Mountain of Grace Homeschooling and Life Thereafter : Review~ Beginner Level Art Core 2, Painting with Watercolor Pencils from ARTistic Pursuits

Disclaimer~ I received a complementary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Art! Art! Art! We all scream for art! At least that is how it felt when the kids were little. Art class was like getting ice cream. It was fun and it brightened up their day. Art class has always been an important part of our homeschooling journey. Therese and I are thrilled to be sharing with you today all about Beginner Level Art Core 2, Painting with Watercolor Pencils from ARTistic Pursuits!

ARTistic Pursuits is a well-known art curriculum in the homeschooling world. Over the years we've used quite a few of their books to satisfy our fine arts curriculum. I love how Artistic Pursuits teaching everything needed in a fine arts program. Students learn all about art history, study art instruction, and learn about the various art techniques used while creating art.

For this review, we received a physical copy of Painting with Watercolor Pencils which is part of the Beginner Level series geared for fourth grade students and up. This is the second book in this series. The first book is Drawing with Graphite Pencils.

The textbook comes with a Blue Ray disk and two DVDs. However, none of the art materials are provided. Parents will need to purchase these items separately. Students will need one set of watercolor pencils (set of 12 or more), a vinyl or plastic erasure, a handheld pencil sharpener, 40 sheets of watercolor paper sized 9 x 12, various paint brushes, a plastic square, and a drawing compass.

All these items can be purchased online or at your local art store. I would recommend buying quality products. When it comes to art materials, you get what you pay for. Cheap art materials just make the projects harder to complete and sadly, they often don't work the way they should.

Painting with Watercolor Pencils introduces students to the media of watercolor pencils. Students will explore color theory. They will experiment with mixing colors, different color combinations, and learn various painting techniques.

The book contains 36 painting lessons. The lessons are broken up into nine units.

Unit 1~ Primary Colors

Unit 2~ Secondary Colors

Unit 3~ Tertiary Colors

Unit 4~ Complementary Color Pairs

Unit 5~ Neutral Colors

Unit 6~ Color Tints

Unit 7~ Color Values

Unit 8~ Monochrome Colors

Unit 9~ White Space

Each unit is broke up into 4 lessons.

Lesson 1

Art Materials: Video Lesson

Video Instruction and the First Page of the Unit

Students will watch the 6-10 minute video and then try using the materials and applying what they have learned.

Lesson 2

Creativity: Building a Visual Vocabulary

Second Page of the Unit

Students are given a topic to focus on. This topic is explained in words(vocabulary) and pictures. Students are encouraged to look for the topic being taught in their own environment and to make real-world connections. They then will create a work of art using their observations.

Lesson 3

Art Appreciation and History: American

Third & Fourth Page in the Unit

This is where students are shown how the current topic being taught is used in a master work of art. Students will learn about a particular artist and the time that they lived. They will complete this lesson by applying their new knowledge to a work of art that they create.

Lesson 4

Master Lesson: Assimilating Knowledge and Skills

Fifth & Sixth Page in the Unit

Students will complete the unit by creating a work of art by applying all that they have learned about the topic presented in the unit. They will use a variety of sources (still life objects, landscapes, photographs) as they create a work of art. Students will choose a subject matter that is of personal interest to them.

For a semester course, each unit will cover two weeks. This gives he students two class days to work on the lesson and other days throughout the week to work on their projects.

What Did We Think of Painting with Watercolor Pencils from ARTistic Pursuits?

I love that this new program comes with the DVDs to watch at home. Living out in the country can wreak havoc on our internet connection. Sometimes it's amazing, while other times nothing will load.

This new series from ARTistic Pursuits lives up to the same standards as all their other books.

I love how it brings in art history, art appreciation, and techniques. I love how both my kids have been exposed to various artistic media over the years.

Painting with Watercolor Pencils is a wonderful semester course. The lessons are clear and concise. The language is simple, and everything is explained extremely well.

I simply created a semester course for Therese. I assigned two days a week to her schedule.

I choose Monday and Wednesday. This gave her plenty of time to work on and complete the projects. I made the final project due the following Monday. This allowed her to have extra time to complete the final project.

I will admit we have fallen behind this semester. Therese and I both got sick and were down for three weeks, then we headed out of town for a funeral of a friend's mother, and this was followed by Easter break, Easter, and a visit from the grandparents. I swear it feels like we've been out of school more than we've been in. So, she is barely completed any lessons, but she's enjoying the book and plans to dig back in this week. She's perfectly fine working through this course into the summer. It's like I said before... ART, ART, ART, we all scream for ART!

Art class is like enjoying eye cream on a hot summer day!