Academy of Visionary Art » Programme Fall Seminar

~ The 2026 Fall Seminar at Torri Superiore Italy ~

Come spend three weeks with us in a 14th century Alpine Village...

THE 2026 FALL SEMINAR
With Olga Klimova & Morgan Mandala

Saturday September 5th ~ Sunday September 27th 2026

Tuition for the course includes Full Accommodation

in cosy apartments with 3 full meals per day

See Registration Details

Share your Vision with a group of Kindred Spirits

And enjoy Communal Living in a friendly Eco-village

THE 2026 FALL SEMINAR

With Olga Klimova & Morgan Mandala

Saturday September 5th ~ Sunday September 27th 2026

~ NOW IN ITS 16TH YEAR, THE SEMINAR AT TORRI SUPERIORE

OFFERS THREE WEEKS OF PAINTING & INNER EXPLORATION ~

Under the attentive guidance of our teachers

you'll develop Two Original Works

...With OLGA KLIMOVA

you'll paint The Dissolution of the Ego in a Layered Mixed Technique

...With MORGAN MANDALA,

you'll paint Illuminated Landscapes in Layered Acrylics

...Plus ~ Plein Air Painting in the Alps!
Walks in Nature & Swimming in a Secluded Grotto!

TORRI SUPERIORE

A LEGENDARY LOCATION...

Tuition for the course includes Full Accommodation

in cosy apartments with 3 full meals per day.

Torri Superiore is a labyrinthine village of spiralling stairs & narrow passages,

built from the local limestone in 1300.

In this cosy & creative atmosphere, the inhabitants live in harmony with Nature,

practicing Permaculture & Sustainable Living.

We will become part of village life ~ sharing in communal meals prepared by the local chef

from fresh and mostly organic ingredients grown in the surrounding fields…

Each Student brings their own unique talent to the Seminar

~ Massage, Energy Work, Live Music ~

to enhance the group experience

~ Dissolution of the Ego ~

in a Layered Mixed Technique

with Olga Klimova

During this course, Olga Klimova will share her meditative painting process, which allows the artist to free the mind, release judgment, and dive into new vistas.

The theme Dissolution of the Ego explores the quiet unraveling of identity — the realization that what we call “I” was never fixed, but only a passing construct shaped by memory and perception. As the ego softens, the illusion of control fades, and is replaced by a deeper sense of awareness ~ at once liberating and illuminating.

This theme speaks to our unity beyond individuality, where boundaries between self and world dissolve. It is not a loss, but a release.

Olga will initiate the creative process by demonstrating how to spontaneously create organic background patterns using a mixture of water, acrylics, special brushes and texturing tools.

After that, students will learn composition and design principles to create their own images ~ based on digital media or the emerging background patterns. Reference materials for the face or figure can be developed in class, using yourself or other students as models.

Following the core principles of the Mischtechnik, students will learn how to develop their figurative painting, based on Olga's Layered Mixed Technique. This is a faster version of the Mischtechnik that alternates between water-based whites (like casein) and coloured oil glazes to create luminous, layered effects.

From this unique approach to the Mischtechnik, we will move towards oil-based Alla Prima painting. Olga will demonstrate how to mix flesh tones and develop a face or figure that is rich in colour, volume and expression.

The artist's unique technique encourages beginners to overcome inner resistance and pick up the brush - showing you how to trust yourself and be playful with the process.

All levels of experience are welcome.

Illuminated Landscapes

Combining Spirit & Matter through Geometry & Landscape Painting

using Layered Acrylics with Morgan Mandala

This workshop invites you to delve into a new way of seeing and translating the world through paint. Blending technical skill-building with intuitive exploration, we’ll work with acrylic paint to develop layered, atmospheric paintings imbued with meaning.

This is an exciting opportunity to connect with the breathtaking landscapes of Torri Superiore, and let the beauty and history inspire our imagery. We will practice plein air painting and spend time carefully observing the landscape.

In the studio, we will refine our observations and combine them with our own meaning and intention within our work. We’ll dive deeply into formal qualities of painting, with special attention to atmospheric perspective, composition, and glazing with acrylic paint.

