• About
    • All About Us
    • Contact
    • Disclosures
    • Privacy
    • Giveaway Rules
    • Sponsor
    • Features
  • Favorite Supplies
  • Gift Ideas for Kids
  • Our Books
  • By Age
    • Tweens
    • Elementary
    • Kindergarten
    • Preschool
    • Toddler
    • For Parents
    • For Teachers

Buggy and Buddy

Meaningful Activities for Learning & Creating

  • Create
    • Art Projects for Kids
    • Crafts for Kids
    • Recipes for Playing & Creating
  • Learn
    • Literacy
      • Book Sets
      • The Alphabet
      • Reading
      • Children’s Books with Activities
    • Math
    • Science
    • NGSS Science
  • Holidays
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • 4th of July
    • Chinese New Year
    • Christmas
    • Earth Day
    • Easter
    • Father’s Day
    • Halloween
    • Mother’s Day
    • New Year’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • School Days
    • Birthdays
    • Tooth Fairy
  • Books Activities
  • Science
  • Printables
  • SHOP
You are here: Home / Create / Art Projects / Colorful Animal Paintings Inspired by George Rodrigue’s Blue Dog Series

January 20, 2014 By Chelsey

Colorful Animal Paintings Inspired by George Rodrigue’s Blue Dog Series

Share
Pin25
Tweet
25Shares
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You can read more on our disclosure page.

Art projects for kids are some of my favorite activities to do with both my kids. Our most recent art lesson, creating bright animal paintings, was inspired by American artist, George Rodrigue. 

Colorful Animal Paintings Inspired by Blue Dog (George Rodrigue)~ Buggy and Buddy

Have you ever seen images from George Rodrigue’s Blue Dog Series? It’s a series of paintings centered around a blue colored dog in a variety of settings. Kids are naturally drawn to the bright blue dog image.

We are fortunate to have a George Rodrigue art gallery where we live, so Lucy and Theo are quite familiar with Blue Dog. We walk passed him often when we’re in town!

With the recent passing of such an inspirational artist, we were inspired to create our own artwork inspired by Blue Dog (and George Rodrigue). (This post contains affiliate links. Thank you so much for your support.)

Colorful Animal Paintings Inspired by Blue Dog

We started our art lesson by reading the book, Why is Blue Dog Blue? by George Rodrigue. In this book full of blue dog illustrations, George Rodrigue emphasizes how wonderful your own imagination can be. He encourages children to paint things in any color they’d like. Maybe you choose a color because of a feeling you have or maybe because of what you’re thinking about when you paint. He reminds us, “Artists don’t have to paint things the way they really are.” 

Why is Blue Dog Blue? by George Rodrigue

This quote really resonated with Lucy. She tends to be a rule follower so hearing the artist say it’s okay to do what you imagine really seemed to free her. She was immediately coming up with all kinds of ideas! “Mom, wouldn’t a zebra that was lots of different colors be surprising to people? What if it was pink?!” And so our art project began.

Materials

  • Paper
  • Paints and brushes (We used Biocolor paints because I love how versatile they are and how they don’t have an odor. You could also use tempera paints.)
  • Pencil
  • Black oil pastel or crayon
  • Scissors
  • Glue

Directions

1. Start by thinking of an animal you’d like to paint. Lucy chose a zebra, and I chose a ladybug.

2. Sketch your animal in pencil. 

Colorful Animal Artwork Inspired by Blue Dog

3. Trace your sketch with a black oil pastel or crayon.

Colorful Animal Artwork Inspired by Blue Dog

4. Paint your animal any color you’d like. Let your imagination run wild! Lucy wanted her zebra to be pink. I though a purple and orange ladybug would be fun!

Colorful Animal Artwork Inspired by George Rodrigue's Blue Dog

5. Optional: Paint over your black oil pastel with black paint. This will more closely resemble Rodrigue’s technique, however, it’s definitely not necessary. 

6. Often the background on Blue Dog paintings are bright and colorful. Take a second piece of paper and paint a fun background for your animal.

Colorful background for animal paintings background

7. Once both sheets of paper are dry, cut out your animal painting and glue it onto your background.

Colorful Animal Paintings Inspired by Blue Dog (George Rodrigue)~ Buggy and Buddy

8. Display your artwork!

Colorful Animal Paintings Inspired by Blue Dog (George Rodrigue)~ Buggy and Buddy

Tips for Toddlers

Don’t leave your toddlers out of the art project! Theo worked right along with us as we sketched and painted. He said he was drawing a school bus!

Toddler Art

 

Toddler Painting

George Rodrigue Information and Resources 

  • George Rodrigue Studios
  • Illustrated Timeline for George Rodrigue
  • Related Children’s Book: Are You Blue Dog’s Friend?

Other Art Projects for Kids 

  • Salt Art Inspired by Motoi Yamamoto
  • Artwork Inspired by Henri Matisse

 

Filed Under: Art Projects, Artists, Elementary, Kindergarten Tagged With: art for kids, artists

« Valentine’s Day Activities: Making Words (Free Printable)
10+ Homemade Musical Instruments for Kids »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

New? Start here…

Welcome to Buggy and Buddy! I'm Chelsey, a former teacher and parent living on the central coast of California. I love sharing crafts, science, STEM and STEAM activities, free printables and more! Read More…

Popular This Week

  • Straw Rockets- fun science activity for kids! (w/ Free Rocket Template) ~ BuggyandBuddy.com STEM for Kids: Straw Rockets (with Free Rocket Template)
  • Egg Drop Project 2016: Fun STEM activity for kids- Design an egg contraption to protect a raw egg! (with 2 free printables!) STEM for Kids: Egg Drop Project
  • ocean crafts for kids using common materials from around the house like paper plates, egg cartons, plastic bags and more! Ocean Crafts for Kids Made from Common Materials Around the House
  • sea otter paper bag craft for kids with baby sea otter and tissue paper kelp, includes free sea otter template printable Paper Bag Sea Otter Craft for Kids with Free Printable Template
  • DIY Painted Rock Photo Holder Craft for Kids Painted Rock Photo Holder Craft for Kids
  • STEAM / Science for Kids: How to Make a Kaleidoscope- explore reflections , light, and symmetry! (Meets NGSS- Next Generation Science Standards) ~ BuggyandBuddy.com Science for Kids: How to Make a Kaleidoscope

Copyright © 2022 Buggy and Buddy. All rights reserved. You may not take images or content from this site without written permission.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy