{Review} See The Light

As a homeschool mom, one of the subjects that get a bit hard to figure out when our children get older is art.  Younger elementary ages are pretty easy to handle, especially now with Pinterest! But teaching middle school and high school age students art?! A bit daunting. Wouldn't it be great if there was an art program that a student could do at home, that incorporated Bible lessons and that fulfilled some of the high school Fine Arts credit? I wouldn't have even know where to start looking for such a program!

Through Mosaic Reviews, I had the opportunity to review an art program called See The Light. See The Light covers half of the Fine Arts requirements in every state. Also, the publishers of See The Light include some excellent ideas on how to fulfill the other half of the requirements.

See The Light is a company created by Dave and Pat Holt. They've put together an amazing team of artists and musicians that all share the same goal. "The SEE THE LIGHT team is dedicated to bringing scripture and biblical principles to viewers in a fresh, engaging way. . . and promising to teach some exciting art skills along the way!" (source) 

We were able to choose one of the Art Project DVD's in the See The Light Year 2 Collection. After looking through the choices, Lael (age 12) and Alyssa (age 10) chose the Sunflowers in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. It didn't need a lot of special materials and the subject matter was something they were both interested in drawing.

For our DVD, we had to purchase large sketch paper and oil pastels. The total was less than $8 and both are items the girls will continue to enjoy. Each lesson is about 25 minutes long (for a total of about 100 minutes). The instructor, Pat Knepley, does a great job of explaining how to use the oil pastels. I also really enjoyed listening to the Bible lessons Ms. Knepley incorporates as well as the story of Van Gogh's life.  I thought she did an excellent job with his life story, especially considering that Van Gogh did deal with mental health issues. It's handled in a mature, grace-filled way.

Before the first lesson, the girls set up their art station in the living room. We tried to always do the lessons when the younger girls would be occupied or napping, as the oil pastels are a bit messy.

Lesson 1 had the girls diving right in and getting their first layer of color on the paper. We found that we did have to have the remote handy, as we had to pause it after each step so the girls could catch up. They enjoyed it so very much that they were begging to do Lesson 2!  Here are their drawings after the completion of the first lesson:

Lesson 1, Alyssa

Lesson 1, Lael

For Lesson 2, the girls were taught how to add details to the leaves and petals as well as the urn that Ms. Knepley was using for their inspiration. I loved how quickly their drawings were taking shape and really looking amazing! You can "see" each girl in their drawings. One wants hers to be exactly like the example and one is giving it a little extra artistic touch. Here they are with Lesson 2 completed:

Lesson 2, Alyssa

Lesson 2, Lael

 For learning how to fill in negative space in Lesson 3, my girls really started to show their personalities a bit more. One did it her way and one tried to follow the lesson exactly. I love how each drawing developed.  There was a bit of anxiety at one point. They were concerned about messing up the drawings. I loved that the instructor was reminding them at this point that they could take some artistic license and make it their own. Here's Lesson 3 completed:

Lesson 3, Alyssa

Lesson 3, Lael

During Lesson 4, the girls learned how to add in shadows and light, blending colors together to create a more life-like piece of art. I'm so impressed with the quality these art lessons. We are not artists. I know that I like to look at beautiful art but I have no idea how to create it. The girls were able to create beautiful pieces of art and learn something about Vincent Van Gogh as well.   

Here are their finished products:

Finished product, Lael

Finished product Alyssa

See The Light has several different DVD programs available. The first teaches the basics of art. It is available as a full set for $99.99 or individually for $14.99. The second set is the art projects. Each DVD teaches a new style of art, based on the works of famous artist such as Van Gogh (as we studied), Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keefe and more.


If you are a homeschool parent that is looking for an art program, this would be a great place to start looking! We enjoyed it so much!

.

If you'd like to read what other reviewers thought of more See The Light programs, check out Mosaic Reviews!