We’ll also spend time learning to create mandalas and geometric patterns as tools for structure, rhythm, and balance—both within the work itself and within the painter’s process. These studies offer a grounding framework that supports clarity, focus, and intention as our paintings evolve.

Beyond technique, this course invites you to explore the inner landscape that fuels your work. Through guided exercises and discussion, we’ll look at ways to access subconscious creativity, visualize, build personal meaning into your art, and deepen your connection to the landscape around you.

This workshop is for any level of artist, whether you're seeking stronger landscape foundations, connections with similar minds, or a more meaningful relationship with your creative practice.

We offer a safe space for all individuals to connect, grow, and be supported at all points of their creative journey.

~THE PAINTING TECHNIQUES ~

~ LAYERED MIXED TECHNIQUE ~

with Olga Klimova

During this course you will combine spontaneity with traditional methods to create a figurative painting based on The Dissolution of the Ego.

Beginning with white acrylics over a black background, Olga will demonstrate a variety of techniques for creating random yet detailed organic patterns.

Next, students will be free to visualize imagery within the emergent patterns or develop a face / figure from reference materials to express some of the many intense emotions released in the dissolution process. Olga will offer examples from her own work to further inspire students in the exploration of this theme.

Using digital tools, a variety of compositional strategies will be explored and the reference materials will be reworked to create an image suitable for projection onto the rich background. Olga will also demonstrate how different angles of the face can express strong feelings to deeply move the viewer.

Over time, Olga Klimova has developed her own version of the Mischtechnik utilizing brilliant casein whites between coloured oil glazes to create intense luminosity in a Layered Mixed Technique. While applying the whites, students will learn how to observe the fall of light over volumes. During the oil glazing process, they will learn how to preserve transparency and luminosity while creating new colours through their optical mixture.

While maintaining transparencies from the background, the face or figure will be given fresh volume, colour and luminosity through the direct approach of Alla Prima painting. Following her own studio practice, she will provide detailed instruction on how to mix flesh tones and add the final details to create a meditative yet expressive work.

Outside of class, Olga is also willing to lead interested students in the basics of Anapatha breathing, a morning meditation that calms the mind and helps to set the intention for that day. In the evening, together with Morgan Mandala, she can share her experiences on the business side of art and how to make it as a professional artist.

What students will learn:

• How to create detailed and organic background patterns in order to get the creative process quickly started.

• How to begin a painting spontaneously, utilizing two different approaches. Either discover fresh ideas within an abstract background, or sketch out an idea and develop it through drawing, reference materials etc.

• Utilizing digital media in composition

• Composition and design principles

• Unusual angles in portraiture, and how to take good reference photos

• Conveying emotions in artwork

• Working with a variety of media such as acrylic, oil and casein

• The traditional Mischtechnik, and its modern versions

• Alla Prima painting technique, or wet-on-wet method

• Different glazing methods and recipes

• Transparency, depth and atmospheric effects

• Colour theory

Teacher-Student Relationship:

Olga Klimova has a great passion for transferring her knowledge to the next generation. Not only she is a full time artist and a third generation of professional teachers in her family, she also has a Bachelor’s degree in Education, as well as Master’s in Business.

She will take you on a collective journey of becoming a better and more efficient painter, as well as encourage you to get more connected to the world through your art. With a greater part of her curriculum being about painting technique, she also makes sure to share what she knows about business and marketing.

Olga’s studio approach if very individualized. She will take time to conduct private interviews to see and learn about your work, your strengths as well as specific things you struggle with and want to learn.

Such an individualized approach makes it possible for all levels to be welcomed.

For artists accustomed to acrylics, the transition to oils is a rich & rewarding experience, allowing for new explorations in oil’s unique opalescent effects.

~ LAYERED ACRYLICS ~

With Morgan Mandala

Our goal together is to create a visionary painting through a balance of observation, structure & intuition.

We'll develop the work in successive layers of color, texture & refinement. Beginning with the Physical Realm of technique and observation, we'll expand into the Mental Realm of geometry & symbolism, and finally open ourselves to the Spiritual Realm of the intuitive & conceptual dimensions in the creative process.

