*Note, we do receive a small commission when you purchase through these affiliate links but it does not increase your price at all, so we hope if you purchase some supplies, you’ll purchase them through the links!
Grafix Plastic Print Plates (Remember, you can also use old sheet protectors, plastic notebook dividers, recycled overhead transparencies, anything that is smooth and plastic!)
Watercolor Paper (If you have a sturdy drawing paper of any kind, you could try that. You can even use printer paper, it will just curl when wet and can be pressed under some heavy books.
Washable Markers: Faber-Castell or Crayola. You likely already have Crayola or other inexpensive washable markers. They will work just fine. The Faber-Castell marker colors are made using food grade dyes and the markers can be rejuvenated if the caps are left off.
If you don’t have a clean sponge to wet the paper with, you can use a wet paper towel or washcloth.
We love to use books as a way to inspire young learners & set a context for the project. You don’t have to do things our way, but if this technique speaks to you, we’ll suggest books every month. You can order them on Amazon, sometimes they’ll be available in a digital format, get them from the library, and here’s a SECRET: often if you search for a particular title on YouTube, you can find someone reading it aloud! Here is a read aloud we found of The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Lawrence Anholt!
Terms to know:
•Impressionism: Impressionism is a style of art that began in France in the late 1800s. They painted ordinary things & ordinary parts of every day life using quick, bright strokes of paint. They wanted to capture the light at different times of the day and to show how the light changed. Impressionist artists weren’t trying to paint exactly what real life looked like, but an ‘impression’ of how it looked to them!
•Monoprint: The monoprint is a form of printmaking where the exact image can only be made once, unlike most printmaking which allows for multiple prints. Mono means one. Printmaking is an artistic process that involves transferring (or printing) an image from one surface to another.
•Print Plate: The surface that you are printing or transferring from. This can be plastic, linoleum block, wood, foam, copper, or any of a multitude of different materials.
•Ghost Print: A print taken from a monoprint plate without adding ink or paint after the first print has already been done.
Below are links for some photos you can use for inspiration:
This poem by Lisa Mueller is so beautiful and interesting! Monet did indeed develop cataracts but to the best of our knowledge he did not refuse the operation. This seems to be an imaginary scenario but gives us a peek into how he saw things!
Monet Refuses the Operation BY LISEL MUELLER Doctor, you say there are no haloes around the streetlights in Paris and what I see is an aberration caused by old age, an affliction. I tell you it has taken me all my life to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels, to soften and blur and finally banish the edges you regret I don’t see, to learn that the line I called the horizon does not exist and sky and water, so long apart, are the same state of being. Fifty-four years before I could see Rouen cathedral is built of parallel shafts of sun, and now you want to restore my youthful errors: fixed notions of top and bottom, the illusion of three-dimensional space, wisteria separate from the bridge it covers. What can I say to convince you the Houses of Parliament dissolve night after night to become the fluid dream of the Thames? I will not return to a universe of objects that don’t know each other, as if islands were not the lost children of one great continent. The world is flux, and light becomes what it touches, becomes water, lilies on water, above and below water, becomes lilac and mauve and yellow and white and cerulean lamps, small fists passing sunlight so quickly to one another that it would take long, streaming hair inside my brush to catch it. To paint the speed of light! Our weighted shapes, these verticals, burn to mix with air and change our bones, skin, clothes to gases. Doctor, if only you could see how heaven pulls earth into its arms and how infinitely the heart expands to claim this world, blue vapor without end.
In case you didn’t see it in our Facebook Group, here’s a great video & article to give you some historical background on Shibori. *Here is your downloadable & printable project plan! In Case You Need to Order a Few Supplies: Color Diffusing Paper (remember, coffee filters also work really well!) Color Diffusing Paper Circles …
I’m often asked: “What basic supplies should I get if I want to do art with my kids?” This question comes up a lot with parents wanting to do homeschool art and parents who see the value in giving their kids an art education. The answer depends on your purpose. Do you want to give …
Here are your Self Portrait Project Instructions to view, download, and/or print! In Case You Need to Order a Few Supplies*: Just about any colored pencils will work. If you need to purchase some, we like these because they’re good quality, eco-friendly, and inclusive of many different skin tones! The same goes for paper, almost …
Monet Monoprint Project
DoWNLoAD PROJECT InSTRUCTIoNS HERE
In Case You Need to Order a Few Supplies:
*Note, we do receive a small commission when you purchase through these affiliate links but it does not increase your price at all, so we hope if you purchase some supplies, you’ll purchase them through the links!
