant drawings done while visiting the Franklin Park Zoo.

See examples in his Gallery

Strategies:

• Materials: 18” x 24” canvas skin paper, drawing board, acrylic paints, variety of round/flat brushes, palette to mix paint, container for clean water, newspapers to cover desks, paper towels, drawings from zoo to use as reference
• Resources / References: Scholastic Art issue on Henri Rousseau, prints and on line examples of Rousseau’s work, drawings done while visiting Franklin Park Zoo
• Vocabulary: foreground, middleground, background, stylized and simplified shapes, pattern, contrast (light/dark; plain/texture; warm/cool; bright/dull), visual rhythm
  

Time Frame: 6 class blocks
Procedure:
While visiting the Franklin Park Zoo you will be required to draw 3 animals of your choice (mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian or fish), 3 different types of foliage (plants and or leaves), as well as an environment that depicts a sense of space and depth.

Using the drawings from the zoo you will then create an exotic landscape that depicts a definite foreground, middleground and background, has a variety of plant shapes and must include at least two different animals. Work out several sketches simplifying the plant shapes to flat, over-all patterns that will vary in shape, color and texture. You will need to decide which shapes work best as trees, as bushes, and as ground cover. Think of the overall pattern the plants create within your landscape to create a visual rhythm, which will move the viewer’s eye throughout the composition. This movement will also help you create your center of interest (perhaps your animal?) by leading the viewer’s eye in that direction.

Once you have finalized a sketch that depicts the elements required of your landscape you may get it approved and transfer it to canvas skin paper. Tape your paper to a large drawing board and set up your desk to paint.

Choose a color scheme and think of where the light falls and what time of day it is in your painting. Remember to paint large areas first and work to smaller details. Backgrounds should not be an afterthought! Vary your plants in color and texture to create contrasts and remember you should be working mainly in shapes.

Grading Criteria:

• Well designed composition depicting a foreground, middleground and background
• Pattern of plant shapes creating a sense of visual rhythm
• Landscape contains at least two different animals that are an integral part of the overall composition
• Acrylic paints are used to mix a vast variety of colors creating contrasts between lights/darks, bright/dulls, warm/cools as well as textural contrasts

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