The Color Cure - online!
All of the content from our 2025 destination retreats is available in The Color Cure self-paced online course.
Enrollment opens on July 24th!
CLICK HERE to be notified when enrollment opens!
Why Color ?
Over the years, we’ve heard countless artists say, “I struggle with color.”
We understand why. Color isn’t just another element of art—it’s one of the most transformative. While value is essential, it’s not the whole story. All the color components and the principles that shape them have the power to bring clarity, emotion, harmony, and depth to your work.
The truth is: a color is never “right” on its own—it’s only right in context.
Learning to see and use color in relationship is what allows paintings to feel vibrant, intentional, and complete.
If you’ve ever wished you could…
Start a painting with more confidence
Make stronger choices during the muddled middle
Or push through those moments when you feel stuck
…then it’s time to take a deeper dive into the element of color.
Color offers so many forms of contrast: hue, value, saturation, complementary, opacity, and temperature contrasts. That’s a lot to unpack! Yes, some paintings come together through pure play—but when they don’t, frustration sets in quickly. That’s when having a clear system, reliable tools, and real color knowledge changes everything.
The Color Cure was created to give you exactly that:
a practical, accessible way to understand color so you can move through your painting process with clarity, ease, and confidence—from beginning to end.
Here’s what you’ll learn…
Composing with color
Mixing any color you want
Limiting your palette for greater emotional impact
Finding new palettes for expression
Understanding how the principles of art apply to color
Mastering color contrasts
Recognizing the limits of the color wheel
Applying the learning to your personal work
Remember…intuition is rooted in knowledge.
Your Instructors
Mastering a skill isn’t about memorizing facts or learning formulas. It's about understanding why things work and then applying them. During the course, we’ll be your guides providing presentations, exercises, painting prompts, demos and live calls. Our exercises are guaranteed to strengthen your mastery of color contrasts, allowing you to have total control of your composition. Our painting prompts will provide the experiential learning that sticks and applies to YOUR art.
Susan Melrath
Susan Melrath has been a painter for her entire adult life - working as a published illustrator for many years, and a studio artist for the last fifteen. As a teacher, she has helped thousands of artists find their way to making strong, authentic work. Her greatest love is helping painters understand how to organize the elements in their paintings to make them as strong and compelling as can be. Susan’s work can be seen at Art & Light Gallery in Greenville, SC and Museo Gallery in Langley, WA.
Terri Froelich
Terri is an abstract painter and photographer living and working in Sausalito, California. Terri started painting in 2002 and has been passionate about photography from a very young age. She has been teaching and organizing in-person destination retreats and online courses for over nine years. She loves helping artists find solutions in their process and strengthen their work.. He work is represented by Julie Nester Gallery (Park City, UT) and Kennedy Contemporary (Newport Beach, CA),
Terri and Susan have been working together for nearly a decade and launched ARTfuel in 2023 to help artists utilize the principles and elements of art in their work, offer new perspectives and assist them with their artistic journey through online courses and in-person retreats around the world.
If you’re thinking, “why would this course be different?”, here’s Leslie’s take-away…
"While I have taken color (and other) classes previously (good, bad and ugly), the opportunity to learn, digest and practice with Susan and Terri's guidance has been invaluable. What really came into focus for me was becoming comfortable utilizing a limited palette, understanding saturation, and making intentional color choices. This wasn't just another color class—it fundamentally changed how I approach every painting."
~ Leslie Thornton, Color Cure Online, 2026
When & Where?
Your access begins as soon as you register - in the comfort or your own home …or studio!
What will I need?
We’ll work on sturdy paper with acrylic paint.
Once you register, you will be sent a complete supply list.
Click the button below…
I’m in! What now?
Hear from people who have taken Color Cure.
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"I am seeing colour in a whole new way, with much more knowledge and nuance. I've learned that incredibly delicious palettes can be created without relying on colors straight from the tube."
~ Liza Cawthorn, Color Cure Online, 2026
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"I'm so inspired to paint again! This course has injected an incredible amount of energy and excitement into my painting practice. The vast array of beautiful colors achieved with a very limited palette completely changed the way I think about color."
