See The Light – Pointillism Fruit (Review)

I love art, and it’s something I want to pass on to my children. So I was pretty excited when the review came up for See the Light. I’m an even bigger fan after working through the Pointillism Fruit lessons with my kids.

Pointillism Fruit is a DVD for ages 10+ containing four lessons where the student creates a still life painting of fruit using the style of Georges Seurat–a French Artist. Caution: If you check out the link for the artist (link not related to See the Light), there is one nude painting lower down on the page. The DVD lessons are designed to be done once a week allowing the student to take their time with each art lesson.

Base color only…

The teacher, artist Pat Knepley, is engaging, and the kids and I loved watching her lessons. She leads the students through art history, art elements and principles, and weaves in biblical insights complete with scriptures. The amazing thing? The kids made some awesome art work with cotton swabs. Cotton swabs! Who knew.

Here’s the break down of the lessons:
1. Color theory and initial drawing of the fruit
2. Laying down the base color with dots
3. Optical color mixing with more dots
4. Highlights and shadows to finish off the still life

There is a list of supplies on both the website and the DVD which makes shopping easier. I’d recommend watching the DVD to see the supplies used first. I’m sure you could probably email with questions, too.

How We Used It
We watched a little of the DVD to see what the paper looked like before buying our supplies. The kids thought it was funny that we had the exact same paper plates as the teacher.

I bought oranges, bananas, red apples, green apples, a red pear, and a green pear so they had a variety to choose from. Once everyone picked their fruit, they arranged them as directed and started the lessons.

Quick note: Pointillism is best viewed at a distance to get the full effect. You will need to stand back a few feet from the monitor to see the paintings. This will help you to really understand what this artist intended with the optical color mixing and Pointillism techniques. Plus, the photos seem blurry, but I took them twice before realizing it was actually the result of the type of art. It appears fuzzy and blurry up close.

Chrystiana, age 17

For the drawing part of the video, the kids worked at the coffee table, and I helped them when needed. I was actually quite surprised by how well their drawings turned out. Once we began the painting part, we moved to the table, and used a washable tablecloth.

We watched the lesson together, pausing and rewinding as needed, and I went around the table offering suggestions, reminding them what the teacher said, and helping when asked.

Christian, age 13

What We Thought:
We all loved this project from the process to the finished product. Pat keeps the lessons interesting, and easy to understand plus we love the spiritual applications, too. They took their pictures and displayed them at our homeschool Presentation Night, and one family had actually studied this artist, but hadn’t done a related project. They thought the kids’ results were wonderful.

Jake, age 10

This DVD is for ages 10+, however, I let my seven year old give it a go, too. She did great!

I’d really like to go through Pat Knepley’s Art Class series with my kids. It looks really good, and after our success with this one, I think we’d get a lot out of it. The kids are also interested in her other art projects, too. I think we’ve found a good source for art to last a little while.

Amber, age 7

Pricing and Other Information:
Pointillism Fruit is available for $14.99.

You can find out more about See the Light on their About Us page, and get to know the artists on the Meet the Team page. To find out more about what they offer, check out their previews/trailers page.

They also have some wonderful resources on their website such as their blog, Tip of the Day videos, free lessons, and free downloads of mini projects, lessons plans, and lineart. They even have a section showcasing student artwork.

You can find See the Light on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

*Pricing and information is accurate to the best of my knowledge at time of posting.