French Day / Garden Dab Painting Outdoors
Garden Dab Painting Outdoors
Children paint outside with short dabs and dots of colour, the way French painters of the 1870s captured light on gardens, ponds and flowers.
How to run it
- Show a few printed examples of French Impressionist garden and pond paintings.
- Point out the short brushstrokes and how the colours look blurred up close but clear from a distance.
- Take easels or clipboards outside and choose a plant, tree or patch of sky to paint.
- Encourage children to dab rather than draw outlines, mixing colours on the paper.
- Step back together to view the paintings from across the yard.
You will need
- thick paper or card
- washable paint
- short stiff brushes or cotton buds
- paint palettes or lids
- clipboards or easels
- printed artwork examples
Make it easier or harderYounger children can dab with cotton buds onto a pencil sketch; older children can paint the same scene twice to show morning and afternoon light.
My Time Our Place · Outcome 4, Outcome 1Children experiment with a historical painting technique and express their own view of the natural world.
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