Impressionism is a style of painting that originated in France in the 1860s. Unlike paintings in the past, the Impressionist artists were more concerned with painting their “impression” of a scene rather than depicting every detail. They studied the effects of light on color. For that reason they often painted the same scene at different times of day to see how the sunlight effected the overall look. They also used hundreds of short, broken brush strokes instead of long, flowing strokes. When you look at sections of an Impressionist painting up close, it can be hard identify objects, but step back and the pieces come together to form a recognizable picture! Today we are going to try our hand at Impressionism with this Impressionist painting tutorial!

If possible share some photos of Impressionist paintings with your child. You can use one of these for inspiration, but you can simply head outside with your paints! We took photos of plants in our yard and used one to inspire our painting. So, put on your paint frocks and get started!

Note: When you put a paint brush in a child’s hand, they tend to make long brush strokes. Instead of using brushes, we used small pieces of sponge to add blobs of color to our painting. When children get us to use to applying small dabs of paint, you can make other paintings using paint brushes.

One of the most acclaimed Impressionist painters was Claude Monet. His studies of sunshine and water lilies are very well known. If you think your children would like to learn more about Claude Monet and Impressionism, here are a few books you might want to check out at your local library. Who Was Claude Monet?, Claude Monet: Sunshine and Waterlilies, and The Magical Garden of Claude Monet.

Materials and Supplies for Impressionist Painting Tutorial

• water color paper
• acrylic paints
• painter’s tape
• cellulose sponge
• a painting, photo or the outdoors for inspiration
• mini muffin pan

Impressionist Painting Tutorial Directions

Pick a Impressionist painting or take your own photo for inspiration. This is one of the barrels on our deck.

Cut a cellulose sponge into many small pieces. Wet the sponge pieces and squeeze out well.

Using painter’s tape (similar to masking tape only it isn’t as sticky and it comes off the paper easier), tape the water color paper to the covered work surface. This will reduce the amount of paper curling and create a lovely white border around your painting when the tape is later removed. Try to tape evenly so you border is nice and even. If you are using 3/4″ tape, cover 1/2″ of the paper edge with tape, leaving 1/4″ to hold it to the table. (3/4″ and 1/4″ if using 1″ tape.) Tape all 4 edges.

Gather all supplies. We used acrylic paint because the colors are vibrant and they stay wet longer than water colors. You want the paints to bleed together a bit to soften all the lines.

Using your photo for inspiration, LIGHTLY add shapes to your page where you want to add specific objects. Focus on the big things like flowers or general plant shapes. DO NOT try to “draw” the picture. Remember, we are going for the “impression” or feel, not realistic detail.

Mix up the colors you think you want to use. You will probably add more paint as you go along!

Using sponge pieces, add paint to drawing. Do not try to stay within the lines you laid down, just focus on color. Leaving white spaces is just fine!

After the basic shapes have been applied, you can go back in and add shading to the colors to give them depth.

Add details to flower centers or other details you wish to add.

Finally, add accents of white to show light on your painting.

As you can see, by the time we were done with the painting, we added more colors to our pallet!

Our final painting with the photo we used for inspiration.

When the painting has dried, carefully remove the painter’s tape. Make sure children add their name to their masterpiece!

Done! Find the perfect place to hang your picture!