Adventure of Painting Signature Course

The Adventure of Painting Signature Course

The comprehensive online, self-paced landscape painting course beloved by thousands of artists worldwide

Learning to ask good questions and paint your way into the answers begins here.

Over your time as an artist you may have painted in extraordinary places, followed along with more than a few painting tutorials, and participated in lots of workshops.

And yet, when the session or the day came to a close, you may have stepped back and realized there was still more to work on.

Something about this doesn’t look quite right… but how can I figure out what it is?
I know this part of the painting isn’t working, but if I rework it, will I throw everything off?
I’m not sure if it’s quite there… should I call it finished and move on, or keep going?

These are the tough questions we face as artists, and we have a choice to make in their presence. We can feel overwhelmed, maybe even discouraged, and put the painting down, hoping a new, “easier” idea will strike. Or—we can get curious, pick up our tools, and renew our commitment to our craft, working our way through to the answers. That’s what the Signature Course is all about.

Across four online, self-paced series of video modules, I guide you through the process of finding your ideas, developing them through studies, and refining them on your canvas.

We'll explore the landscape painting fundamentals that are crucial to growing your skill and artistic vision.

The AOP Signature Course is the foundation to developing your painter’s eye and your painter’s mind.

Across four online, self-paced series of video modules, I guide you through the process of finding your ideas, developing them through studies, and refining them on your canvas.

Over more than 12 hours of instruction, we explore the landscape painting fundamentals that are crucial to growing your skill and artistic vision.

You'll:

Get unstuck in your creative process
Understand essential landscape concepts such as idea finding, composition, and experimenting with light & value
Learn what it takes to think and solve problems like an artist
Clarify your own artistic intention, approach, and direction
Feel focused and confident in your ideas and painting process
Experience the satisfaction of making art that you love

Yes! Sign me Up

Grow with painters of all levels and mediums inside the Signature Course

"The Signature Course is so informative."

“Any and all preconceived questions I might have had prior to watching the videos were fully answered and then even more! Scott gives clear instructions to work through each assignment and also how to push these practices into your painting. I am seeing so many shifts in how I am thinking and see this beautiful world even now more artistically."

Pamm C.

“It doesn't matter how long you have been painting, there is always so much to learn."

"The Signature Course is a great way to help you grow as an artist. Scott is an excellent teacher and makes you stretch in new ways. Love it!”

Sheryl K.

“The depth and breadth of the Signature Course is dazzling."

"Scott Christensen is a superb instructor. He will show you how to see like an artist and train like an athlete. Scott’s commitment to a lifetime of artistic exploration and growth is contagious, and it is evident that he pours his heart and soul into Adventure of Painting. I would highly recommend this course to painters of every level."

Audrey C.

“This course gives a clear path to how to make the best painting you can no matter what stage you are at in your career."

"The Signature Course is a game changer—it covers everything from the early stages of design to the last stages of finish. This course is comprehensive and is well-suited for beginners as well as professionals. I will recommend this course to all of my students and will use Scott’s method of study going forward.”

Mary G.

What’s included in the Signature Course

The Signature Course is your guide through the fundamentals of landscape painting that will radically improve your skill and hone your artistic vision. The course’s online, self-paced structure gives you the flexibility to grow at your own rhythm, layering new knowledge into your practice over time. Every great painting is built on layers of study and experimentation, and this course gives you the tools for both.

1. Welcome to AOP!
2. Important Course Info & Links
3. Join the AOP Continuing Education Membership!
4. Recommended Supplies
5. Assignment Workbooks
6. Setting Goals
1. Gouache and Materials
2. Oil Painting Stuff
3. Rosemary Brushes for Oil Painting
4. Viscosity - Gouache
5. Viscosity - Oil
6. Value Markers
7. Color Wheel
8. Using Vasari Colors
9. Using Vasari Grays
10. AOP Journal - Grid Dots
11. iPad/iPhoto Markup Tool
1. Three Ways to Learn
2. Magic Ingredient
3. Finding Your Intentions
4. Introduction to Value Planes
5. Value and Idea Finding - Mountain Scene
6. Ten Lines
7. Line Variety and Integrity
8. Tree Shapes and Form
9. Value Extremes as a Design Technique
10. Drawing Trees
11. Understanding Green
12. Changing Color - Keep the Value
13. Finding Values in Your Palette
14. Keying with Two Values
15. Idea Finding and Producing an Idea - Part One
16. Idea Finding and Producing an Idea - Part Two
17. Check-in: Adventure Series 1
1. Building Your Library - Introduction
2. Student of the Game
3. Trees and Handling
4. Composing with Two Values
5. Composing with Mass
6. Sky - Middle Ground - Foreground
7. Light and Shadow as They Recede
8. Clouds and Form
9. Reserve is Strength
10. What the Painting Can Bear
11. Tonality - Gesture Idea
12. Tonality - Aspen Trees
13. Developing a Tonal Study
14. Ten Line Example - Winter Road
15. Learning from the Masters: Zorn
16. Gouache Winter Road
17. Check-in: Adventure Series 2
1. Finding Your Own Ideas
2. Ten Line Example - Ground Plane
3. Composing with Three Values - The Rock Problem
4. Finding Three Values in Chaos
5. Hierarchy and Emphasis
6. Tension
7. A Few Lines to Create Perspective
8. Five Types of Light
9. Vague Value and Color Crash
10. Introduction to Keying
11. Value Pattern and Key
12. Color Information of a Scene
13. Establishing Your Key - Light vs Dark
14. Same Value - Change the Color
15. Value Pattern and Changing Color
16. Winter Road - Part One
17. Four Values and Finding Your Palette
18. Orchestration to Finish - Introduction
19. Winter Road - Part Two
20. Check-in: Adventure Series 3

Lifetime access to a rich library of landscape painting instruction

$650.00

“The course is life-changing. My shelves full of art books, library of other videos (>100!), other workshops, and private instruction, ALL OF IT, pales in comparison to what I have learned from Scott.”

