Art With Aloha! Monet Finger Painting

My class LOVES art and I try to do at least one art project a week.  Sometimes it's a craft project with a writing piece, sometimes it's painting, sometimes pastels, and sometimes clay!  In Hawaii, we do have fine arts standards that I always reference.  For this quarter, my fine arts standard to focus on is: Describe different responses to the same work of art.

To kick start this, I showed the kids a copy of Claude Monet's Bridge Over Water Lilies painting.

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We talked about the colors, the way the bridge arches, how there are plants in the water, but also reflections of the plants on the ground, how you can see hints of the sky reflected in the water, and also the style of painting: this painting doesn't look like a photograph, it's not realistic.

After our conversation, we did a project I found from The Crafty Classroom.

Using masking tape, you make a bridge shape on the paper, then using your finger, you dab on paint to create your picture.  We talked about which colors should be on the top for the trees and which colors should be in the water.  Unfortunately, I haven't gotten my new shipment of paint in yet, so I only had blue, red, green, and white for the students to use.  After the paint dries, you carefully rip off the tape to reveal a white bridge.

Here is my sample.  I did it quickly and didn't blend too well. That's ok, though, it's still cool!

If you have a great student art project to share, I'd love for you to link up!  Old and new posts are ok!  Just grab the button below, add it to your post, and link away!

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