My Happy Homeschool: Creating a Masterpiece

This resource review is all about Creating a Masterpiece! Sharon Hofer offers a Monthly Plan that allows unlimited family access to all art projects with step-by-step video instruction.

The Beginners Level introduces students to watercolor, charcoal, gouache, oil pastel, ink, mixed media, and alcohol ink through short, simple projects. Level 1 teaches the foundations of acrylic painting, earthenware sculpture, soft pastel, drawing with pencil, silk dying, and colored pencil. Level 2 teaches the foundations of block printing, sculpt sculpture, oil pastel, and stippling in ink. You will also continue growing your level one skills as you progress through more advanced projects in acrylic painting and soft pastel. Level 3 teaches the foundations of glass mosaic. You will also continue growing your acquired skills as you progress through more advanced projects in silk dying, watercolor, and sculpt sculpture. Level 4 teaches students how to see and include various values in their projects. You will learn more advanced forms of watercolor pencil. Sharon Hofer will introduce students to the art of tooling copper. You will also advance to new levels of technique and skill in oil pastel and silk dying. Level 5 teaches how artists mix advanced techniques with watercolor, while incorporating advanced understanding of values in order to create a mixed media masterpiece. Art In History teaches students how to create projects that are similar to those created in the life of the artist in that time period.

Each project is a complete masterpiece and is made up of three to seven lessons which are divided into smaller sections. Each project will take about forty-five minutes to an hour and a half to complete.

Sharon Hofer guided my girls step-by-step through the process of painting a Peaceful Lake in soft pastel. You do not need to have an easel for pastel. In fact, it is easier using pastel flat on a table. When breaking the pastels into smaller pieces, be sure to remove the paper covering the pastel before breaking into pieces. This will help the pastel from crumbling and being unusable. Never get any water near the pastels as this will ruin them. Pastels are pure paint pigments. Sharon demonstrated methods of blending and layering color in order to maximize the vibrant coloring of the project. My girls did not have all the pastel colors needed for this project; but they used what they had to create their own masterpiece.

Here is Kaylee’s masterpiece!