Atelier: Color & Hot Air Balloons

Today, we finally got a chance to try out the new art program I purchased for this school year. It's called Atelier and it's by the same people that produced Arts Attack, which is used in public schools across the country. Atelier was developed specifically for the home school community. I bought it when it went on sale through Home School Buyers Co-op. My hope was that, with the videos and specific lesson plans, I'd be more likely to work art lessons into our busy days. Don't get me wrong! I love art and come from a family of artists, but it still seems to be one of those things that I put off until we've finished other subjects, and more often than not that means it doesn't get done.

Our first lesson was on primary colors and how to mix secondary and tertiary colors. It featured hot air balloons and taught the kids how to sketch the basic outline and then they were encouraged to draw their own decorative pattern onto their hot air balloon.

The video walked Zachary through the entire class, but I still stayed by his side to help out and encourage him to keep going. He tends to get frustrated pretty quickly if it doesn't turn out just like he wants it to. Hmm...wonder where he gets that from?!!

Atelier is designed to stimulate the right side of the brain, which is one of the reasons I chose this program.  The goal is to teach the child how to express himself through art. My son is extremely left brain dominant and struggles with all types of self-expression. I feel like it is important to challenge some of his weaker areas and through encouragement, let him see that if he doesn't give up he can get better at anything he tries.

After he finished the sketch of the hot air balloon, they reviewed the primary colors and walked them through the process of mixing the colors to make the secondary and tertiary colors.

He had a lot of fun with this part. He liked mixing his own colors. I always pull out dozens of bottles of paint for us to choose from when we are painting, but obviously, that isn't necessary. So much of the enjoyment came from mixing the colors and experimenting with the colors.

 As an interior designer, I especially liked that this color wheel was helping him to really understand how the colors are all just blends of the primary colors.

He finished his color wheel!  Yeah for him!!  Next, he is supposed to paint his balloon using all the colors that he learned about on his color wheel. We ran out of time today, but it gives us something to look forward to next week!