**a note about books:
We love to use books as a way to inspire young learners & set a context for the project. You don’t have to do things our way, but if this technique speaks to you, we’ll suggest books every month. You can order them on Amazon, sometimes they’ll be available in a digital format, get them from the library, and here’s a SECRET: often if you search for a particular title on YouTube, you can find someone reading it aloud! Here is a read aloud we found of The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Lawrence Anholt!
Terms to know:
•Impressionism: Impressionism is a style of art that began in France in the late 1800s. They painted ordinary things & ordinary parts of every day life using quick, bright strokes of paint. They wanted to capture the light at different times of the day and to show how the light changed. Impressionist artists weren’t trying to paint exactly what real life looked like, but an ‘impression’ of how it looked to them!
•Monoprint: The monoprint is a form of printmaking where the exact image can only be made once, unlike most printmaking which allows for multiple prints. Mono means one. Printmaking is an artistic process that involves transferring (or printing) an image from one surface to another.
•Print Plate: The surface that you are printing or transferring from. This can be plastic, linoleum block, wood, foam, copper, or any of a multitude of different materials.
•Ghost Print: A print taken from a monoprint plate without adding ink or paint after the first print has already been done.
Below are links for some photos you can use for inspiration:
This poem by Lisa Mueller is so beautiful and interesting! Monet did indeed develop cataracts but to the best of our knowledge he did not refuse the operation. This seems to be an imaginary scenario but gives us a peek into how he saw things!
Monet Refuses the Operation
BY LISEL MUELLER
Doctor, you say there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration
caused by old age, an affliction.
I tell you it has taken me all my life
to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels,
to soften and blur and finally banish
the edges you regret I don’t see,
to learn that the line I called the horizon
does not exist and sky and water,
so long apart, are the same state of being.
Fifty-four years before I could see
Rouen cathedral is built
of parallel shafts of sun,
and now you want to restore
my youthful errors: fixed
notions of top and bottom,
the illusion of three-dimensional space,
wisteria separate
from the bridge it covers.
What can I say to convince you
the Houses of Parliament dissolve
night after night to become
the fluid dream of the Thames?
I will not return to a universe
of objects that don’t know each other,
as if islands were not the lost children
of one great continent. The world
is flux, and light becomes what it touches,
becomes water, lilies on water,
above and below water,
becomes lilac and mauve and yellow
and white and cerulean lamps,
small fists passing sunlight
so quickly to one another
that it would take long, streaming hair
inside my brush to catch it.
To paint the speed of light!
Our weighted shapes, these verticals,
burn to mix with air
and change our bones, skin, clothes
to gases. Doctor,
if only you could see
how heaven pulls earth into its arms
and how infinitely the heart expands
to claim this world, blue vapor without end.
Lisel Mueller, “Monet Refuses the Operation” from Second Language. Copyright © 1996 by Lisel Mueller. Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press.
Source: Second Language (Louisiana State University Press, 1996)
Related Posts
Shibori Paper Dyeing & Chinese Paper Cutting Project
In case you didn’t see it in our Facebook Group, here’s a great video & article to give you some historical background on Shibori. *Here is your downloadable & printable project plan! In Case You Need to Order a Few Supplies: Color Diffusing Paper (remember, coffee filters also work really well!) Color Diffusing Paper Circles …
What basic supplies should I get if I want to do art with my kids?
I’m often asked: “What basic supplies should I get if I want to do art with my kids?” This question comes up a lot with parents wanting to do homeschool art and parents who see the value in giving their kids an art education. The answer depends on your purpose. Do you want to give …
Self Portrait Project
Here are your Self Portrait Project Instructions to view, download, and/or print! In Case You Need to Order a Few Supplies*: Just about any colored pencils will work. If you need to purchase some, we like these because they’re good quality, eco-friendly, and inclusive of many different skin tones! The same goes for paper, almost …