Susan Olij Mentorship Group 1088

Susan Olij’s Mentorship for Emerging Artists

Develop your drawing, painting, and artistic style through live small-group mentorship with contemporary artist Susan Olij. Open to drawing and painting media.

Learn more about Susan Olij’s mentorship

Meet Susan Olij and explore their work

What you will learn in this mentorship

• Audacious Versatility, Technique & Drills, Critiques ,Finding Your Style
• Over twenty years of drawing and painting have taught me one thing above all: the artists who grow fastest are the ones willing to be uncomfortable. My approach — what I call Audacious Versatility — is about learning boldly across the full range of what drawing and painting can do, from rigorous realist observation to expressive abstraction, from illustration drills to pushing past every boundary you thought defined your style.
• In this group, we work hard and we stay curious. Expect structured exercises that build real technical foundations, honest critique that helps you see your own work clearly, and challenges designed to move you out of your comfort zone and into territory that surprises you. The goal isn’t versatility for its own sake — it’s using that range to distil something unmistakably yours.
• With a background spanning urban sketching, life drawing, fashion illustration, and fine art, and twenty years of teaching alongside my own practice, I’m here to help you find the thread that runs through everything you make — and pull it.

Mentorship Focus

1. Bring Boldness into your experiments
2. Bring your boldness into every media experiment — push past the familiar into new materials and methods, letting curiosity drive the process rather than fear of the unknown
3. Draw with curiosity, not caution — shift from chasing outcomes to trusting the process, so that every mark becomes an act of discovery rather than asking for approval
4. Break the habit of perfectionism — learn to recognise when precision is a tool and when it’s a trap, and develop the freedom to work through the ugly middle to something real
5. Lead with honest self-awareness — understand what makes your perspective singular, and use that knowledge to drive your versatility forward with intention rather than mask or avoid

How This Mentorship Works

• Live online small-group mentorship
• Monthly two-hour session with your mentor where you’ll receive feedback, teaching, and personal support from your mentor
• Mentor assigns homework so you can practice the skills you’re learning and get feedback on your results
• Meet mid-month with your group for informal connection
• Private group chat between sessions
• Join weekly live events with the Mastrius community