Creating a Masterpiece (monthly plan) -- MY REVIEW

Are you artistic?  I have never considered myself artistic...as a matter of fact I consider myself non-artistic.  These past few weeks I (and my family) have had the opportunity to use the online program Creating a Masterpiece, which is an online subscription to an instructor-led art program.

Before we even began, I was encouraged when I saw some of the photos on their website of students with their completed projects...check out those little kiddos with great pieces!!  Here's what I mean:

THIS IS NOT MY CHILD...JUST
A RANDOM EXAMPLE FROM
THE CREATING A MASTERPIECE WEBSITE

So after seeing what the younger children had done, I was actually anticipating some success when we gave the program a try.  Looking over the website I saw that there are reviews and testimonials of students as well as MANY different levels of  projects.  There is even a free sample project that'll get you hooked! :)   The rates for this course are also listed, and families have the option of a Monthly Plan or other longer time or level-limited subscriptions.  There is also an option for using this for a class/group membership for using this to teach more than just 5 in your immediate family.  Are you interested in finding out more?

Here's my review!  Our family began with the free sample lesson (which is accessed on the front page of the site.)  This project is a drawing with pastels of a beautiful mountain.  Looking at the picture that we were about to create we were all sure that we would not be able to draw something so nice.  We got out our new pastels and taped our paper to the table and hit "play" for the first lesson.  The teacher slowly and clearly talked us through each step of coloring with the pastels, marking out areas, and rubbing the colors to blend.  Four of us did this lesson, my 7th grade daughter, my 9th grade son, my 11th grade daughter, and myself.  We were SO pleased with how these pictures turned out, and how easy it was to follow the instructions!

 Here are our first pieces of art!  Aren't they nice?  I could never imagine that we would draw these!

We went on to complete several more projects, and Dad even joined in the fun!  He is very non-artistic as well, but when he saw what we had created he was interested to see the lessons and try one. He definitely is enjoying using these lessons with us (it's a fun whole-family project!)

Do you want a glimpse at some of our other projects?

Here's our first watercolor:

and another soft pastel (what a cute baby bluebird, right?)

and another watercolor!

How about a venture into colored pencils?

Okay, enough of my showing off, right?  :)  The website is very easy to navigate.  You can browse the list of projects as well as the list of materials needed for each project.  The projects are separated into different levels, from beginner to level 5.  There are projects in all sorts of media, from the types I have shown above to things like silk dying, pencil, pen and ink, woodburning, oil painting, and many more!

To begin a project you select it on the website and begin the first lesson.  The projects that we did were made up of multiple lessons.  Sometimes we could go right on to the next "lesson" in the project and sometimes we had to wait awhile, for instance, to let one layer of the paint dry.

The teacher is an enjoyable instructor, Sharon Hofer, who gives very clear directions.  We all enjoy these lessons!  You know what they remind me of?  Those "paint and sip" parties that are all the rage these days!  I'm sure you've either been to one or seen friends' posts on social media showing their cool artwork and wondered how they did it, right?  :)  Well, these lessons make it possible!

These art lessons would make a GREAT addition to a homeschool program of most every age.  I'd also recommend using it with your entire family!  When we used it as a whole family (including Dad) it was a really fun, relaxed, unique way to hang out and do something together.

Would you like to find out how other families used and liked Creating a Masterpiece?  Check out this link below!