Make It Like Monet
Fun Facts About
Claude Monet
1. He had his own giant water-lily garden!
Monet created a beautiful garden and pond at his home in France. It became the inspiration for his famous Water Lilies paintings.
2. He painted the same thing again and again!
Monet loved seeing how sunlight, weather, and seasons changed colors, so he often painted the same scene at different times of day.
3. His paintings look different from far away!
Up close, Monet’s paintings can look like lots of colorful dabs and brushstrokes. Step farther back, and those little marks suddenly come together to make a whole scene—almost like magic!
Monet’s Water Lilies in 5 Easy Steps
1. Paint the whole pond first.
Cover your canvas with blues, blue-greens, lavender, and a little white. Don’t make it one flat blue! Make loose side-to-side brush strokes. Pretend your brush is making little ripples across the water.
2. Add the reflections.
Before painting any flowers, add some darker blue, green, purple, and even little bits of pink. Make soft streaks going across the water. These are reflections of the sky, trees, and plants. Don’t blend everything until it's smooth. We want to see the brush marks!
3. Make the lily pads.
Now make little flat oval shapes floating on top. Use different greens—dark green, light green, blue-green, and yellow-green. They don't have to be perfect circles. Monet's aren't! Some can even look like little blobs.
4. Add the water lilies.
Put small flowers on some of your lily pads. Start with a darker pink or purple blob. Then add smaller strokes of pink, light pink, and white on top. Think: dark → pink → white. A tiny dot of yellow in the middle can make the flower pop.
5. Make it sparkle!
This is the fun part. Take a smaller brush and add a few quick strokes of white, pale blue, lavender, pink, and yellow across the water. Put some light colors on the edges of the lily pads and flowers too. Then STOP before you think it's perfect. Monet's paintings are supposed to look loose and dreamy.
*Monet trick*: Stand a few feet away from your painting every once in a while. Up close it might look like a bunch of colorful brush strokes.