This summer I fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine. I was able to take a trip to Paris, France, with a day trip to Giverny, home of Claude Monet. When school started in September, I couldn't wait to share my experiences with my students. In order for these first- through fifth-grade students to understand the beauty of Giverny, I introduced them to the video, Linnea in Monet's Garden, by Christian Bjork and Lena Anderson.
After discussions of Claude Monet, his many art prints, and the impressionist genre, I knew the children were ready to create their own impressionist-styled artworks.
To set the mood in the classroom, I placed many live flowers all around, along with large impressionistic art prints. I kept a personal photo album available and open to the students, of the pictures I took while in France. Also, I had the pop-up book, A Walk in Monet's Garden, by Francesca Crespi.
The elements of color, shape, pattern and texture were strongly brought into our classroom discussions. I wanted the students to see the difference between things of nature and things made by people. We looked closely at the flowers on their tables to see that flowers, as well as many other things in nature, are not perfect. We looked at the flower pots and vases and took note that many of these man-made objects were symmetrical. This led us to a discussion on geometric and organic shapes. We thought it might be interesting to mix the two types of shapes into a piece of artwork.
First, the students were given an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of light green colored paper. Using the side of a light colored piece of chalk, the children rubbed organic shapes onto their paper, forming backgrounds. These chalk papers were then put off to the side.
All students were next given a 3" x 5" piece of beige-colored paper, which they folded in half and were shown how to cut a symmetrically shaped vase for their flowers. A pattern was added to the vase using crayons. (I had removed all of the black crayons so the patterns would not be too dark.)
The vase was glued to the chalk-colored paper. I suggested that holding the paper vertically would help to make their compositions pleasing to look at. The students then drew leaves and stems with mostly green, brown, yellow and red crayons.
Three colors of tempera paint were given to them: peach, pink and white. With a sponge on a clothespin they dipped first into the peach paint and "dotted" flowers over the leaves and stems.
The clothespins helped to keep their fingers clean and this in turn made for an easy clean up. Muffin tins were used to hold the different colors of paint. After they dipped peach they moved to pink and then to white, which helped to show highlights.
In the following class, Spanish moss was added as a finishing touch of texture to their pieces. We then discussed how texture can be seen and used in art.
On the last day of the project, students added credit lines to the back of their artworks, including their names, grade level, the date and titles. They all wrote about this lesson and their artwork in their journals. We enjoyed sharing the impressive impressionistic compositions along with their journal writings. Lastly I displayed their art work throughout the school. We wanted other people who came into the school to feel like they too were visiting Giverny, France.
As a follow-up program for this lesson, Annapolis-based actor/artist Ted Brown came to our school, where he portrayed Claude Monet in period costume, discussing many aspects of the artist's personal and professional life, while painting a picture in the artist's style.
The students, grades 1-5, will create a still life painting/drawing/collage in the impressionistic genre.
- Book or video, Linnea in Monet's Garden, by Christian Bjork and Lena Anderson.
- Book, A Walk in Monet's Garden, by Francesca Crespi.
- 9" x 12" light colored paper
- 3" x 5" light colored paper
- Crayons (no black)
- Chalk (light colors)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Tempera paint--white, pink and peach
- Sponges on clothespins
- Muffin tins
- Real flowers
- Spanish moss
- Monet art prints
1. View or read Linnea in Monet's Garden, and display A Walk in Monet's Garden and the Monet art prints in the art room.
- 2. Discuss impressionism and the main elements of color, shape, texture and pattern.
- 3. Distribute the 9" x 12" paper; have students smear chalk onto their paper to create organic shapes. Best results are obtained by using the side of the chalk.
- 4. Have students wash up before proceeding.
- 5. Distribute the 3" x 5" paper. Have students fold paper in half and cut through both halves of paper to make a symmetrical vase. (This lesson is a good introduction to symmetry.)
- 6. Add pattern to the vase with colored crayons.
- 7. Glue the vase to the bottom of the 9" x 12" paper.
- 8. Observe real flowers and discuss things of nature and point out that the flowers are not perfect. A discussion of organic and geometric shapes is introduced.
- 9. Have the students add stems and leaves coming out of their vases, using crayons.
- 10. Pour paints into muffin tins.
- 11. Using sponges on clothespins (this saves time on having to clean fingers) dip the sponges into the paint tins and dot the stems to create flowers.
- 12. As a final touch, add some Spanish moss to the top of the vase. (A discussion of visual and actual texture is introduced at this point.)
- 13. Add a credit line to the back of the artwork that contains the student artist's name, grade, date and title of the piece.
Students may share their artwork with the class. Have them choose someone to say something positive about their art, concentrating on the elements of art and the principles of design. Students may also write and share their experiences gained while learning about and creating their own impressionistic work of art.
By Cecelia M. Dunay
Cecelia Dunay teaches art at Eva Turner Elementary School in Waldorf, Maryland.
