Painting with the Mountains

13 - 19 July, 2026
Rauland, Norway

BOOK	Join us in a Wildpainting course on the foothills of Norwegian mountains with teacher Jan van Boeckel The course will be taught in English

Van Gogh once said that instead of trying to render exactly what he had before his eyes, he used colour in order to express himself forcefully. “Colour expresses something in itself,” he strongly believed. And Paul Cézanne, some time later, reflected on what happens, when he interacts with a place through his artmaking. This is what he felt: “When I paint, the landscape thinks itself through me, and I become its consciousness.”

It is in this spirit, that we will immerse ourselves in the outskirts of Hardangervidda National Park and seek to paint with the mountains. Not necessarily to paint them as accurate as possible, but to express what it is to be at such a place through art.

At the side of Lake Totak in the Telemark region of Norway, there is a special rural art academy, Raulandsakademiet. Each summer, it has weeklong art and craft courses, and participants eat and stay overnight at the same premises. It makes it an ideal location for having a wildpainting course, in this varied landscape where hills start to turn into mountains. In all directions there are beautiful vistas and hiking trails, and characteristic log houses, with ornaments carved out of wood.

Here we can touch the silence, the crisp air, and let this experience find its expression in the colours that you put on the canvas.

What will happen in this immersive painting course, which will be held here for the third time? Again, we will try to push the boundaries of painting in response to a dramatic landscape like this. As much as possible, we will be painting outside, in the vicinity of Raulandsakademiet. In case of unfavourable weather conditions we will work inside our studio at the academy.

This wildpainting course is open to people with different levels of experience in artmaking, from near beginners through to practising artists and will be held from Monday 13 July until Sunday 19 July, 2026.

Wildpainting is about connecting to free nature through art, engaging all of one’s senses!

Interview with Jan van Boeckel by Ingrid Rieser - A conversation in the hills of home:
“Our crisis is an aesthetic crisis”
– on art, education and ecology.
Listen now

Practical

Painting course

We recommend arriving latest on Monday morning 13 July; the course will start that day at 15.15 pm. The closing session will be on Sunday 19 July before lunch. The art sessions will be between 9.00 am and 16.00 pm (with a break for lunch), and occasionally we'll have an evening session as well.

The course will be taught by Jan van Boeckel, a Dutch artist and professional art teacher. He will help you get started, encourage you along the way, and invite you to paint the landscape in new, uncommon, and refreshing ways. Composition, paint application, colour, and use of tone will be explored. The course will be in English, though the teacher does speak Swedish and some Norwegian. All participants will be offered intensive personal tutorials.

Lodging & food

During this course you can stay overnight at Raulandsakademiet. Costs of both food & lodging are NOK 1595 per day for course participants. Each day 3 meals will be served: breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are 49 rooms: single rooms, twin rooms, and some family rooms - all of them have their own shower and toilet.

Course fee

The course fee is NOK 9660 (which includes all art materials; food and lodging come on top of that). Bookings, both for the course and for accommodation & food, can be made through Raulandsakademiet, or you can send an email to Signe Årdalen: [email protected]

Location

The address of our art atelier is
Raulandsakademiet
Akademiet 2
N-3864 Rauland

Contact:
Signe Årdalen
Tel. +47 35 07 32 92
[email protected]

Travel options:
- Bus from Oslo to Åmot Vinje Kro (https://www.nor-way.no/en/routes/haukeliekspressen/), 3 h and 45 min and then a switch to a smaller bus from Åmot Vinje Kro to Universitet USN Rauland (https://entur.no/), 20 min;
- Flight to Oslo or Bergen;
- Car.

Comments by former participants

It was a good, successful course for me. I liked the good pedagogic planning, the exercises, and the social life. Jan is a very good teacher, engaged, well-prepared and he gave very relevant comments to our painting. Thank you for these marvellous days.

Kjetil

Jan van Boeckel is a warm, engaging art teacher. His outstanding teaching methods, his painting skills and his passion for art and art history are very inspiring. He attends to each student's unique potential - no one will feel overlooked under Jan's caring guidance. In addition, he has the exceptional habit to join in with the students and paint for himself along with them. Thank you for a wonderful course!
Ida

Good atmosphere. "Högt i tak", as we say in Sweden. The food - made painting even better!! Nice reviewing sessions.
Karin

Painting with the Mountains
6-day course in Rauland, Norway
13-19 July, 2026
NOK 9660
including all art materials