This lesson is an exercise for painting an impressionist work.
What do you need?
- white drawing sheet
- tempera paint in red, blue and yellow
- small brushes
- paper towels
Instruction
View impressionist paintings, for example from Claude Monet or Van Gogh. Zoom into Starry Night from Van Gogh using this link.
What do you see?
- the painting is made out with loose dashes.
- the dashes indicate a direction or movement, they are not just placed.
- you can see the canvas between the dashes. The color of the canvas is therefore part of the painting.
Exercise before you get started:
- Practice painting short dashes on a scrap. To do this, always lift the brush from the paper.
- Practice with two colors on your brush; do not mix!
- Make narrow/wide dashes by turning/not turning your brush.
- Clean the brush with a paper towel for a new color, do not use water!
What should you do?
- Fold the sheet in half lengthwise, this is the horizon line.
- Draw a semi circle on the horizon line: the sun.
- Paint the sun. Apply red and yellow to your brush. Do not mix!
- Paint the sun's rays with yellow and very little red. Put something on your brush of both colors and make short strokes by lifting the brush from the paper each time. Leave a bit of white between the strokes.
- Make the reflection of the sun in the water. The direction of the brushstrokes must be horizontal now, just like the water.
- Paint the sky with blue and white (add two colors to the brush). Use white to make a lighter blue. Follow the direction of the sun's rays. Leave again a bit of white between the strokes.
- Paint the sea with blue, white (and maybe green). Do not mix! The direction is horizontal here. Think of the white space between the lines.











