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| Our product for review: Pointillism Fruit in the style of Georges Seurat |
Product at a glance:
- Product Received: See the Light Art Projects Pointillism Fruit
- Publisher: See the Light
- Price: $14.99 for each individual lesson or $99.99 for the set of 9 different lessons.
- Web-site: See the Light
- Facebook Page: Facebook
- Twitter: Twitter
- Blog: See the Light Blog
- Pinterest: Pinterest
- Ages/grades suggested for: 10 and up (youngers may use it with a little guidance, olders may use it alone with out much help)
- Who can use it? Any one who would like to study art or add art instruction into their kids or their lives. Homeschoolers or after schoolers could both make great use of these DVD's as well as adults who want to enrich their lives with a good foundation knowledge of art method, theory and history.
- Products by this publisher (paraphrased descriptions from their web-site):
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| Full set of 9 DVD's |
Create Your Own Masterpiece In The Style Of 9 Famous Artists! Full set $99.99, individual lessons $14.99
- DRAW A WINDOW IN THE STYLE OF LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY- DRAW A WATERCOLOR PAINTING IN THE STYLE OF AMERICAN POP ARTIST WAYNE THIEBAUD- CREATE A PAPER COLLAGE IN THE STYLE FRENCH ARTIST HENRI ROUSSEAU- CREATE A FRUIT STILL LIFE IN THE STYLE OF FRENCH ARTIST GEORGES SEURAT- CREATE AN ABSTRACT FLOWER IN THE STYLE OF AMERICAN ARTIST GEORGIA O’KEEFFE- CREATE AN ACRYLIC OR TEMPERA PAINTING IN THE STYLE OF RUSSIAN ARTIST MARC CHAGALL- DRAW A CHALK PASTEL IN THE STYLE OF FRENCH ARTIST EDGAR DEGAS- PAINT A WATERCOLOR SEASCAPE IN THE STYLE OF AMERICAN ARTIST WINSLOW HOMER- CREATE AN OIL PASTEL SUFLOWER IN THE STYLE OF DUTCH ARTIST VINCENT VAN GOGH
- Art Class Year 1 Set $99.99 for full set of 36 lessons, $14.99 for 4 lesson single DVD's
This 9 volume DVD series contains 36 complete step-by-step tutoring lessons, taught by Master Artist Pat Knepley.Pat Knepley’s warmth and engaging personality captures the attention of children, draws them into the learning process, and leads them through a successful drawing experience in every lesson.Each lesson runs approximately 15 minutes and includes suggestions for follow-up drawing activities.Art History is another feature of ART CLASS. Your children will become acquainted with the famous masterpieces of many artists.Biblical truth is integrated into every lesson!NO WORKBOOKS EVER! These lessons require only basic supplies (see below). Most lessons require only a piece of copy paper, a #2 pencil, and a good eraser.
VOLUME 1: The BasicsVOLUME 2: Shape & SpaceVOLUME 3: Value & ColorVOLUME 4: Color Blending TechniquesVOLUME 5: Proportions For CompositionVOLUME 6: Texture & FormVOLUME 7: Perspective For The LandscapeVOLUME 8: Balancing &ForeshorteningVOLUME 9: The Portrait
- They also have Bible Stories, Gift Sets, On-Line Classes, and more on their web-site. Check it out!
What problem does this product solve (paraphrased from their web-site):
Homeschoolers now have an option for meeting the National Visual Arts Standards at home without paying for private lessons. By following the full 9 DVD lessons in the complete set just as it is laid out, you can meet the guidelines for most state's 1/2 credit of Visual Arts on the high school level. By adding in field trips and additional projects outside of the given lessons, they can meet the state guidelines for 1 full credit of Visual Arts instruction on the high school level.
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| Watching Lesson 1 on the DVD |
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| Gathering supplies for Lesson 1 |
The Product Test:
We received the See the Light Art Project DVD on Pointillism Fruit in the style of Georges Seurat from See the Light for review last month. It is one of a 9 DVD set that together can comprise a full year's art curriculum on the high school level. Each DVD has 4 lessons around creating a project in the style of some of the great masters. I have listed all of them in the above product description. I chose Pointillism because it was something that I knew my kids had never been introduced to but had experienced to a small extent in art displays and museums (and a favorite restaurant has several Seurat painting reproductions that they are both fascinated by when we go there).
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| Matthew sketching his still life fruit |
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| Emma sketching her still life fruit |
Lesson 1: Introducing Seurat's Impressionist Style of Pointillism
Mom confessional:
I enjoy art when I take the time to do it with the kids, but it is a segment of our curriculum that often gets glossed over for the nuts and bolts of fitting all the other stuff in. I work full-time and homeschool 2 of my 3 kids (the older one is in college). I am pregnant with #4 and we have a small zoo at our house that demands a lot of time (dogs, cats, lizards, fish, etc.). Fitting in the core subjects often takes over the majority of our school time and art, PE, music, and other subjects that the kids love take a back seat.
