Connected Curriculum art – paint impressionistic landscapes, spired by Claude Monet
In Art, Year 3 have been learning all about impressionism. As with all art and design units across school, the children began by learning about an artist and studying the style of art, in this case impressionism.
Claude Monet, and other impressionists, focused on light and colour in their pictures, often painting the same scene at different times of day to capture the different light. The children looked at examples of this including famous paintings including the bridge in Monet’s garden in Giverny, France.
The children then looked at the techniques used by impressionist painters when using watercolour paints. They started by experimenting with watercolours to understand how it was possible to create different shades of the same colour and how to create a colour chart of light and dark colours. Then they practiced using short, choppy stokes, dabs and drags to build up a landscape bit by bit.
Once the children had practiced these skills they applied these to their own paintings. Having recently visited Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, they decided to use this as their inspiration and used a photo from the visit to create their own watercolour landscape in an impressionist style.
