I’m pleased to announce that I’ve developed brand-new, online and LIVE course with Mastrius: From Field to Finish.

Most plein air painters who gather references in the field for later studio work know the feeling. You come home with a small study that is full of life—but then somewhere between that study and the larger studio painting, something dies. The work gets tighter, the color goes flat, the mood vanishes.

This is one of the most common frustrations among intermediate and advanced painters, and it rarely gets addressed directly. Plein air workshops teach you to paint outside. Studio courses teach technique and composition. But very few workshops focus on the specific skills required to carry the vitality of an outdoor study into a resolved, larger work.

From Field to Finish is designed to close that gap.

(If you haven’t heard of Mastrius before, it’s an online community platform that accelerates the growth of visual artists by connecting them with master professionals for live, small-group mentorship, interactive workshops and peer collaboration.)

What This Course Offers

This six-week online workshop will guide you all the way from outdoor observation to a finished studio painting. Each week builds on the last, creating a framework that you can return to and use independently long after the course ends.

The course is grounded in two areas: observation and color. Rather than teaching a generic process, it focuses on the specific perceptual and color skills that make the difference between a studio painting that feels alive and one that feels copied.

You’ll learn not just how to work from a plein air study, but how to “read” what you captured and how to decide about what to preserve, what to amplify and what to reinvent.

Course Structure

From Field to Finish runs six weeks, with one session per week. Each session combines a demonstration, a concept presentation, and a focused assignment that builds directly toward your final studio painting.

The course moves through four phases:

• Gathering (Weeks 1–2) — You’ll learn to observe and paint with intention in the field, then develop the skill of reading your own studies accurately.

• Planning (Weeks 3–4) — You’ll learn to identify and consciously choose a color key, then move through composition, editing, and design decisions for the larger work.

• Translating (Week 5) — You’ll begin your studio painting with specific strategies for maintaining vitality at a larger scale.

• Resolving (Week 6) — You’ll bring your painting to completion, participate in group critique and reflect on building a workable field-to-studio practice.

By the end of the course, you’ll have completed a minimum of two plein air studies, a series of preparatory exercises and one resolved studio painting developed from your field work.

Who This Course Is For

This course is designed for beginning to intermediate oil or pastel painters who already have some plein air experience. If you:

• Feel your studio work lacks the spontaneity and color truth of your field studies

• Have accumulated plein air studies but don’t know how to develop them further

• Want a systematic, repeatable process for moving from observation to finished work

• Are ready to deepen your understanding of color key, light mood and pictorial decision-making

then this course is for you.

By the way, this is not a beginner’s introduction to plein air painting. You’ll want to have basic painting experience and at least occasional outdoor painting practice.

A Note on Approach

This course reflects a belief that the plein air study is not a reference photo. It is a first painting, filled with decisions about color, value and feeling that no photograph can replicate. Teaching you to read and understand what the study contains, and to carry it forward into larger work, is what this course offers.

The goal is not a studio painting that looks like the study enlarged. Rather, it is to create is a studio painting that feels like the experience that produced the study and carries your full artistic intention into a resolved, finished work.

Dates and Times

The workshop will run six consecutive Saturdays, starting November 14 and running through December 19. Each session runs two hours, from 10 am-12 pm MST (12 pm-2 pm EST / 5 pm-7 pm GMT.)

I am limiting this workshop to just 10 students so that each session will give us plenty of time to discuss our work.

You can find much more information here and also sign up. I hope you’ll join us on this adventure!