"Merry Christmas, Blue Dog" by Eighth Grade

George Rodrigue, a Cajun artist, is the creator of the famous Blue Dog, who has captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world. His website, http://www.georgerodrigue.com/, is great if you are interested in learning more about George and his art.
I shared the book, Why Is Blue Dog Blue, with my eighth grade class. Then, they completed a fun book- based project where they drew (all on their own, no guidance from me) and painted the famous Blue Dog, who by the way is sometimes NOT painted blue, in a color of their choice. Tis' the season, so they drew him wearing a Santa hat.
For this project, we discussed how to add a bit of black paint to their original color to create a tinted color for shading. The final step was outlining and filling in solid black areas. I think they are great! My kindergarten class saw them and asked if they could do a Blue Dog painting, too. Of course I let them, and they are also great. I'll post about them soon!

Here are some finished 8th graders' paintings (I'm still waiting on more to finish, so there are more pictures to come later)...

I'm so proud of all their efforts!