Hi, this is Joelle Meijer.
Here is how to paint a poppy field inspired by the work of Monet
who made several paintings with poppies.
There are several ways to proceed.
Here is a first technique.
Take a sheet of white paper.
Paint the entire surface in a green shade of your choice.
Without waiting for the paint to dry, take a smaller brush and make dots or small lines
with different shades of green and some straw yellow paint.
Monet is an impressionist painter; that means that through his small brushstrokes,
Monet gives us the impression of the scene he painted.
When the paint is dry, take a small potato and cut it in two.
You can use it as is or make four small incisions to represent the petals more accurately.
To hold the half potato more easily, stick a fork in it.
Dip the potato in red paint.
Then make poppy prints everywhere on the green background.
When the poppies are dry, add a little black dot in the centre of the flowers
to represent the hearts of the flowers.
Use the eraser on the back of a pencil to paint the black dots.
Instead of doing this project on a large sheet of paper,
you could do it on a piece of construction paper the size of a postcard.
This time, I decided not to put a green background but to cover the entire surface
of the card with touches of paint using different shades of green and some straw yellow.
When it's finished, let the paint dry completely.
Take a pencil with an eraser at the end.
Dip the eraser in red paint and make prints of the eraser to represent the poppies.
When the red paint is dry, put a black dot in the center of the flowers
with the back of a paint brush.
When the card is ready, turn it over and ask the children to write a note to a veteran.
Just a thank you will be well appreciated.
This project then becomes a way of combining visual art and writing.
Instead of painting dots of green paint,
you could also paint the background of the field with bubble wrap.
Cut a piece of bubble wrap of about the same size as the postcard.
Put several shades of green and yellow on the bubble wrap.
When the entire surface is covered with paint, turn the bubble wrap over
and press it on the postcard.
Obviously there are still a lot of white areas.
If you want less white, repeat this process again.
Represent poppies with the eraser end of the pencil as in the previous example.
If you prefer a simpler card, take a half-sheet of construction paper and fold it in two.
Take a potato and cut it in two.
Insert a fork in the potato for a better grip and then dip the potato in red paint.
Print the four petals of the poppy.
When the red paint is dry, paint the heart of the poppy using the eraser of a pencil.
Make small black dots in the center of the flower.
Draw the stem with a green marker or pencil.
The stems of the poppies are very thin.
If you want you can also draw leaves.
To print the document with illustrated instructions,
click on the link below the video and visit the Animaplates web site
where you will find hundreds of fun and educational projects!