Farmer's Market Meets Monet

 

I wanted to share some of our "Farmer's Market Meets Monet" paintings from Art Club, grades 1-6.

We had lots of photos of fruits, vegetables, and flowers to inspire us...

We chose photos to work from, and then drew lightly with pencil on our 8x10 stretched canvas. 

We painted a flat underpainting first.

(Two sisters decided to paint a shared photo of tulips!)

We worked on these, and at the same time worked on our circle paintings with our leftover paint. (These were cut into the heart art I posted previously.) It was a bit crazy doing two paintings at once, but it allowed for paint to dry as needed and made use of paint that would normally go to waste.

 

When the underpainting was dry, we added layers of color with cotton swabs, our fingers, or small brushes. We talked about optical blending and the Impressionists. I had some examples of master works to help them get the idea. 

Here's a comparison that shows a work-in-progress, with the underpainting still showing in the background...

...And here is the completed painting. I love all of the texture and movement with the added layering.

The last step was painting the sides of the canvas. I didn't display these- I just didn't have a good way to hang them. Small easels might have worked, but I don't have a place to put them. So the paintings went home with the artists as soon as the paint was dry.

The kids were pretty proud of these! I loved them too.


Make it a Wonderful Day!