August 7, 2023

Resources for Impressionism en Plein Air Project

NEW: a rotating group of artists and art educators will be bringing you high quality art projects and lessons at Outside the Box Creation! Please join us in welcoming art educator Claire Hart to Outside the Box Creation with her first project: plein air Impressionism.

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Setting the Stage

This month Outside the Box Creation is jumping into the world of Impressionism and we're glad to see you're along for the journey! Impressionism is the term for an artform that began in France in the mid-1800s. Impressionism initially grew out of painting, but has taken on many forms with different mediums since then. Today, we will be practicing Impressionist techniques with markers. Impressionism is based on the idea of working quickly to capture a real-world scene by using fast dabs of colors to give the viewer the impression of what the artist sees. Some famous Impressionists include Marie Bracquemond, Berthe Morisot, and Mary Cassatt.

Today, Artist Claire will guide you through drawing an outdoor scene and then filling it in with layer upon layer of quick, bold marker strokes of color. You'll learn how to use a color wheel to see the relationships between colors and create a work of art that is full of movement.

Color wheels are circular references designed to show how colors relate to one another and serve as a guide for artists in making strong color choices for their works of art. Many color wheels are double-sided. One side will show you the direct connections between colors and the other will show what happens when you add shades of light and dark to each color. Take your time when using the color wheel to choose your layers of colors and listen to Artist Claire in her videos below to hear how a professional artist decides their artistic choices!

image: 
https://www.danschultzfineart.com/plein-air-painting-gear-checklist/

Supplies Needed for Insider's Club Members (or if you're a box subscriber & want to purchase additional supplies)

Strongly recommended: What the Road Said by Cleo Wade, ills. by Lucie de Moyencourt. You can purchase it or find it at your local library, or watch our Artist in Residence's read aloud below!

Graphite Pencil like these trusty #2s

White paper like this paper pad

Marker set like these or these

Color Wheel like this one


*The above Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of them we may earn a very small commission but it does not increase your price at all, so we hope you will!

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Main Project Tutorial

Taking It Further

Read Together

About the Artist

Claire Hart

Claire received her BA in Ceramic Arts from Gonzaga University in 2015, where she participated in several invitational shows and earned the Senior Arts Award. After college, she completed a two year internship with the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts, collaborating with celebrated ceramicists and developing her own experimental style. She taught ceramics in Montana and Oregon for several years before relocating to Arizona to join Reitz Ranch Center for Ceramic Arts in 2021. Claire currently shows at Zen Mountain Gallery, Sedona Artist Market, and is soon opening a gallery and showing at Box Car Clay in Cottonwood, AZ.

Scroll through the photos at right to see Artist Claire's ceramic creations! Claire emphasizes the textures she sees out in nature, do you recognize any textures in her pottery?

Instagram
@hart_ceramics

Printable Word Search & Answer Key

Our newly designed project instructions feature an activity just for fun!
The August game is a crossword puzzle found on page 10 of the printed insert.
Below is a printable version of the crossword for sibling sharing and the answer key.

Printable CrosswordReveal the Answer Key!

About the Insider’s Club

The Outside the Box Insider’s Club is a monthly digital membership that includes videos, downloadable curriculum/project plans, and tips to make it easy for parents to do art regularly with their kids! If you know someone who would enjoy this, please share the Outside the Box Insider's Club. If you have been a box subscriber for a year or more and have accumulated a large stash of art supplies, you may want to switch to the Insider's Club digital membership.

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