Striving to create a home strong in the foundations of love, respect, and God's truths ...

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Inspired Wednesday: Art Class DVD Review & Giveaway


*This post contains affiliate links for See The Light, a Christian art education company.  Clicking on these links can help my family but in no way does this association affect the opinions that you will read below.  See the Light provided me with DVDs for reviewing purposes and is giving another set away to one of you.

My Big Helper has become very interested in art lately.  She draws even more than she writes, which is saying a lot!  She talks about drawing and painting and taking pictures of all kinds of things.

With all of this art taking over the house, I thought that perhaps she'd be interested in actual art lessons.  That's where See The Light  comes in.  

Pat Knepley, a master artist, teaches art lessons on DVDs.  The company founder, Pat Holt,  generously gave us two DVDs, of Art Class I and II, to learn from, to review, and to share with you.

My Big Helper was super excited about this and couldn't wait to get started.  She settled herself at the table early one afternoon and asked for her art lessons.  She did several all in one day.  This worked well with the very first lessons because they are very simple in format.

At first, I thought they were almost too simple.  I was starting to wonder about this when I stopped watching the lesson and looked over at My Big Helper - and she was enthralled!  She was totally engaged in the lesson and was keeping track of the items she needed to put into her 'artist's toolkit.'  I knew then that Pat knew exactly what she was doing.

As the lessons progressed, this became more and more evident.  Each lesson builds on the one before it, using real art vocabulary in a friendly, conversational tone.  Pat pairs these art words with simpler terms that the kids are more likely to know, making it easy to understand and learn these words.

The lessons are instructional in nature, but they are intended to be demonstrations for children, as well.  In order for My Big Helper to follow along and still be attentive to all of the information, I manned the remote for each lesson, stopping whenever she was supposed to draw.  This seemed to work out really well for us.


The videos on the first DVD mostly involve simple drawings with few details.  My Big Helper loved these.  The last lesson, however, is more detailed as it asks you to draw your own shoe.  She worked on this assignment long after the video ended.

These drawing lessons continue to get deeper and to build through the second DVD.  There are some new materials needed for the second DVD, but Pat lists the needed supplies at the beginning of each lesson, making it easy to know what you need.


At the end of each DVD there is a bonus lesson.  On the first DVD, this is a chalk pastel lesson with chalk artist Gloria Kohlman.  This lesson is vastly different from the other drawing lessons. It seemed to move much more quickly and assumed that you already had a working knowledge of pastels, where Pat's drawing lessons teach students as if they have never seen or done art before.

This made a big difference in the way that my Big Helper perceived this lesson.  She worried that her paper was the wrong size, and although I kept stopping the DVD for her, she seemed to feel rushed.  I think it will be good to go back and do this lesson again now that we know what to expect - and perhaps with bigger paper.

My favorite aspects of this art series is  Pat's calm and friendly attitude, as well her obvious art expertise.  Coming in hard behind those, though, is the devotionals that Pat includes in each lesson.  I love the way that Pat ties in faith and scripture to each art lesson.  My Big Helper was excited, about these, too.  Her face lit up at the thought that God is creative and cares about art.

So what's my final take?

Positives:
  • Great conversational tone taken by Pat, the master artist
  • The lessons begin very simply and escalate in difficulty slowly.
  • The lessons require very simple, inexpensive materials.
  • The lessons themselves are short, giving you ample time to watch the lesson and then continue to work on your piece.
  • Most lessons assume no prior art experience.
  • Each DVD contains four lessons and one bonus lesson.
  • VERY high quality lessons for a great price!
Negatives:
  • The chalk artist in DVD 1 moves quickly.  Your remote might get a bit more of a workout during this lesson.  (The creative lettering lesson, the bonus lesson in DVD 2, is not like this.  It's very calm and slow-moving, giving you ample time to understand and do each step.)
How would you like to win your own Art Class DVDs?  Pat is generously giving away one copy of DVDs 1 & 2 to one lucky winner.  Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter.

