Cyan, magenta and tangerine create a vibrant, Matisse-inspired color scheme.
Henri Matisse modernized painting with nontraditional color choices and mixed media work. Teach children his singular style by designing Matisse art projects. Before beginning Matisse art lessons, show children examples of work by Matisse. Ask them to find similarities and differences between artwork, which helps them look closely at the images. They can look through "Matisse-colored" glasses by creating a palette, paint colors or a sheet of crayon or pastel colors that show favorite hues employed by Matisse.
Paper-Cut Collages
Matisse worked in the medium of paper-cut collages. This simple technique works with all ages of children. Gather different hues of paper or, if you have more time, have children paint or color white paper with various hues as well as patterns. Have them cut out simple shapes or abstract blobs and move around the cut-outs until they see a composition, either concrete or abstract, that appeals to them. Show children lightly coat the back of each cut-out with either a glue stick or a layer of white glue, applied with a paintbrush. Children may opt to color in their backgrounds or leave them more simple.
Matisse Pattern Paintings
Matisse often juxtaposed bright colors, drawing upon cyan, tangerine, magenta and lime green as well as darker, moodier hues such as purple, blue, indigo and burgundy. He also drew upon Asian art traditions of combining patterns such as florals, stripes and dots. Review images by Matisse and have children try a layering technique with colors and different media. Begin with a sheet of construction paper or card stock. Have children sketch a composition with colored pencils. Paint in the images with bright tempera paint. After the paint dries, use markers, oil pastels or charcoal to highlight shapes or add details.
Fauvism Project
Matisse was part of a group of artists called the "Fauvists," which translates to "wild beasts." Fauvism favored brilliant color and heavy application of paint over more natural or realistic techniques. Show children examples of Matisse's art and have them point out Fauvist colors. Then they can draw or paint images of fruit, trees, landscapes or other natural imagery, using saturated, bright hues rather than muted earth tones.
