Vista del Valley Elementary School
Monet's Garden
This, the second mural completed at Vista del Valley, was created by third through sixth graders. It wraps around a buliding and an adjacent trailor, filling five walla and framing the large student-kept garden.
It is an impressionist piece, based on the works and style of Claude Monet, who the students studied during the time they were completing the mural project. Created in conjuntion with the expansion and planting of the garden, it allowed the students to make it truly their own.
***Images are displayed at reduced size. Click to display full-sized image.
|
|
| This smal portion of the wrap-around mural shows the use of complimentary colors typical of Monet's garden paintings. | For the trailor that sits adjacent to the buildings and garden, the students choose to present the banks of the Seine, with a very colorful foreground. The line of juniper trees in the background have also been mistaken as a sky-line, which the students find amusing. |
|
|
| Here the students attempted tromp l'oeil, copying the trees and flowers that surrounded the building with exactitude which makes it difficult to tell where painting and nature begin and end. | A closeup of the banks of the Seine River. |
|
|
| Near their own active garden, students painted a bridge similar to Monet's Japanese Bridge. It was difficult to get the shadows and highlights just right. | Students found it particularly challenging to refrain from outlining shapes in black. They would paint, step back, squint their eyes, see if it gave just an "impression", and then step up to paint some more. |