A one-day, hands-on workshop in hand-painted canvas embellishment. Open to all photographers, no prior painting experience required.
November 7, 2026
9am - 5pm ET
Grove City, Ohio
You already offer clients beautiful prints of your work. The Embellished Canvas takes that a step further: hand-painted finishing on canvas that turns a printed piece into something one-of-a-kind. Whether you're looking to add a new offering, reach a different kind of client, or just experiment with a new medium, this is a chance to build a skill that's entirely yours.
The Embellished Canvas is a focused, single-day workshop built around the part of the process Danica knows best: taking a printed image and turning it into a finished, hand-painted piece using acrylic paint and gel. You'll leave with a completed embellished canvas, a working knowledge of materials and technique, and a set of brushes to keep practicing with.
What We’ll Cover
History, Materials, and Technique
We'll start with a look at how painters throughout history have used brushstrokes to suggest texture, light, and depth, and how that translates directly to embellishing a printed canvas. From there, Danica will walk through every material she uses and why: brushes, paints, gels, and how each one behaves on canvas.
Lunch Break
Food isn't provided, but we're surrounded by restaurants, and the group is welcome to head out together.
Demonstration and Hands-On Painting
Danica will demonstrate the embellishment process directly on canvas so you can see decisions made in real time. Then you'll get practice canvas to try it yourself: how the paint moves and looks, which brushes get you the right shapes, and how dry times affect your next step. Once you're comfortable, we'll move to your own professionally printed image and you'll embellish it start to finish.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Any photographer curious about adding hand-painted, mixed-media work to what you offer clients.
No painting background needed. This class is intentionally kept small so everyone gets individual attention throughout the day.
What’s Included
A 16×20 professionally printed canvas of YOUR IMAGE that we will embellish in class.
An 11×14 blank practice canvas to build confidence before you commit to the real thing
A brush set to take home and keep practicing with
We provide paint, gels, and easels to use for the day
A full day of hands-on instruction from a PPA Master Artist
BEFORE YOU ARRIVE
What We need from you
You'll be working on a beautiful professionally printed 16×20 canvas, the same lab and print quality Danica uses for every client commission. In order to really get a feel for the process, that canvas will be printed with YOUR IMAGE. We need an image from you ahead of the workshop, so a canvas ready to embellish is waiting when you arrive.
That image needs to be painterly, not a straight photograph. Whether it comes from a filter, your own digital painting, or another process, a painterly starting point is what makes the hand-painted embellishment actually work once it's on canvas.
Is your image not painterly and you don’t know how to make it painterly?
Danica can digitally paint your reference image for you for an additional $100. This is a service she regularly offer to other photographers, called “ghost painting”, and she’s offering to workshop attendees at a heavily discounted rate.
Reference images are due a minimum of three weeks before the workshop date, so your canvas can be printed and shipped in time.
WHY LEARN THIS FROM DANICA
This is her every day work
This isn't a technique she’s demonstrating for the first time. Hand-painted embellishment is part of her everyday commission work. Other photographers already hire her to embellish their canvases through her ghost painting service; this workshop teaches you to do it yourself.
What you're learning here is a method tested on real client work for years, not classroom theory.
Danica Barreau is an internationally recognized pet portrait artist, educator, author, and speaker based in Grove City, Ohio. Through her studio, Pouka Art & Photography, she creates custom painted portraits from photographs that are finished by hand on canvas for clients throughout the United States.
A PPA Master Artist, Master Photographer, Photographic Craftsman, Master of Animal Imagery, and Certified Professional Photographer, Danica is a six-time Ohio Artist of the Year and is widely recognized for her contributions to the professional photography community as an educator, writer, and volunteer leader. She is the author of two books, a frequent contributor to professional photography publications, and speaks nationally on digital painting, artificial intelligence, and creative business. Her work is rooted in craftsmanship, storytelling, and the relationships people share with the animals they love.
A one-day, hands-on workshop in hand-painted canvas embellishment. Open to all photographers, no prior painting experience required.
November 7, 2026
9am - 5pm ET
Grove City, Ohio
You already offer clients beautiful prints of your work. The Embellished Canvas takes that a step further: hand-painted finishing on canvas that turns a printed piece into something one-of-a-kind. Whether you're looking to add a new offering, reach a different kind of client, or just experiment with a new medium, this is a chance to build a skill that's entirely yours.
The Embellished Canvas is a focused, single-day workshop built around the part of the process Danica know best: taking a printed image and turning it into a finished, hand-painted piece using acrylic paint and gel. You'll leave with a completed embellished canvas, a working knowledge of materials and technique, and a set of brushes to keep practicing with.