Do you 'do' art with your kids?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Last week Nancy at There Is Grace shared a post about how to know when you're a mom.  Her list was both honest and funny!  To find out more, visit There Is Grace - and Nancy, please visit our Inspired Wednesday page and take the "I was featured on Washed Up Inspired Wednesdays' button back with you.  


A Nest in the Rocks


If you have a post about an encouraging activity, project, or trip that you've taken, please link up below and add a link back to this post.  Either way, please read on to find out more about a fun activity that we enjoy here in our nest, and be sure to hop over to Where He Leads, We Follow to check out Stephanie's  Inspiring Wednesday post, too. 

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68 comments:

  1. Wow - my kids would love these DVD's! I'm not an artist so I think Mommy would get a lot out of them as well. :)

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  2. The Bible Stories DVD set looks great!

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  3. The DVD on color shading I think my oldest dd would really like. the Basics would be a great place to start for the other kids.
    Jennifer

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  4. My kids don't take any art classes but they do it at home and really enjoy it.

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  5. The Bible & Art series would be great in our home!

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  6. My kids are not in a formal art program; but, several of my kids took part in a 6 week course through our co-op. They also watch the Mike's Inspiration Station episodes on Smile of a Child.

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  7. My daughter is so crafty and is obsessed with drawing

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  8. My daughter loves art and we are looking for an art curriculum! Trying a painting class this summer too.

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    1. I do a lot of painting and try to do crafts as well as study an Artist every month!

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  10. My boys don't take art classes right now, but we do artist studies and we will try the style of the artist we are studying. They also do their own thing when it comes to art. :)

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  11. I am not blessed by the knowledge of art. I think this would help my son's a lot! Thank you!

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  12. My daughters would love to learn more art skills! This would be great!

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  13. Thanks for sharing. I was actually looking at this Art Curriculum for this year. It would be great to win it and see if it works for us! Love the art you posted. It's always awesome to look back at their portfolios:)

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  14. My kids do not currently take any art lessons, though, I wish we could afford to give them lessons or provide a curriculum. I am not artistic in the least, so I am unqualified to be teaching how to do art. Though, we do do a little art history and art appreciation at times.

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  15. Right now we do not take any art lessons; but I am considering lessons for my daughter this fall.

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  16. We didn't do anything formal for art this year, but I am looking for something for next year.

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  17. We do little lessons together. My kids love all the art they can get!

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  18. These would be so wonderful to have. Both of my girls are very creative and would benefit from these.

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  19. My girls do not take art lessons. They are still young. However, they both enjoy crafts and would learn so much with these.

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  20. Art is required in our state; still figuring out this homeschool thing, so any tools will be helpful. Thanks!

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  21. My favorite product is the Bible stories DVD. We do a lot of arts & crafts at home, but no formal art lessons.

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  22. I would love to try the Paper Jungle project. Thank you so much for your giveaway.

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  23. My 18 year old takes pottery. The rest do not! My 3 year old and I do projects at home. I recently taught my 15 year old son how to use the pottery wheel.

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  24. We are using Artistic Pursuits, but we'd love to try "See the Light" in the fall if not sooner. We also study an artist (supposed to be one per week), but usually ends up being longer because of the interest level. Thank you soooo much for the opportunity.

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  25. I would LOVE to try the Crossmaker DVD with my daughter, but God's Runaway is of interest as well. Okay . . . honest the entire Bible story series sounds outstanding!

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  26. My children have taken art classes from a local teacher. They also get their fine arts at CC, and recently we reviewed a See the Light Art Project DVD. Would love to win more of these DVDs since they really enjoyed them.

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  27. I would love to have some of these DVDS for my daughter. She loves doodling and pencil drawing. I saw two sets that fit her! She loves Degas as well. We studied him this year.
    thanks, Jen

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  28. We do art every year. I did not use a "program", but I do look up lessons on line.There are some out there if you can find them. I mainly stay with the art the student likes - introducing new stuff and then waiting to see if they like doing it. Art should be fun!!
    JEn

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  29. My kids would LOVE this set!

