Jo Sonja's Eureka Seminars - 2026
General Information
All of our classes are held at our studio in Eureka, a small coastal community centered amongst the towering redwoods of Northern California.
The nearest airport is the Eureka/Arcata airport. The airport is located 13 miles north of our studio. United Airlines offers direct service to Eureka through Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver. Breeze Airlines offers direct service through Burbank and Las Vegas with connections in Provo. Alaska Airlines offers service through Seattle.
Several hotels and a variety of restaurants are located nearby. You will be responsible for making your own hotel reservations. Upon acceptance, you will be sent information that will include hotels, rates and contact information.
Important :
- NO DEPOSIT is necessary to fill out a class request. Balances of seminar fees will be due 60 days before your class. We will be automatically emailing invoices with payment links at those times.
Hotel Information:
The most popular hotels with our students are the Clarion By Humboldt Bay and the Red Lion Hotel. Rates and booking links will be sent with seminar confirmations.
Clarion Hotel - 2223 4th St., Eureka, CA 95501.
Red Lion Hotel - 1929 4th St. Eureka, CA 95501.
We will do our best to communicate, work through the dates with everyone and accommodate as many as possible. Thank you for your suggestions and your support- we hope to see you in 2026!
IMPORTANT - if you are interested in a class you must fill out and submit the online registration form. The link is at the bottom of this page.
Please Note: All five day seminars follow this format:
Two days instruction, one day off, two days instruction. During the day off the studio IS open and available to catch up or prepare for the next session.
Drawing, Color and Design - Session 1
April 13 - 17 (Monday - Friday)
Instructor: Jo Sonja Jansen MDA, VGM
Class Fee: $525.00
Class Fee Includes: All paints and mediums used during instruction.
This year Jo Sonja is doing two different Design classes and you can choose the class that appeals to your own artistic journey.
We begin Session #1 with 2 color studies and the development of a Possibility Palette.
Our first painting & design subjects offer us not only wonderful design possibilities but also studies of leaves and ideas for placement on our designs (which we discovered last year was a serious question). These studies will be based on traditional examples and stress individual development. We will continue on into more complex fruit designs. There will be some prep ideas you can bring.
Drawing, Color and Design - Session 2
April 20 - 24 (Monday - Friday)
Instructor: Jo Sonja Jansen MDA, VGM
Class Fee: $525.00
Class Fee Includes: All paints and mediums used during instruction.
This year Jo Sonja is doing two different Design classes and you can choose the class that appeals to your own artistic journey.
Drawing, Color and Design - Session 2:
This week begins with the painting of flowers. A soft stroked style of French inspired florals using beautiful examples purchased in Paris in the early 1990's. Of course we will include a study of smaller stroke florals on decorative tin items that we have been collecting for the last 50 years. A full week of fun.
If time permits I'd like to include some faux finish background prep studies to compliment our designs. Another full week of color, drawing and painting. Again there will be some prep ideas.
The Wise & Foolish Virgins Tine
Instructor: Jo Sonja Jansen MDA, VGM
Class Fee: $600.00
Class Fee Includes: Unfinished Tine, all paints and mediums used during instruction.
2026 Eureka Class Dates:
June 15 - 19 (Monday - Friday)
Aug 10 - 14 (Monday - Friday)
Oct 19 - 23 (Monday - Friday)
The 5 wise and 5 Foolish Virgins is a parable told by Jesus. It became a very popular folk art theme. About 40 - 45 years ago I did this parable in a Telemark Rosemaling style and we certainly had a lot of fun with it. Now at the age of 89 I wanted to paint it again - in a different Rosemaling style, this time Valdres. I did my research, found some wonderful ideas, and lost myself in paint.
I hope you enjoy this old Folk Artists' interpretation of a beloved theme and enjoy painting a beautiful tine (the original wood piece was found in a Husfliden in Bergen Norway and reproduced by Larry Pickett. It will be a very full week of painting - what fun!
Victorian Watering Can
Instructor: Jo Sonja Jansen MDA, VGM
Class Fee: $650.00
Class Fee Includes: Unfinished turned & coopered water can, all paints and mediums used during instruction.
2026 Eureka Class Dates:
June 22 - 26 (Monday - Friday)
August 17 - 21 (Monday - Friday)
Oct 26 - 30 (Monday - Friday)
I had looked for this piece for over 50 years and finally found it at an antique mall in Pennsylvania. Oh joy! Now how to make this lovely piece of history available to others. Mr. Pickett has made an unbelievably beautiful reproduction for us.
Now to the painting and design. This is a layered painting, Chippendale style, with extra soft stroke accents. A few little metallic accents here and there and a bit of drama fun between the squirrel & bird. The design is done in "parts" so you can leave off some if you wish or rearrange a little. Anyway it will be a very busy week but very fun and tempting colors to share. I'm so looking forward to our precious time together!
The wooden watering can is about 17" tall with a base diameter of a little over 10".
Online registration form for classes
