Three paintings came out of the first session of The Landscape Method.

The first is the workshop painting I created specifically for the course — the target every participant works toward. The second is a copy I painted from scratch alongside my student during the live sessions — the same painting, started and completed in real time during the six hours of instruction. The third is what my student produced during those same six hours.

Let me show you all three and tell you what happened.

Before the Workshop

Every participant in The Landscape Method receives two things before Session 1.

The first is a Resource Guide — a complete preparatory document covering materials, setup, what to expect, and how to prepare your workspace. It arrives immediately upon enrollment and gives every student time to gather what they need before we begin.

The second is a photograph. A single purple plum. I ask every student to describe what they see in it as if they were going to paint it.

What Sue sent back was a description of colors — but in the wrong sequence for oil painting. She planned to apply dark colors first and come back with lighter colors on top. This is the natural instinct for someone who has painted in acrylics, where that sequence is perfectly workable. In oils it is not.

On the morning of Session 1, I read my own description of the same plum aloud. The shift in how Sue looked at it — and her understanding of why light colors must come before dark in oil painting — was the first lesson of the day. It happened before a brush was picked up.

The Sequential Painting Syllabus

Each participant also receives a Sequential Painting Syllabus several days before Session 1 — a complete photographic guide showing the workshop painting at every stage of its development, from the first marks on a bare canvas to the finished work. Forty sequential photographs. Every decision documented. Every stage visible and available for reference before, during, and after both sessions.

Sue had this document open on a second device throughout both sessions — the finished painting visible as her target, the sequential photographs showing her exactly what each stage should look like as we worked through it together.

The Workshop

During both sessions I painted the same painting from scratch alongside Sue in real time. She could see my canvas on her Zoom screen — every brushstroke, every color mix, every compositional decision — as I made it. I could see her canvas through screen sharing and give specific, real-time guidance and correction as she worked through each stage.

This is not a recorded lesson. It is not a demonstration followed by independent practice. It is two people painting the same painting simultaneously, one of whom has sixty years of experience and can see exactly what the other is doing at every moment.

The painting in the center of these three images is what I produced during those six hours — my live copy of the workshop painting, painted under the same time constraints Sue was working under. It is different from my original in some details — the sky has a warmer tone in the upper left from the light conditions during filming, the tree has slightly different character — because it was painted live, not at leisure.

The Result

Sue's painting is on the right.

She had never painted in oils before. She came from acrylics and was nervous about the switch. She finished with a complete landscape — sky, rocky cliff faces with geological character, a receding river, a foreground hillside, and a tree with readable branching structure and foliage mass — in six hours across two Saturday sessions.

Here is what she said:

"Taking Gorden's Zoom class was so much better than anything I had tried before. He could see what I was doing and give correction. I could see him paint and observe every brushstroke. I was amazed by some of his techniques. Blending the sky area was new to me and so easy to complete. I learned how important it is to have a focal point and to understand where your light is coming from. Taking this class has given me the confidence to continue painting. Gorden taught me that there are so many oil painting techniques that acrylics cannot achieve. All of these techniques — holding my brush correctly, using the correct brush, and many others — have improved my finished painting and filled me with pride."

— Sue F., Louisville, Kentucky

What Comes Next

The next session of The Landscape Method is planned for later this year — before December 2026.

If you have been thinking about this, the time to put your name on the list is now. Waiting list members will be notified of confirmed dates before any public announcement and will have the first opportunity to enroll.

To join the waiting list, email me directly at [email protected] with the subject line: Waiting List. I will respond personally and send you the Resource Guide — the same preparatory material Sue received before Session 1 — so you can begin thinking about your setup and materials before dates are even confirmed.

No payment. No commitment. Just your name and email address.

The window is not closing. It has always been open.

Visit gordensoilpainting.com or email me directly.

Push off down the hill.

— Gorden McMurry, The Painting Physician