Argenteuil, a region just outside of Paris, was where Monet lived for 7 years. It was a wonderful place for Monet to find inspiration for his Plein-Air art style. He loved venturing out to the fields to explore and would enjoy painting poppies which he was fond of.

My creative, delightful, 2nd graders enjoyed looking at the visuals of Monet’s paintings. The explosion of color on the paper and the arrays of greens was so uplifting and enjoyable to see while outside our art room window was a bleak January landscape.

After examining the various poppy paintings, students grabbed a piece of 9 x 12 construction paper and their painting placemats and started creating. I also commented on how Claude would show movement with his brushstrokes. The clouds show so much beauty so we started there first.

After they started painting, we quickly looked at how the color green would change with the depth of the landscape. The lighter colors were found in the foreground and the darker in the background. We also discussed how the trees were located in the painting and how they had various heights. Next, we used our paint brushes to demonstrate movement and texture by “hopping” around on the paper. We also “tapped” the brush in the paint so as to not overload the little guy.

Children added their poppies after the fields were completed. We also “tapped” the brush in the paint so as to not overload the little guy. Others, used oil pastels to layer and give texture and then applied their poppies to the landscape.