Courses
Most courses are offered live online through Catalyst Art Lab, with occasional exceptions.
Two courses below, Monotypes: Painterly Prints with Heat and Wax, and Dipped in Wax, are self-directed, recorded,
and available to purchase anytime. They do not expire.
Scroll down to see all the courses that Paula typically teaches once a year.
Don’t miss out on other courses that become available, outside of Catalyst!
Join the Studio News list (at the bottom of each page) or email Paula with questions at paularolandstudio@gmail.com
Scroll down for a list of courses:
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*NEW* Focus: Mixed Media Monotypes & Drawing
2026 Dates TBD. Wednesdays, 1 – 3 PM, Central. This is a new course that combines my Monotype Drawing and Marks course with my Mixed Media and Monotypes course. There was a great deal of overlap between the two and this new course allows you to dive deeper into the strong connection between drawing, painting, and monotype printing with encaustic wax. Use colored Inks, walnut ink, or black India Inks, watercolors, pencils, charcoal, R&F oil sticks or oil drawing sticks and more! Additional information coming soon. Make sure you are on my personal email list on my website. We explore mark-making, unusual tools, and approaches to working additively or subtractively with any subject or abstract composition. Paula’s prompts and exercises open pathways to expression, while recognizing that wax tends toward abstraction.
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Focus: Saturated Wax Monotypes
June 3, 10, 17, 24, 2026. Wednesdays, 1 – 3 PM, CDT. Juicy and Waxy Encaustic Monotype Paintings. An in-depth, fun course, discovering new ways to manipulate paper and heat. This method provides a very wax-saturated print surface, similar to encaustic paintings, but on paper. These prints are lush and abstract, with an organic relationship to nature and natural phenomena. Wax sits on the surface of the paper. Some translucent encaustic and papers may even be lit from behind. Add these new “Focus” skills to your skill-set and expand your unique voice.
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Zen, Big Brush, and Expressive Ink Painting/Mark-Making
2026 Dates TBD. “Zen” takes you on meditative walks, to brush-making, calligraphy, use of the big brush/mop, abstract/expressive ink painting, and connections between Asian artists and the abstract expressionists. You will produce numerous ink-on-paper pieces to stand alone or use with encaustic, acrylic, collage, etc. “A confident, bold mark can be the statement that pulls a piece together.”
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Carbon Lab Encaustic Painting
2026-2027 Carbon Lab course dates are TBD. This is an encaustic painting workshop that will extend your painting skills, spark ideas, and employ new materials to help your work stand out. You will develop content and a conceptual edge.
Carbon Lab is an experimental live online course that expands encaustic painting by working with carbon-based materials (mainly powdered graphite and inks) and explores carbon’s link to the climate. We review artists who use these materials as well. -
Focus: ADD MORE! Building Successful Wax Monotypes
April 8, 15, 22, 29, & May 6, 2026/ Wednesdays, 1 – 3 PM, CDT. Construct prints, element by element, like an architect or builder, while staying open to creative discovery. A builder's knowledge helps navigate obstacles to a predetermined destination whereas the artist's intuition explores emerging possibilities. One deploys technical expertise to control the variables, the other to dance with them. The more Focus courses one takes, the easier it is to trouble-shoot the monotype, make ideas come alive, and create successful prints. Read more…
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Brave Space: Working Large with Mixed (Water Based) Media
Next Session is in 2026. This workshop brings together the team of Paula Roland and Jeff Hirst, two artists with many years of professional experience who often collaborate on teaching. Both use paper extensively and have designed a workshop that merges the use of large paper (up to 5’) and water-based media. Paula and Jeff focus on physicality and materials in their own work, with an emphasis on intuitive explorations that ultimately lead to the development of personal or desired content for themselves and their students.
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Encaustic Monotypes: Painterly Prints with Heat and Wax. A Digital/Self Directed Course
Paula Roland’s classic introductory course for Monotypes, professionally filmed in 2010, is recommended for those new to encaustic or wax monotypes or those needing a refresher. The course covers materials, health and safety, and the basic techniques Dorothy Gardner and Paula Roland developed. With this immediate freeing process, you will create an armload of prints and be fully inspired and confident to continue to Paula’s other monotype courses. Resources are provided on presentation and framing, terms, variables, a temperature chart, and a detailed guide to each video section. It also includes a special video section where Paula shares her monotypes.
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DIPPED IN WAX. A Digital/Self-Directed Course
What's Covered in This Course? —Create surfaces and substrates that are either translucent or opaque by submerging paper repeatedly in heated wax/encaustic. Use these as surfaces for painting in encaustic, oil or oil stick, graphite, or inks—There are so many possibilities!
— Transform found or crafted objects by repeated dipping in wax/encaustic.
— Discover numerous unique presentation/installation options.
— Receive a wealth of resources, including Materials and Health & Safety. Contains numerous detailed videos of techniques and examples.