I recently reviewed Michael Sanders’ excellent book on how to paint like Van Gogh; now have a go at painting some pictures in the style of Monet.

As with all the Ready To Paint series books, you are provided with six tracings, five of which also come with staged instructions.  Monet is a good choice as his Giverny paintings were voted most popular of all the old masters in a poll; now you can own copies of those mesmeric, tranquil scenes to hang in your own home.  You can also learn something about Monet’s life and how he achieved his revolutionary effects that make his paintings so unique.  It helps that he was asked what colors he used, and it is these same colors (with modern updates) that Mr Gregory also uses.  Of course, Monet did not use acrylics as they did not yet exist, but the point of this series is not to slavishly copy exactly, but to take away from the projects some knowledge used by the old masters.  Three of the tracings (including the one you do by yourself) depict Giverny scenes. The others show a poppy field, a bridge scene and Venice’s Grand Canal.  All the five projects come with lists of everything you need to buy, as well as a multitude of captioned photographs showing every infinitesimal stage in the paintings.  It really does make for a foolproof way to learn to paint.  I recommend this book for all beginner artists, as well as anybody who loves Monet and wants to discover how to paint in his style and get to grips with acrylics.