Back in January our family went to see the Van Gogh Exhibition at the Denver Art Museum and loved it. So when I was asked by See The Light if I would review the Van Gogh Sunflowers project, I excitedly said yes!   While I knew that the project dvd by See The light might be a little difficult for my younger two kids (it is recommended for ages 10+), I knew my oldest daughter could do it.   When the dvd arrived, I don’t know who was more excited, me or my daughter!

Sarah tracing out her design

The Sunflowers dvd is divided into 4 lessons.  Each lesson is about 25 minutes long.  The first lesson, Pat Knepley begins talking about Vincent Van Gogh and a little bit of his life and how be began drawing and painting.   Van Gogh had a troubled life, but Pat explained about his life in such a way, that truly just shared about his talent and gift of drawing and painting.

Sarah working on the vase.

She began the picture, by doing a basic composition or drawing lightly the outline of what the picture would be.  Once she did that, they began the task of filling in with color in the short stroke technique that Van Gogh used in some of his paintings.  This was just a basic color to get the outline of the vase, flowers and leaves.

Sarah listening and watch the dvd while filling in some lines.

Once she finished that, she then started adding in more colors to fill the picture out and blending in the colors together.

Sarah working on the leaves.

My daughter truly had a wonderful time with this DVD.  Van Gogh is one of her favorite artists and it just helped her to understand Van Gogh a little more, by attempting  a technique that he used.  When I first suggested her doing this DVD, she didn’t think she could do it.  My daughter is very talented with a pencil and paper, but she has never tried any other art medium like this before.

working on blending in the colors.

Once she started, Pat Kenpley gave my daughter the confidence that she needed to where now, she is looking forward to trying different mediums out.  I also love how in every lesson, Pat brings out her bible and reads scripture from it.  There is always a bible lesson in every art lesson that See The Light does.  I, for one, am very thankful for a company standing firm on the word of God.

Listening to final instructions on the dvd.

I asked my daughter what her thoughts were on the Van Gogh Project and this is what she said:

“What I really enjoyed about the Van Gogh project was the techniques given in the DVD. They were clearly explained, and I understood how to execute the techniques to finish the sunflowers.The information on Van Gogh’s life was also well explained, and I definitely want to look more into his life as a painter. Honestly, I had never used oil pastels before, and I now I prefer to use them over other mediums. The lessons really helped expand my artistic abilities, and I look forward to learning more!”

Sarah’s final picture of her interpretation of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

As you can tell, my daughter finished and I think did an amazing job.  I am truly proud of her and can’t wait to see the other See The Light Project DVD’s that she does.  We have already ordered 4 more and I do plan on blogging about those as well.  My daughter’s goal is to attend an Art College and we plan on using some of these finished pictures as part of her portfolio.

See The Light has an amazing deal for you all, until March 24th.  You can get the Ultimate Crossmaker Set for only $25.00 (regularly $34.99).  This includes free shipping in the US.   The set includes The Crossmaker DVD, CD of music and audio stories, Black Light with batteries, Fluorescent Chalk and Fluorescent pencils.  Just enter the discount code word, “CROSS”  into the box when you go to check out and hit APPLY!

Now on to some great news!  See The Light art curriculum, has graciously offered to give one of my readers an Ultimate Crossmaker Set!   All you have to do is just leave me a comment, telling me what Easter means to you!  This giveaway will end March 17th, 2013.

**Update** Congrats to Vicki Arnold for being chosen the winner of the Ultimate Crossmaker Set from See The Light!

**Disclosure Policy: I was given this DVD to review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.  This post contains affiliate links.