The Collymore Oil Painters Atelier is a Los Angeles-based mentorship program in oil painting founded by Valerie Collymore, a Modern-Day French Impressionist painter represented by Fountainhead Gallery, Seattle, and recipient of the Award of Distinction at the 22nd Annual National Juried Exhibition of the American Impressionist Society.
The Atelier offers something uncommon in arts education: direct, sustained access to a working master artist. Instruction goes well beyond the foundational principles of oil painting, composition, values, color, and brushwork, and how they work together to capture light, story, and personal meaning. Equal and deliberate attention is given to the development of each artist's individual voice. Enrolled artists also have access to an archive of masterclasses exploring the work and techniques of key Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masters, including Monet, Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Bonnard. Students work primarily in oil on linen and canvas, and in other media when authentically called to do so, building technical fluency alongside a personal body of work that is distinctly their own.
Mentorship at the Atelier extends beyond the studio. Valerie Collymore works with each artist on the full arc of a professional artistic life: creating a cohesive body of work rather than isolated pieces, developing an artist statement and biography, understanding how to price and frame work, learning to promote and present paintings effectively, and navigating the path toward exhibition in established venues. Finding the Light at TAG Gallery, Los Angeles, is the latest in a series of group exhibitions the Atelier has brought to established venues, including the Pacific Art League of Palo Alto, California, Parklane Gallery, Kirkland, Washington, SPACE Gallery at Magnuson Park, Seattle, and A/NT Gallery, Seattle.
The Atelier's approach is intensive yet flexibly scheduled, shaped around each artist's life and location. Instruction takes place through private Zoom sessions that combine teaching, critique, and art career development, with phone calls and text-based communication ensuring continuous access to your mentor between sessions. Some students travel to Los Angeles for immersive study during an art retreat at Valerie Collymore's Los Angeles studio. It is rooted in the belief that serious painting can be learned at any stage of life, by anyone willing to look carefully and work with commitment.