Year 4 Rivers Lesson 2 In this lesson

Year 4 Rivers Lesson 2 In this lesson you will be exploring how two artists have used oil paint and water colour to paint the River Thames.

Charing Cross Bridge, Claude Monet 1899

Look carefully at the painting of the River Thames by Claude Monet. • What can you see? • Monet painted light at different times of the day. What time of day do you think it was? • What is the mood of the painting? • Do you think the painting looks real? • Do you think Monet used a thick or thin brush to paint the river? Monet loved mixing colours. • What colours has he used in the sky? • What colours are the shadows? • Have you noticed that Monet has not used black. How has he made colours darker? • Monet worked quickly to catch the impression of light in one moment. He was part of a group of painters called ‘The Impressionists’. See if you can find out more about them and make some notes.

Your task is to try and mix and match the colours Monet has used. You can use ready mix paint or powder paint with PVA glue added to your paint to make it thicker. Monet has dabbed the colour onto the canvas with short strokes. Experiment with short strokes using the tip or side of your brush. If you don’t have paints use coloured pencils to match the colours and brush strokes in a small section of the painting.

Sunset, J. M. W Turner, 1832

Turner used watercolour paint for light and atmosphere - he has painted the distant view very quickly. What can you see in the painting? Does the painting look real? What time of day is it? What can you see in the distance? What colours has Turner used? How has he used watercolour paint? Look at how he has blended the colours – are the brush strokes thick or flowing? How have Monet and Turner used paint in different ways?

Experimenting with watercolour techniques Making a wash • Use watercolour paints and a fine brush to make a wash. • Dampen your paper with water using long brush strokes. • Then experiment with washes of colour by adding a tint of paint. • Make washes from light to dark. • Try making colours lighter by adding water and darker by adding darker colours but not black. • Explore different brush strokes to show movement.