Claude Monet Finger Painting

Your Destination: (objectives)

• The students will be able
  to practice impressionist style techniques by recreating Monet’s “The
  Water-Lily Pond”.

Travel kit: (materials)

• Acrylic paint, paint brush,
  something to paint on! (canvas, wood, thick paper, title, panel).

On the path

Step 1

• Start by creating your
  pallet! Find something you can mix your paint on. This could be can piece of
  wood or plastic, just something that you won’t need to reuse later. First mix
  the pinks by using red and white paint. Next make a light green by mixing green
  and white paint. You will also need to squeeze out yellow, green, red, and blue
  individually without mixing them with anything.

Step 2

• First start in the middle
  and paint the water. We are going to be using the blue and pink paint for this.
  Use one of your fingers and make little overlapping prints. Start with the
  blue, and then layer pink on top.

Step 3

• Next, move on to the sides
  were there is foliage. You are going to first make your lily pads. Start with
  yellow and make that your base layer. Next go in with pinks, blues, or reds and
  create thin layers on top.

Step 4

• Create the foliage around
  the sides. You can start with your light green and then add some light dark
  green to add some definition.

Group tour (how larger class can be involved as group projects)

• As a class we will look at Claude Monet’s “The Water-Lily Pond” and discussing what techniques he used.

As a class, look at Claude Monet’s other paintings to get a sense of his style.

Extend your journey

• After the students get a
  feel for what it is like to practice impressionist techniques from their finger
  painting, they can start applying these new skills to paintbrushes and pallet
  knives.

Learn new vocabulary

• Impressionism, pointillism