LAYER 1 — THE PHYSICAL REALM

Foundations & Firsthand Observation

After a day getting to know our tools ~ including color theory foundations and brush techniques for landscape painting ~ we'll begin with Plein Air studies in the beautiful Alpine hills around Torri Superiore. Students will experience painting a landscape on site, developing atmospheric perspective and accurate color mixing while being immersed in the deep observation of Nature. With quick applications of layered paint, participants will explore ways to render organic landscape forms & textures while building depth & luminosity.

LAYER 2 — THE MENTAL REALM

Geometry & Symbolism

From this physical foundation, we'll move into the mental dimension of painting through the creation of mandalas & geometric forms. This involves demonstrations and techniques for designing accurate & expressive mandalas using simple tools & templates. We'll discover how geometry can bring structure, harmony & meaning to a composition. We'll also explore symbolism and discuss ways to incorporate your own visual language & personal symbolic forms into the painting.

LAYER 3 — THE SPIRITUAL REALM

Intuition & Emergence

Finally, we'll open ourselves to the process of exploring the intuitive & unknown. Through visualization exercises & layered glazing techniques, we'll explore spontaneous mark-making and translucent layers of paint, allowing abstract forms and new imagery to emerge.

LAYER 4 — INTEGRATION

From Observation to Vision

In the final days of the workshop, participants will integrate all of these approaches - landscape observation, geometric structure, and intuitive abstraction - to create the finished painting. The result is a layered work that reflects both technical development & personal vision.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• Techniques for observing and painting landscape forms

• Atmospheric perspective, color relationships, and composition

• Methods for creating accurate and unique mandalas and geometric patterns

• Acrylic glazing techniques for building luminous layers and depth

• Integrating landscape, geometry, and symbolism within a painting

• Visualization practices and methods for approaching painting as a creative process that moves between observation, structure, and intuition

We accept students at all levels of experience

from beginners to advanced.

PLEIN AIR PAINTINGS

~ GO TO THE REGISTRATION PAGE FOR THE FALL SEMINAR ~

OLGA KLIMOVA

~ Biography & Works ~

Olga Klimova is a self-taught artist whose creative process serves as a catalyst for personal transformation and social change. She translates her meditative insight into a visual narrative, exploring both light and dark sides of life, existentialism, dualism and unity, juxtaposed with fragile beauty. She often shows close links between internal and external worlds, bringing attention to the necessity to explore both. Olga utilizes complex layered techniques in showing multi-dimensional structures of mind and matter.

Today, Olga travels North America with her installations, exhibits her art internationally, teaches in Europe and USA while maintaining her home base in New York. In 2015 she became one of the instructors of the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art.

Website: olgaklimova.com

Facebook: olga.klimova.artist

Instagram: @olga.klimova.art

MORGAN MANDALA
~ Biography & Works ~

Morgan Mandala is a contemporary artist based in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado. While she is widely known for live performance painting since 2010, her practice is deeply rooted in observation of the natural world through plein air painting and the use of her own photographic references.

Her work weaves landscape imagery with geometric and symbolic structures, creating immersive visual experiences grounded in both place and perception.

Morgan’s background in philosophy and art history informs the conceptual foundation of her work, opening an ongoing spiritual dialogue that emerges through structure, pattern, and the act of seeing itself.

Her creative path has taken her across the globe, painting, teaching workshops, and exhibiting at festivals and galleries throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Central and South America, and Australia.

Through collaboration, travel, and teaching, Morgan gathers inspiration through connection, culture, and exploration—bringing both technical rigor and reflective depth into her artistic practice.

Artist Statement:

I create art to explore the threads that connect us to each other, to the natural world, and to the deeper layers of our conscious human experience. I paint the landscapes that ignite my spirit, and the patterns that illuminate us all. My paintings are visual meditations: a blend of organic and symbolic forms that mirror the interplay between the internal and external, the seen and unseen.

Mandalas, as representations of both the universe and the self, embody multiplicity and unity, macrocosm and microcosm. Through this lens, I offer visual metaphors for interconnectedness at the heart of existence.

Website: morganmandala.com

Facebook: Morgan Mandala

Instagram: @morganmandala