November 14th is Claude Monet’s birthday. Who was he? Claude Monet was a French artist known for painting in the style called Impressionism.
Claude Monet was born on November 14, 1840, in Paris, France, and as a child he showed great talent as an artist. In 1872 he painted a picture of a harbour using very loose brushstrokes. He called the picture Impression, Sunrise and exhibited it along with paintings by his friends. The artists became known as the impressionists after the title of Monet’s painting. The impressionist movement was all about capturing movement and changing light and colour.
In the 1880s Monet settled in Giverny, outside of Paris. There he painted one of his most famous series of paintings, called Water Lilies.
Let’s create a water lily together!
What you’ll need:
- green and pink cardstock paper (alternatively use white and colour in)
- scissors
- yellow marker/pencil
- paper fastener
- glue
- water lily template, download here
- white card stock paper (optional)
- watercolours (optional)
- brush (optional)
Instructions:
1. Print out the template. If you are using coloured cardstock paper, use green for the leaf and pink for the lily. Cut all the pieces out.
2. Add yellow to the circle. This is the middle of the flower, it is usually yellow.
3. Take the circle and cut a few slits.
4. Add a small hole to all the flowers and the circle. You can do so by slightly folding them in half.
5. Stick the fastener through hole in the circle.
6. Attach your first flower (the smallest one).
7. Continue assembling the lily by adding bigger flowers.
8. Once you have all the flowers together, flip the lily and fold the legs of the fastener down to hold in place.
9. Take the leaf, add some glue, place the lily and stick together.
7. If you’d like, you can also paint a pond and put your lily there!
