3rd Grade Blue Dog

George Rodrigue is a Louisiana native and has been painting for 40 years.  He started painting at the age of 5.  His inspiration for painting Blue Dog came from a story his mom read him about a werewolf, that werewolf reminded him of a dog, and then he wanted to paint the dog blue.  We read the book, Why Is Blue Dog Blue and students learned that Rodrigue did not always paint Blue Dog blue.  On the day he went fishing he painted Blue Dog salmon; when he ate a hot dog he painted Blue Dog mustard; when he went to the beach painted Blue Dog tan.  So the places and objects that Rodigue experienced influenced his color choices for his art.  Rodrigue’s advice to students is, “Paint what you like.”  Students were able to draw a Blue Dog and paint Blue Dog any color they wanted and had to complete the sentence: “I painted Blue Dog _______ because________.”  Once students chose their color they had to outline their blue dog with the complementary color (color opposite on the color wheel) to make their do pop out.  Students learned what VALUE is and why artists use VALUE.  Students used oil crayons to add value to their dog.  Finally students choose a pattern using lines or shapes and a crayon resist technique to paint their background.