Matisse Inspired Apples

Above works were done by 1st through 4th graders

Kinder through 2nd grade pieces

My new Mini Masters group of kindergarten through 2nd graders looked at Matisse's Apples from 1916. I had seen this lesson idea before on Artsonia, Fine Lines, and Use Your Coloured Pencils. I tried it a few years ago here. I think it's a great still life lesson for younger children. We started off by tracing a large plate and outlining it in oil pastel. We talked about this being a "bird's eye view" of a plate of apples. I gave the kids a variety of liquid watercolors to paint their plates and backgrounds. Once these were dry, we made prints for our apples using plastic cups and acrylic. These were painted in with yellow, green and red. I had a variety of apples for the kids to hold and observe the different colors and details. These were added with charcoal and chalk pastel. Last they painted shadows on one side of their apples and plates. I like their loose, expressive quality.