Painting the Wild
Choose how you learn: join Bold School+ for full access to all classes, or buy individual courses to focus on what you want.
Enroll Now >Five immersive painting classes, where you’ll experiment with bold a nd subtle color, build thick and delicate textures, and bring wildlife portraits to life. From planning and mark-making to high-impact abstraction, each class guides you through the full process, giving you the tools to paint with depth and expressive energy.
Five Class Collection
🌱 Starter - beginner or refresher
🔹 Build - growing skills, exploration
🎨 All Levels - beginner friendly, advancing fast
💥 Intensive - full immersion, mastery
PAINTING AN ELEPHANT
18 video lessons (4h 15m)
An immersive look at planning and process: create textured, low-key portraits where bold color is applied with precision, bringing both focus and meaning to your painting.
🔹 Build
Bold Elephant
Learn color mixing, texture, and troubleshooting from start to finish.
In this class, you’ll cover:
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Planning your painting from the ground up
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Building texture with low-key, multicolor approaches
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Mixing and applying color effectively
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Completing a painting from beginning to end
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Troubleshooting when you get stuck
Watch like Netflix and paint along with Charla as she demonstrates the entire process in real time. She explains her choices and thought process along the way, showing how to make color decisions, handle challenges, and keep your painting moving forward.
PAINTING A LION
10 video lessons (2h 55m)
A high-key exploration of color and texture: build a lion’s mane with thick, abstract strokes, using vibrant contrasts to create a strong, captivating focal point.
🔹 Build
Bold Lion
Learn bold color, texture, and high-key techniques.
In this class, you’ll cover:
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Refreshing a Sta-Wet palette from a previous painting
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Techniques for high-key painting
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Mixing and applying bold colors
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Creating thick, abstracted textures
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Completing a painting from start to finish
Watch like Netflix or paint along in real time as Charla demonstrates the full process. She shares her thought process, including troubleshooting tips, so you can see how to make color decisions and overcome challenges as you paint.
PAINT A HUMMINGBIRD
8 video lessons (2h 5m)
A dynamic study in color and texture: paint a hummingbird using bold color blocking, build extreme 3D texture, and capture a sense of motion that brings the scene to life.
🔹 Build
Hummingbird
Learn color blocking, texture, and capturing motion.
In this class, you’ll cover:
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Mixing and applying vibrant colors
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Using color blocking to define shapes and movement
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Building extreme 3D texture with thick paint
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Completing a painting from beginning to end
Watch the painting come to life from start to finish as Charla layers thick, sculptural 3D flowers, blends bold colors, and creates a hummingbird in motion. You’ll learn how to build rich, luminous feather textures that shimmer with depth, handle thick paint with confidence, and guide the viewer’s eye across the composition.
PAINTING A LIONESS
14 video lessons (2h 30m)
A study in subtlety and control: paint a lioness using washes to explore value, develop new mark-making techniques, and build depth and form without relying on thick texture.
🔹 Build
Lioness
Learn color mixing, value control, and focal strategies.
In this class, you’ll cover:
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Creating and emphasizing focal points
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Using artistic license to enhance expression
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Preparing canvas and palette for washes
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Mixing and applying color effectively
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Completing a painting from beginning to end
Follow along as Charla demonstrates the full painting process, using washes to control value and exploring new mark-making techniques. You’ll see how to use bold color in a subtle, low-key way—still applying the same principles of expression, focus, and emotion—and learn strategies for evaluating your work, making confident color decisions, and troubleshooting challenges as they arise.
PAINTING POLAR BEARS
18 video lessons (2h 28m)
Paint polar bears with thick, abstracted layers that almost dissolve the form. Work loose, build rich colors, and explore emotion, depth, and expressive mark-making.
🔹 Build
Polar Bear
Color Theory and Extreme Texture
In this class, you’ll cover:
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Mixing and applying vibrant colors
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Working on a hard board surface
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Building thick, sculptural layers of paint
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Using abstraction while keeping the forms recognizable
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Completing a painting from beginning to end
Experience the process of bringing hugging polar bears to life through thick, layered textures and a rich, deep color palette. Charla shows how to navigate abstraction while keeping the forms readable, guiding you through color choices, balance, and self-evaluation so you can paint with confidence and expressive impact.
This is an intensive series
Before you get overwhelmed with info, here’s the deal: do you want the full membership or just the class? Check out your options.
Option 1: Standalone Class 🎨
Discussion boards under each lesson for direct guidance
Step-by-step, real-time painting demos with Charla
Option 2: Membership + Community 🤝
Private, supportive community with peer mentoring
Expert feedback from Bold School mentors
Access to 40+ extra classes to keep experimenting and growing
"Wow wow wow..from beginning to end..all the transitions this painting went thru...AMAZING"
-Nanci Jo Pandolfi 💛
Video Collection
"I love seeing how you finish and add the final detail. Stunning. Every time I watch a class I understand the building of layers and values better. Thank you!!"
- Jill Brodd (lioness) 🏆
"I have just loved watching you work the process! I did not know that acrylic paint can be laid down so thickly. Thank you once again for an amazing class."
- Elizabeth Brits (Polar Bears) 🌟
"This has been such a worthwhile investment. So inspirational and motivating. I plan to re-watch everything again!"
- Lesley (hummingbird) 👍
"Thank you so much for sharing your techniques and thoughts through this series! You have opened up a whole new way of thinking and I for one appreciate your generosity!
- Jill Pellizzon (hummingbird) 👏
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR
CHARLA MAARSCHALK [BFA]
Artist, Educator and Director
I’m a bold color artist who believes art can transform both the canvas and the person creating it. For over a decade, I’ve made large-scale gestural faces that explore human identity—and taught countless artists how to find their own bold voice.
Based in the Okanagan Valley, with roots in Newfoundland, I’m also a photographer, designer, and mom of boys—so my life is colorful, messy, and full of inspiration.
"Teaching is just painting out loud—I show how I work so others can find their own way."
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"I binged through PTW because I was very excited to jump in. I so enjoyed this class and can't wait to go through again and learn everything.Thank you Charla for this class."
- Monica Borer
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Thank you for letting us into your personal painting process. I understand it is a vulnerable space and appreciate it so much! I have been taking everything in.
This set of courses really brought it all together for me, to see all the different methods and how you are constantly growing as an artist. The layering and grading process are all new to me so I've been a bit of a sponge. Thank you again!"
- Rita Alarcon
You’ve Got Options
Not everyone learns the same way (and that’s okay!).
So here’s the deal:
🎨 Grab Painting the Wild on its own
🤝 Or go all in with Membership and get 40+ classes plus community
Find Your Bold!