Despite that, my kids HUGELY enjoy art and the expression is allows and are all very creative when given the opportunity. I grew up in that era where art budgets were small and kids who were college bound often had little time for art because their electives were all sucked up by science and math electives. As such, I feel I have little artistic ability and therefore have little skill to pass on to my kids. I know that I am OK at art, in my head, but I definitely try to push those type of lessons off on my husband when I get the chance. He has his Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts and Graphic Design (doesn't he sound more qualified???). That being said, I grumble and grouse by then end of most of our art lessons which isn't fair to the kids who just want to make a mess with some paint and cotton swabs (or whatever our supply of the day happens to be).
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| Next we were ready to add in our first layers of color dots. |
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| Matthew Gives it a shot on his pear. |
I was pretty excited to be included in this product review because I am very enthusiastic about anything that draws the art lesson together for me and allows me to sit back and supervise. These lessons did that very well. I felt like a facilitator as opposed to the teacher. I sat the kids in front of the lesson, pulled out the required supplies, and eventually participated alongside them in the lessons so that I stayed engaged and helped them stay engaged. My kids are on the low end of the suggested ages for this DVD as it is recommended for ages 10 and up. Even still, it didn't talk over their heads or get so involved they felt lost at any point. My 9 year old got a tiny bit lost while trying to apply dots and listen to the instructor's directions in the lesson a couple of times. We did rewind it and rewatch a few spots.
My kids are a little bit of perfectionists and had a little bit of frustration that their versions did not immediately look as nice as the instructors' piece. I kept explaining that she is a Master Artist and we are beginners and that she has done this same exercise many times and we have done it a single time. I think by the end, they were pleased with how theirs turned out and they were talking about "next time" I want to try trees and isn't it neat how God turns tree leaves contrasting colors in the fall.
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| Matthew finishing up his base layer of dots. |
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| Emma trying to decide if she needs more dots or if she's finished. |
Lesson 2: Implementing Pointillism.
After sketching and laying the foundation colors in the first two lessons, it was time to add in dimension with some complimentary and contrasting color dots. This is probably about the only time the kids felt a little confusion. I feel like the lesson was explained very well, but that this was one of the concepts that the kids just needed to be a little older to understand. Eventually Matthew caught on to how he was supposed to shade and highlight his picture, but he had already randomly added a bunch of dots all over the place. He got a little frustrated. Again, he was being a little distracted that night and it was something you needed to concentrate on to understand.
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| The kids adding in shadows |
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| There was lots of holding out the paintings and trying to see the optical illusions that Seurat used and the instructor referenced. |
During the fourth lesson, we finished up our lesson on Pointillism and Georges Seurat as it applies to color theory. We also finished up our pointillism still life with fruit paintings. By the end of the fourth lesson, the kids saw how the it all fit together and understood the couple of things they were confused on in the middle. They have retained quite a bit of the information about art history and color theory (even without taking notes during the lessons). They explained Pointillism to their grandmother when she visited yesterday when she asked about their paintings.
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| Emma's finished painting with our still life "fruit" |
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| Matthew's finished painting |
I should have taken the photos from farther away so that the colors blended better. The illusion of color blending does work at a distance and it was exciting for the kids to see that it did from across the room.
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| Mom's version of Pointillism Still Life with Fruit |
What would I change about it?
There isn't a thing I can think of that I would change. I would like to start with the basic art class this year and then progress to the art project set for next year. I love that they have them available as an online option and I plan on learning more about that option as time and money allow.
I think that the kids at the age they are now will pull plenty of knowledge from the lessons and then definitely could repeat them for high school level art with some extra work thrown in to round out the time to a full credit's worth of work. It's a great value.
What did Mom think?
I thought that over all it was very well done. I enjoyed not having to spend several hours googling and searching at the library to find the background information to implement the same lesson. Plus, I would have made the kids do it in one fell swoop as opposed to spreading it out like the DVD did. The lessons on the DVD were concise and a nice length for the age of my kids. Mrs. Knepley teaches the class concisely and professionally. She commands the kids' attention and even my flighty monkeys paid attention throughout the lesson. An older student could easily double up on the lessons and not feel overwhelmed with information. I think during the middle two lessons, there could have been an intermission period for the kids to work through the painting section a little more slowly. I just paused the DVD when she got ahead of where we were.
I would love to own both sets that See the Light offers. That would be at least two years worth of art lessons for the kids that eventually they could definitely work through on their own with very minimal adult intervention.
What did the Kids Think?
Matthew (age 12):
"I love doing art. I really liked learning how to do art in the style of a famous artist that I have seen in history books and museums. I wish she hadn't said "my friends" so much, that was the only problem I had. I want to try some of the other lessons that we saw on the web-site!"
Emma (age 9):
"I liked going through the lessons and finishing my project completely. I liked how it changed from the drawing to adding the base colors to the final piece with all the shadows and highlights. I can't wait to frame it and hang it up in my room."
Find other reviews and opinions of this product and several of their other products at Mosaic Reviews
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