S.B.

"The Signature Course is beyond fantastic!! To be able to go back, review, listen again to what wasn’t clear the first time, to skip ahead to get context, plus the assignments—this is “school” and I love it!!"

Mark D.

"I’m loving the course! The videos are all stellar! Fascinating and inspiring. It is shifting a lot of my thinking."

Laurie P.

Join the Course

I’m Scott Christensen, your instructor and guide.
Because the adventure of painting is lifelong.

Rather than the typical 2-3 hour art instruction video where you watch someone else solve problems, I built the Signature Course as a series of short videos that encourage you to discover ways to solve problems, experiment, and develop skills on your own.

As the great Edgar Payne once said, “Knowledge precedes execution.” I’ve spent my entire career as an artist learning and discovering what I didn’t know, and then painting my way into the answers. I’m here to help you apply new knowledge, build your skillset, feel confident in problem-solving, and discover and find clarity in your unique artistic vision.

I look forward to seeing you in the course.

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know is right below.

What level of painter is the Signature Course meant for?

Artists of all levels are welcome inside the Signature Course. Instead of being a “beginner’s” course or an “advanced” course, the Signature Course invites you to see the fundamentals of painting in a new light, and to deepen your understanding with each pass.

After all, good lines, interesting shapes and harmonies, colors that tie together—these things aren’t elementary. The adventure of learning and study is a lifetime journey for all artists, and we practice these elements in every painting we work on.

What medium do I need to work in?

While I primarily paint and teach in oil and gouache, the concepts we’ll work through can easily be applied to acrylic, watercolor, pastels, and more.

What supplies will I need?

A full supply list is available by email and in your course portal after you enroll, but the contents probably won’t surprise you. I share recommendations for brushes and a color palette, as well as a few different notebooks for writing, drawing, and painting.

(You'll need a computer, tablet, or your phone, and internet or cell service to watch the videos.)

How do I access the course content?

The video modules are online and self-paced, so you can stream them wherever, whenever you have internet or cell service. Some assignments also include downloadable reference images or additional resources. You have lifetime* access to all of the content and can revisit it as often as you like.

*"Lifetime" in this case refers to the lifetime of the course, or as long as the AOP Signature Course is available.

Is there any timeline for the course? How long will I have access to it?

While most students work through the lessons in 3-6 months, the course is self-paced and you have lifetime* access to all of the material. I recommend revisiting lessons and assignments as needed!

*"Lifetime" in this case refers to the lifetime of the course, or as long as the AOP Signature Course is available.

How much time will I need to commit?

The Signature Course is self-paced, so how long it takes to complete the course is completely up to you. Most students work their way through all of the modules in over 3-6 months, but there’s no deadline.

What matters most is your willingness to show up, pick up the brush, and do the work. It's about balancing the 'thinking' and 'doing' parts of painting equally and consistently. You'd be amazed at how much you can progress with just 10-20 minutes of diligent study each day. It's this intentional commitment that builds your skills, trains your eye, and ultimately shapes you as an artist.

I want to learn how to paint [a scene with a meadow/ a mountain vista/ a view of the coastline/ etc]—will the course show me how to do that?

Showing you how to paint one painting only shows you how to paint one painting, so the Signature Course isn’t a start to finish demo.

Instead, I've included a series of modules that encourage you to experiment with each concept independently. You'll learn to see your work through multiple lenses—value, massing, key, color—and how to apply these tools to any painting challenge. That way, you can always dip back into specific topics as needed, no matter what you’re working on. Rather than just following along, you’ll be developing your painter’s mind as you go.

I don’t live near mountains or have opportunities where I live for plein air painting—will this course still work for me?

Absolutely. All of the concepts in the Signature Course apply to any landscape you’d like to paint—like composition, massing, values, key, color, edges, and more.

Will you teach me to paint in your style?

This course isn't about teaching you to paint in my style, but about building your skills to express your own ideas confidently. We explore how to identify what makes you excited about a painting or a scene, and then translate that aliveness into your work. The real challenge—and reward—lies in honing your eye and developing your own vision.

What if I’ve already taken an in-person workshop with you? Should I still join the course?

Thanks for joining me, and I’m so glad to see you back here. The in-person learning experience is so valuable, but the Signature Course covers so much more than we could ever explore in the few days we had together. Joining the course is a great way to continue your learning, solidify concepts, expand your knowledge, and put these concepts to use in your practice. The course also gives you lifetime access to revisit the content again and again.

Can I download the videos or purchase them on DVD?

No, the videos are hosted online in your course portal so you can watch them whenever, wherever you have internet access.

What is the Continuing Education Membership?

The Continuing Education Membership is an optional add-on subscription ($25/month) that includes additional video content and study, live monthly Q&A calls on Zoom, and membership in the Adventure of Painting Community.

You must have enrolled in the Signature Course in order to also join the membership, and you can do so any time after you’ve purchased the course.

Can I use reference images from Adventure of Painting for work that I submit to exhibitions?

No, all images are solely meant for the use of teaching and learning. Images are copyrighted and not permitted for distribution of any kind, or derivative work for exhibition or sale.

Many course modules guide you through the process of painting from your own images, however, and those works are of course free for you to use.

Join the Course

Begin your own adventure of painting with the Signature Course

If painting is your way of making sense of the world, of enjoying nature’s beauty, of sharing your perspective, this adventure is for you.

BEST VALUE

Pay in full and save

$650

One-time payment

Join the course

Payment plan

$225 x 3

3 payments of $225, billed monthly