What is Impressionism?

Over the last couple of weeks we have been painting flowers as some of the Impressionists did, such as floral bouquets in the style of French Impressionist Berte Morisot and the cherry blossoms of Natalia Goncharova.  

I decided it was time for our artists to get to know the predecessor of modern Impressionism, Claude Monet and how he painted his impression of the form, light, and color of a scene. Artists would then create their own personal version of his famous Water-Lily Garden. 

These artists decided to include the Monet's famous Japanese footbridge in their paintings.  They began by drawing in details such as water-lilies, surrounding foliage, and the bridge. 

Then they painted over all using a wet-on-wet watercolor technique and added sprinkle of salt to the water.  After the paint dried, they brushed off the salt, which made shiny sparkles in the pond! Then they added a bit more oil pastel detail.

Aren't they beautiful?

These paintings were created by our Friday Art Adventurers.