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  30. My daughter loves to draw pictures for anyone that we meet. She always takes off when a guest arrives to draw them something. She also draws for her family. I believe she would love formal lessons. Thank you.

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  31. We tend to just do art and craft "projects", about one a week. Half of our dining room is dedicated to art and craft supplies, so the kids just dig through and come up with whatever sounds appealing at the moment. I would love something more structured though. :)

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  32. Sounds like a great program! Thanks for the offer.

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  33. We don't do any formal art lessons at this point. That's one reason the DVDs interest me!

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  34. We love art and my kids are always asking for more art lessons:) Thanks for an awesome giveaway:)

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  35. The Poppy Collage in the style of Georgia O'Keefe looks like fun!

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  36. My 3rd grader is in love with art. We currently study the artist listed on www.gardenofpraise.com. We then try and recreate some of their art work. It was a great beginning, but he is longing for more instruction in his technique. So this would be right on time.

    Thanks

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  37. We are not currently doing art. We just finished a digital art class in virtual charter school. This will be my first year homeschooling. Is this DVD appropriate for any age? I didn't see anything regarding age in the description. Thanks.

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    1. I believe that they are geared for kids 8 and up. My daughter just turned eight two months ago, and she had no problem with it. The second DVD is a bit more complicated, but Pat breaks each lesson part down well. I think most elementary children would be able to work with these DVDs, at least at the beginning of the series.

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  38. Bible stories DVD would be a great start!

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  39. We don't currently do an art program. Mostly just do suggestion in the FIAR program.

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  40. What a great addition to our art curriculum!

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  41. i would like to try the art dvd's with my 2nd grader. he loves art, but i'm not an artist. i don't want that love of art to fade because we are homeschooling and i don't know a thing about art.

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  42. my kids are currently in public school... for 1 more day, wooohooo! that is where they take art. i hope to win these dvd's so they can continue to have art lessons.

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  43. I think my daughter would love any of the art class dvd's! The art teacher in ps has been very impressed with her ability & invited her to be in the after-school art club. We are going to start homeschooling in the fall & I have 0 artistic ability. These dvd's would be perfect for us!

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  44. I'd probably start w/ the basics :)

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  45. Currently we use God & the history of art w/ My Father's World. They love it, but it would be wonderful for them to actually "see" the lesson.

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  46. We would love to try cartooning

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  47. We did recently do See The Light Paper Jungle. Other then that no. It's what I find on internet to give me ideas.

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  48. This would be great.

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  49. This would be great!

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  50. we love to draw anything. We look at all kinds of things to draw--still lifes, from printed items, etc.

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  51. I love the Art class DVD set but the Bible and Art set would be so great to use.

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  52. My boys have never taken an art class, but they both love to draw so this would be great to win!

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  53. The Bible Story sets look awesome!

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  54. We would love the Bible and Art set. Thanks!

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  55. My oldest does an art curriculum with me. He has taken lessons outside in the past.

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  56. My daughter enjoyed art class while she was in private school for two years, but hasn't had the opportunity to take any other classes. She enjoys drawing and writing! I'd love to win this set for her! Thank you!

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  57. We have taken drawing and watercolor classes.

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  58. Would love to add art to our lessons. We sometimes do Drawing with Children

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  59. The Bible and Art set would be fun!

    We do not have any formal training or lessons in art at the time. However, everyday we do some type of art craft together.

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  60. We don't currently have an art program in place but I would love to do some things that are more structured going forward.

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  61. We do an artist study for six weeks where they learn about an aritist from Getting to know the World's Greatest aritist books and paint their interpretation of that artist's works. We also use an Evan moore book to learn about color, shade, etc.

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  62. I guess we would like to start from the beginning with The Basics package from See the light.

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  63. My kids don't take art currently but they'd enjoy it!

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  64. I teach them using the CC curriculum.

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  65. I would love to try them all to be honest!

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