~ Susan Almquist, Color Cure Online, 2026
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“I really enjoyed this workshop. We got into depth on how color works and how color relates to each other. These are things I’ve heard before, but really didn’t understand how to apply them by providing examples and exercises. I was able to really grasp how to do a better job using color in my paintings. The teachers were very accessible and helpful when we had problems or didn’t understand.”
~ Sandra Campeau, Color Cure Scotland, 2025
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"I thought I was pretty good at colour... but I now understand why a painting works. The test drives have been a game changer."
~ Sandra Boorne, Color Cure Online, 2026
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"I feel much more confident in knowing that I can critique my own work. My understanding has improved significantly and I finally feel equipped to make better decisions."
~ Beveryl Holgate, Color Cure Scotland, 2025
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"Before Color Cure I had lost my enthusiasm for painting. Now I happily find myself in the studio painting from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. because I can't wait to explore everything I've learned."learned from Terri and Susan and their amazing lessons.”
~ Suzanne Budd, Color Cure Online, 2026
Here’s what’s included:
Over 30 hours of video presentations, painting demos and pre-recorded live calls
An online community of like-minded artists (not in Facebook)
Hands-on exercises and prompts to help you compose with color, master color contrasts, understand how the principles of art apply to color, mix any color you want and more
Access to the website, community and content for one year
Are you ready?
This self-pace version of the Color Cure has been discounted from
our original Live Course pricing:
$475
(Live Course Price: $950)
Enrollment opens on
Friday, July 24th.
Payment plans will be available through Klarna and Afterpay.
*Please note that this version of the Color Cure online has been pre-recorded.
Any future live versions of the Color Cure online will be at our original pricing.
Your Work, Your Voice, Amplified
Color Cure Student Work:
Q + A
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This version of the Color Cure online starts at the moment of purchase. There are no schedules or live calls to attend and the course is meant to be taken at your own pace.
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Here’s what’s included:
Over 30 hours of pre-recorded video presentations and painting demos
Hands-on exercises and prompts to help you compose with color, master color contrasts, understand how the principles of art apply to color, mix any color you want and more.
Access to our previously pre-recorded Live Calls - full of aha moments, more demos, feedback and helpful answer to questions you didn’t even know to ask!
An online community of like-minded artists (not Facebook)
A full year to access it all!
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The cost for this self-pace version of the Color Cure online course is $475 (USD). Payment plan options are available during checkout through Klarna or Afterpay.
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Color Cure is taught using acrylic paint. The concepts we are teaching apply to other mediums, however we will only use acrylics during the course.
You may use another medium if you feel proficient in mixing color and value and achieving opacity and transparency. -
The only way to answer this is to say that we consider a beginner someone who has never, ever picked up a paintbrush. If this is you, this course is possibly too advanced. However, If you have used a brush and paint, or taken a workshop/online class and have the desire to dive deeper into the principles and elements of color, then this is for you! We feel strongly that continued learning is part of the growth of an artist and their practice.
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In this version of our Color Cure course, there will not be any live calls or feedback from Susan & Terri. You will have access to the recordings of our live calls where questions were answered and additional demos given. You will also be part of our community where you can ask for feedback from other artists who have taken and are taking the course.
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This is a self-paced course but know that each week’s pre-recorded videos will take approximately 3-4 hours to watch. There will be exercises and painting prompts and the time each person will spend on this will be a personal decision..
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Yes, if you decide this program is not for you, we offer a full refund if you notify us within 24 hours of your purchase. (Sorry, but there will be no exceptions as this is a digital product with immediate access.)
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A full supply list will be available once you register for the course. Below is a short list of supplies needed:
Acrylic Paint (this course is taught in acrylics only)
Arches paper pad
Nylon brushes assorted sizes of flats and rounds
Cafeteria trays
Tracing Paper
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Color Cure online will be accessible for one year from the date you purchase the course.
“The teaching standard: absolutely excellent. I appreciated that the course itself was focused – on purely practical aspects of art making and leaving out other subjects like artist mindset (“Soul”), business-related matters, etc. I loved the clear structure of it. I thought the exercises were highly effective at getting me to think in new unfamiliar ways. All the artwork examples in the presentations were very helpful.”
~ Rob Smales, Filter & Focus Online
"I've been trying to figure out color and value for six years. Using desaturated color instead of value to describe an area—wow! The test drives were incredible."
~ Debbie Coleman, Color Cure Online, 2026
We hope you’ll join us!
