2026 CLASSES & Workshops
Workshops, Classes & Online learning
NEW group starts on FEB 19th 2026
Monthly mentor sessions
with a Master Artist.
go to MASTRIUS for more info
NEWBIES!
If you’re new to MASTRIUS Mentorship, enjoy 50% off your first two months — plenty of time to meet your mentor (me!), settle into your group, and start feeling real momentum.
Use coupon code 2for50 at checkout.
SUMMER 2026
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Plein Air Essentials
Date: Saturday, June 6th
Time: 10.00 AM - 4.00 PM (PDT)
Location: Federation Academy on Granville Island,
1310 Johnston St, Vancouver,
Costs: FCA Members: $145.00 Non-Members: $170.00
Register online Register Now
by phone 604-681-2744
or at the Federation Gallery, Mon - Sun, 10am - 4pm.
Workshop Overview: Open to all Levels!
For beginners interested in sketching for travel to advanced painters looking for new inspiration outside the studio. Plein Air is a wonderful way to escape the online world, practice mindful observation and find inspiration in nature & our urban surroundings. Working directly from life can be a JOY but only if you are prepared and know your equipment.
A beginner or advanced painter - If you are completely new to Plein air - painting on location can be a challenge. Dealing with changing weather, light & conditions – while trying to experience the creative benefits. Using a different easel, palette or tripod set up and of course safely packing all the gear you will need on site. Learn the basics BEFORE investing in more equipment to customize this practice to your needs and enjoy a lifetime of creative benefits.
Each year the Federation FCA hosts a Plein Air retreat – in great locations, with the guidance of talented instructor/artists and together with other painters to share the creative gathering. If you are new to Plein Air - this is a great session to get started.
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Joy of Plein Air: Sketching and Painting
Date: AUGUST 10-11-12 2026
Time: 8.00 AM - 3.00 PM (PDT)
Location: VERNON Summer School of Arts
at the Vernon Community Arts Centre
2704A BC-6, Vernon, BC
COST & Registration LINK coming soon
Course Description
Step outside the studio and into the lively, unpredictable world of plein air painting. This three-day workshop introduces plein air sketching and painting for artists ranging from beginners interested in travel sketching to experienced painters seeking fresh inspiration beyond the studio.
Working on location encourages mindful observation and a direct response to light, colour, weather, and place, reconnecting artists with both natural and urban environments.
Mornings are spent on site, starting early to take advantage of cooler temperatures and strong shadows, with demonstrations and guided practice focused on composition, value, colour, and efficient working methods.
Afternoons return to the studio for discussion, technical demonstrations, and developing studies using sketches and reference photographs.
Across the three days, the focus moves from quick compositional sketches and practical kit set-up, through monochrome studies to understand value, and into colour, light, and atmosphere using a limited acrylic palette. Participants learn how to work confidently in changing conditions and translate on-site studies into finished paintings or larger studio works.
This workshop offers a practical and adaptable approach to plein air painting, balancing structure with creative freedom while building confidence for working on location.
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I offer CUSTOM workshops in the following:
Drawing | Composition & Design | Acrylic | Watercolor | Gouache
from beginners to advanced
I do offer personal lessons & mentoring
at my home studio in Gibsons BC
in person and online.
$60 hr - 2 hr minimum
This is a great way to get intense personal direction for the
level of skill you are currently working and to achieve YOUR goals.
We'll review your past and recent work, discuss your style
and subject preferences and plan a customized lesson schedule.
Book weekly or monthly or again in 3 months...
it is up to you and your creative schedule.
SUSCRIBE below for updates on new offerings
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GROUP WORKSHOPS & RETREATS
gather your art group or painting pals
and plan a private workshop.
I love to stay & explore in new places
and this is usually where it starts.
Subject material for demos and painting workshops include:
Drawing, Composition & Design
Basic-Int Watercolor. Basic-Int Acrylic. Gouache on Black.
Color Mixing. Advanced Watercolor & Advanced Acrylic.
COST depends on number of participants,
Demo VS hands-on, location, travel/stay expenses, materials etc.
CONTACT me to plan your custom Workshop.
phone: 604 886 8918 email: info@janpoynter.com
Watch my INSTAGRAM feed and Highlights
for free TIPS and short videos
SIGN UP for Course info updates below
JAN POYNTER - Artist Statement 2026
The world is a never-ending source of inspiration & wonder to me. Whether in my own garden, on a mountain top or sitting on a rustic wall in ancient places – I strive to find the beauty in the commonplace and capture the awesome bits to celebrate. As a painter I am always chasing the light – and feel there must be darkness to make the light shine.
My current acrylic painting “style” and techniques have developed over the past 20 years – a unique combination of underpaint, drawing, layers of luminous glaze and random marks. Summer finds me painting plein air – on location early to late - catching the transient skies, light, shadows and sparkling shimmer and reflections on water. I love the patterns in Nature of dynamic growth and movement, from trees & waterfalls to snowslides & gullies. A single leaf, the center of a flower, the geology of water, ice and stone hold a lifelong fascination for me.
Working in Acrylic, Watercolor & Gouache. These small studies and my sketchbook along with a thousand reference photos inform my large studio paintings throughout the winter months. I also use digital devices as studio tools to develop compositions and color for my canvas & palette.
Over 50 years career as professional illustrator, designer & fine arts painter, I have developed a skill set with a vast knowledge of materials and techniques. My job as a teacher & mentor is to help others to SEE as a painter and pass on that knowledge – so that they can build a “tool kit” to back up their own creative interpretation and style.
A tool kit that lasts a lifetime.
I do not want students to paint like me – or join in to follow along and then go home to face an empty canvas without direction. I want my students to ask, try, fail, experiment and feel confident in their own choices – as those choices will accumulate with practice & intention to become their own style.
I am privileged to live & work overlooking the majestic Howe Sound fjord, on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Shíshálh (Sechelt) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nations.