Painting with Watercolor

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Painting with Watercolor Pencils

ARTistic Pursuits

Homeschool Review Crew

My kids love art. They love to draw and paint. I am not good at it, at all, and don’t feel confident teaching any of it.  That’s where ARTistic Pursuits comes in!  We received Painting with Watercolor Pencils, Art Core 2.  As the name implies this is a second Core and teaches painting with watercolor pencils.  Core 1 is about drawing with graphite pencils.  We have already reviewed that one and you can read all about it HERE. 

We received both the physical book and DVD/BluRay discs as well as the online streaming course.  For this review, I’m going to touch on the physical set but spend most of my time talking about the streaming service. 

I personally have not drawn a thing.  But my 15-year-old son is very much into art and has been using this course daily and sometimes for hours a day.  He’s amazing if I do say so myself!

About the Program 

ARTistic Pursuits offers a variety of different art courses.  For our review purposes, I am going to direct you to the Core programs.  We are reviewing Core 2.  The Cores are geared toward upper elementary and high school levels. 

Painting with Watercolor pencils technically is geared towards upper elementary (grades 4-6) but I feel that it is great for high school as well.  You do need to start with core 1 before moving on to Core 2.  Or you need to have art experience with drawing with graphite pencils as that is what core 1 teaches. 

After core 2 you go forward through cores 3-5.  

Every level has a physical book as well as DVDs and or blu ray discs for your use plus there is an online component.  With the online component, everything is there just online instead of in the physical form.  We received both and my son did enjoy having the book to hold and use while watching the videos too. 

You can purchase lifetime access to the online course.  I love that option!  If you wish to purchase all of your own materials that is fine or you can purchase a ready-to-use kit that has everything you need. 

For Younger Students

If you have children in the lower elementary grades ARTistic Pursuits does have a series for them too.  There are 8 volumes for them to go through and enjoy art! 

They are divided up by age and concept so you can easily choose what is correct for your child or use them in the order that they’re numbered. 

While this is for upper elementary like I said this course works for older students as well and possibly younger students if they have advanced.  We’ve used the younger grades with older children as well and they’ve loved it as well. 

While my oldest son is using this my younger kids have done parts of it too.  For instance here is his color wheel.  The younger students did color wheels of their own as well. 

Painting with Watercolor Pencils

This course contains 9 units.  You do need to work through these units in order to learn and use the course. 

• primary colors
• secondary colors
• tertiary colors
• complimentary color pairs
• neutral colors
• color tint
• color values
• monochrome colors
• white space

There are supplies you need for this course.  The course gives you a detailed list of brands and items you need.  Or you can grab their kit that has everything you need within it. 

We purchased our supplies on our own but I did try to stick with their recommended brands when purchasing. 

Lesson!

There are both text and video lessons.  They can be summed up into four different types. 

• art materials: video lessons
• creativity: building a visual vocabulary
• art appreciation and history: American
• master lesson: assimilating knowledge and skills

There are 20 lessons in total.  

When you sign into the online course it is set up in categories.  There are five categories. 

• course introduction
• instruction videos
• fundamentals
• advanced tips
• course wrap up

One of the first things they have you do is the color wheel.  Watercolor pencils are super neat in that you use them to draw and then use water over them to make them into paint like colors. 

As you can see it’s very easy to tell where you’re at with the online streaming lessons.  They’re easy to navigate and mark when you’re complete with each section. 

The Fundamentals section is where the main units are.  These are the real meat and potato lessons of the course and are where the core concepts are found. 

My son is 15 and using this course.  He has done the graphite pencils course that comes prior to this one.  You do need to have done that course(in our opinion) as it often refers back to things you would have learned in that course. 

He has been enjoying the course and making progress.  I foresee him finishing this one and having to purchase the next core after this so that he can continue. 

Our Thoughts 

The online streaming course is amazing! 

It’s easy to use and we don’t have to worry about how we’re going to get a disc to play in a way that he can be in quiet to listen.  Normally we’d have to play the disc on our television as our laptops don’t have disc readers.  That meant that all of the children normally watched and it could get hectic and noisy resulting in the actual student not always getting the information they needed. 

With the online course he can wear headphones and work on his own but still be in the main room with the family.  As the parent I have enjoyed watching his art skills change and grow through this course.  I knew a long time ago that he was better than I am with art and love that there are programs like this that can help him and guide him in becoming better at it.

Painting with watercolor pencils sounded difficult to me when I grabbed the supplies.  Because you have to draw first which I’m horrible at and then paint over.  But not just paint over the whole thing, you have to do it neatly and precisely.  He is excelling if I do say so myself!

I am in love with what he’s doing and can’t wait to see his progress!  If he’s only halfway done and already he’s made progress and creating lovely things imagine what he’lll do when he’s fully done with the course.  

Learn More

Please feel free to go to the Main Blog Post over on the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read all of the homeschool crew reviews that are linked up.  There were lots of different courses to review so make sure you read the keyword to know which product they used.  For this specific course, you’re going to look for the keyword Art Core Program.  There are four cores being reviewed. 

ARTistic Pursuits can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.