Monet's Japanese Bridge

The following lesson is one I did with my kindergarten, first, and second grade classes.

After reading "The Magical Garden of Claude Monet" by Laurence Anholt, we discussed how Monet used loose, bold strokes to create his beautiful works of art. Students were introduced to this when we created our water background.

Using tempera paint and a flat brush, students generously brushed blue paint horizontally across their paper. Next, they applied purple paint to some of the white areas in the same fashion. Then they applied green in most of the leftover areas. Finally, they applied white. The colors were already starting to blend, but BEFORE they rinsed their brushes, they were told to dip their brushes into their water ONE time to moisten the brush. Then going horizontally from left to right, they pulled the brush, further blending the colors. They were all amazed at how the colors blended!

The next class period, we painted "trees" in the corners by swirling blue paint, then green paint, and finally white paint into the corners. To create the bridge, students used a round pointed brush and lightly painted the bridge in blue. Then, without rinsing their brushes, they went over the bridge in green, and finally in white.

The last step was to use the flat brush with the bristles slightly spread apart. I showed them how to just barely put paint on their brush and lightly dab water lilies under the bridge in white. They would follow the white with purple, then pink. 

Students loved this project! They learned a lot about mixing colors directly on the paper and about how to use their brushes in a new way.

Below are some examples from my kindergarten classes.