I Can be an Impressionist Too!

For this assignment, you are going to pretend that you are an Impressionist Artist. After watching the video below and finishing the assignment below, you will choose a picture from the web (not a painting but an actual photograph) of some ordinary scene, landscape, object, or person, and then you would describe how you would paint it to make it a piece of Impressionist artwork. Click here to learn more about Impressionist Techniques: Impressionists Techniques. You must include a exactly what traits about your painiting would qualify it as a piece from the Impressionist period. My example is below:

If I were an Impressionist artist, I might paint the image to the left of a bike and girl's feet. I would choose to paint this because it is a scene you might see in everyday life here where I live. It also is representative of the way of life, including styles and transportation, of my day in age. And in my opinion, its beautiful and I enjoy the image. In order to make this qualify as an impressionist painting, I would not mix colors, but use a combination of color to give the impression of the color itself. I would also focus on how the light hits the objects, and I would use small, light paint strokes rather than hard outlines to create the images.

Artist Focus: Monet



Impression, Sunrise by Monet

Claude Monet is perhaps one of the most well known artists of the Impressionist Period. In fact, the term "Impressionism" was derived from one of his paintings entitled "Impression, Sunrise". He is known for being very consistent in following his own impressionist philosophy in portraying nature and landscapes in their natural state. He also uses the characteristics of small, fast paint strokes and the effect of light.

Monet was born in 1814 in France to a grocery store owner and a singer. His father expected him to also become a grocery store own, but he was dissappointed when Monet expressed his desire to become an artist. He began by selling charcoal drawings until he studied art in Paris and became more well-known for his paintings.

My favorite thing about Monet is how he takes everyday and ordinary scenes and portrays them in such a beautiful way that we can appreciate even the simplest of objects, people, and landscapes!

To check out Monet's other paintings, click here: Monet Museum.

Assignment: Learn about another artist from the Impressionist period, and make a comment below giving the biographical details and art characteristics about that artist. Include what you like about the artists and a picture of one of their art pieces. Model your post on my example on Monet above.



Watch this for a great introduction to Impressionist Art