Canadian Impressionism: Winter Landscapes
8 Week Class | Registration opens 2026-10-15 12:00 PM
Experience winter through the eyes of Canada’s greatest landscape painters. Inspired by Tom Thomson, Clarence Gagnon, and the Group of Seven, this course explores the bold brushwork and vibrant color choices that brought their snowy scenes to life. Learn to paint "in the moment" and explore the Canadian winter through an extended palette, revealing rich colors far beyond pure white.
Following the tradition of the Group of Seven, we will focus on the relationship between the painted sketch and the final "masterpiece." You’ll spend the first few weeks creating a series of small, fast-paced studies, capturing the fleeting magic of landscapes, still lives and daily scenes. You’ll then learn how to translate those energetic painted sketches into refined, larger works.
The goal of this course is to help you paint with newfound confidence. By focusing on bold brushwork, intentional colour, and capturing your subject with as few strokes as possible, you’ll learn to say more with less! Good for both oil & acrylic painters.
Base Tuition: $425 Total
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- What You Will Learn:
- Techniques for capturing light, colour and atmosphere through expressive brushwork
- Techniques for capturing snowy landscapes using an extended palette
- The evolution of Canadian Impressionism
- How to approach smaller, quicker studies to capture a fleeting moment
- How to build compositions inspired by outdoor observation and spontaneous mark-making
- Methods for developing a personal Impressionist-inspired painting style
- Please keep all purchase receipts in case items need to be returned.
- Oil or acrylic paints (titanium white, ultramarine blue, phthalo blue, cadmium yellow light / lemon yellow, yellow ochre, cadmium red light, alizarin crimson, quinacridone violet, burnt sienna, burnt umber)
- Assorted brushes (rounds and flats, various sizes)
- Palette and palette knife
- Canvas pad
- Canvas boards or pre-gessoed wood/masonite boards (x4, around 8” x 10”)
- GAMSOL Solvent (if using oils)
- 1 glass jar with a lid (to distill solvent, if using oils)
- Rags or paper towels
- Reference photos of Canadian winter landscape paintings you wish to study
Emily Joyce
Emily is a Toronto-based painter and paintings conservator. She specializes in the study of paint materials, from traditional egg tempera and oil paints to contemporary acrylics and mediums. The crossover of art and science in her profession has allowed her an in-depth exploration of the history and techniques of painters from a range of historical time periods such as the Renaissance, Impressionism and Pop Art. These studies have inspired her classes and workshops at the TSA. Emily has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) with a minor in art History and a Master's of Art Conservation (Queen’s University), as well as a certificate in Traditional Materials, Methods of Painting and Restoration techniques through San Gemini Preservation Studies in Italy. Outside of the TSA, Emily works at Toronto Art Restoration in the west end, conserving a range of artworks from Tom Thomson landscapes to Michael Snow's Eaton Centre’s Geese.