Blue Dog Art Project for Kids: Inspired By George Rodrigue

In this art project, you will learn how to to make a step-by-step marker version of George Rodrigue’s Round The Mulberry Bush, 2002.

George Rodrigue was an American-born artist born in Louisiana. In the late 1960’s he painted Louisiana landscapes but is most famous for his Blue Dog paintings from the mid-1990’s.

Rodrigue’s Blue Dog paintings were originally based on a Cajun legend of le loup-garou, a French Canadian werewolf myth.  The model for the shape of the dog was Rodrigue’s very own dog named Tiffany.

Our inspiration piece for this art project is Round The Mulberry Bush, 2002 by George Rodrigue.

Supplies Needed for This Blue Dog Art Project for Kids Are:

• Marker paper – 2 sheets
• Large paper plate
• Markers
• Ruler
• Compass
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Black paint (acrylic or tempera)
• Glue stick
• Paintbrush
• Gel pens (black/white)

The first step of this project is to measure and cut out two circular sheets of paper.

Measure the back of the paper plate and set the compass for half of that measurement to draw a circle that will easily fit on the round bottom of the plate.

Trace a circle on the marker paper. Next, divide the circle into 4 equal parts and then 8 equal parts.  For the final sections, divide every other 1/8th section in half again. You will have a total of 12 sections.

Next, using the markers, fill in each section of your circle with a different color. You can use the inspiration piece as a color guide if you’d like.

Once you’ve finished coloring your circle, add a second sheet of marker paper beneath it and cut out the circle. You will have your final color circle and one blank circle from the second sheet of paper.

Now it’s time to make your Blue Dogs!

Fold the blank circle in half three times.  Using the sample below draw the simple outline of the dog’s shapes on your folded paper.

 

Pay special attention to draw on the open edge of the folded paper (as shown in the image) not along the fold.

Once you’ve drawn your dog shape, carefully cut along the outside edge.

Cut away the areas with yellow lines in the image to the left.

Time to color!

Pick two different shades of red and blue to color your dogs.  For each dog shape, color half of the face in a lighter shade of color and the other half of the face in a darker shade of color.

Color each dog so that the matching dog is across from it and each color is across from the matching color on the opposite side of the dog’s face.

Once you’ve colored your dogs, fold the paper back into one shape again so all of the dogs are aligned and cut out the small shape to create the dog’s nose and stripe in the middle of the face.

Cut away the area with the red lines in the image to the left.

After you’ve cut out the nose area, use your leftover marker paper scraps and cut enough white paper to cover the holes, but still fit within the dog shapes.

Use a glue stick to attach the white paper to the back of the dogs.

Continue to use your markers and gel pens to complete the details of the dog’s faces.

For the final steps, prepare your paper plate by painting the BACK side of it black and allowing it to dry completely.

Once the plate is dry, use a glue stick to attach your artwork to the back.

First apply the circle to the plate, followed by the dogs on top of the circle.

Note the dogs are centered along the lines that divide the circle in half.

The final artwork!

Our Blue Dog alongside Rodrigue’s Blue Dog.

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