During the week of FunLab Art Camp dedicated to Henri Matisse we wanted to tackle one of his more complicated pieces but I was not sure that we would be able to have the kids produce something that they were proud to take home at the end of week. Feeling ambitious, I decided to tackle a complicated piece such as “Goldfish” which he painted in 1911. We took the masterpiece apart and recreated it in layers using lots of different materials including watercolors, colored glue and collaging.
Recommended age: 5 to 10 years of age
Word development: triangle, line, paint, brush, watercolors, vine, leaves, stalk, flowers, green, table, fish bowl, fish, vase, plant, floor
You will need:
Watercolor paper
Watercolors
Colored paper
Lamination glue
Acrylic Paint
3d outliners
Let’s get started:
Step 1: Draw a triangle at the bottom of the piece of paper. Draw a line from the top of the triangle to the top of the page. Paint the three areas different colors using watercolors.
Step 2: Inside the triangle, draw a series of rectangles to make it look like a floor. We used school glue plus black acrylic paint but even markers would work.
Step 3: Paint one of the panels with green paint to depict a vine growing up the wall.
Step 4: Use the 3D outlines to paint big flowers in the other panel.
Step 5: Use colored paper to build a table and a fish bowl. Glue so that it looks like it is on the floor.
Step 6: Cut out a vase and a green leafy plant. Glue onto the page so that it looks like it is sitting on the floor next to the table.
It took us an entire week to “build” our version of Matisse’s “Goldfish” but at then end we were able to send home a mini masterpiece that all our artists were proud of!
take care
Alison
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