Imagine...What it would be like to be an ant walking through a jungle? Huge plants and leaves all around you. Carnivorous plants maybe, hmmmm. What's the weather like in your fantasy? Nighttime, raining, storming, lightening?How can we make our jungle drawings imaginative, just like Henri Rousseau did in his famous landscapes (scroll through the website).
Rousseau had never actually seen a jungle in his career, and got most inspiration from zoos and botanical gardens he visited. (I actually never knew until I taught this lesson). Rousseau uses basic shapes and repeats them many times to achieve that fluid, dense, look to his jungle-scapes.
I provided each table group with a great handout with 4 color photographs of his work for inspiration.
Unfortunately, the process of this project wasn't how I ideally planned for - I forgot to bring my oil pastels this day, so we used crayons. And to get the crayons to show up after a watercolor wash, you have to press SUPER hard...So I had the kids do this. When they finished, they chose either a grey or a purple wash.
Some students finished early so I asked them to write a paragraph telling the story behind their jungle! Really cool stuff from this 4th grade :)
