Pomm's Watercolor Institute
A year from now, someone will stand in your home, point at the wall, and ask where you bought that painting.
And you will get to say the words: "I painted it."
This page is about the twelve months in between.
$8,000 ยท Full 12-month program ยท Taught personally by Pomm
These were not painted by professionals.
They were painted by retired teachers, nurses, and grandmothers โ most in their 60s and 70s, many of whom had failed at watercolor before. Some had never held a brush.
You've already tried. We know.
The hours of YouTube tutorials. The books. Maybe a class, maybe a weekend workshop. And each time, the same ending: a painting that turned muddy, flat, lifeless โ nothing like the picture in your head. And each time, the same quiet conclusion: maybe I'm just not talented enough.
Here is what actually happened.
Watercolor is the only painting medium that punishes you for doing what feels natural. With oils or acrylics, more effort means better results. With watercolor, the more you push, the more you correct, the more you rework โ the worse it gets. Nobody tells you that when you start. So you try harder, and it gets muddier, and you blame yourself.
Then there's the second problem, and it's the bigger one. Every tutorial shows you what to do. Almost none explain why โ the order of decisions that makes one painting glow and another go flat. And when your painting goes wrong, there is no one to look at it and tell you what to fix. So you can't improve. You can only repeat.
And a method problem can be fixed.
Every painting you'll ever love is built in five phases.
Pomm spent 40 years discovering the sequence. Her students spend 12 months mastering it. The phases never change โ only the subject does. Flowers, portraits, landscapes: same five phases, every time.
The Foundation Wash โ where the glow comes from
The lightest color in your photograph โ the sunlight โ painted across the entire board first. This is why Pomm's paintings look lit from inside the paper. Rush it or skip it, and nothing after can save the piece. Now you know why yours went flat.
Dry Brush Detail โ drawing with the brush
The details emerge โ the edge of a leaf, the curve of a petal. This is the phase that makes an object look real and round instead of painted-on. And no, you don't need to know how to draw: you trace your outline. The masters always did.
The Shadow Layer โ painting around the light
Shadow laid over the foundation, moving around every bright spot you're protecting. This is the moment students gasp on the live calls โ the contrast arrives and the painting suddenly has depth.
Deep Detail โ bringing it back to life
The shadow softened some of your detail. Now you pop it back โ and the painting starts to look like something people won't believe is watercolor.
Shadow Pop Color โ the signature
Pomm's favorite phase. Red into a green leaf. Purple into a yellow lemon. The complementary colors that make a painting sing instead of sit. This is the phase no tutorial has ever taught you โ because almost no one else paints this way.
Once you know the sequence, the mystery disappears. You look at any watercolor, by any artist, and you can see how it was made. Then you sit down with a blank board โ and you just paint.
The woman who will not let you fail.
Pomm has painted watercolor at the highest level for over 40 years. Her originals sell for $30,000 to $80,000. Her work has been on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post โ the same cover Norman Rockwell made famous.
But ask her what she's proudest of, and it isn't any of that. It's that she figured out how to give the method away โ to people who were certain they had no talent.
A year with a master watching your work.
Not a course. Not a library of videos. A 12-month artist development program โ with Pomm beside you at every step. Here's what that means, in order of what matters most.
Personal feedback on your paintings โ within 24 hours
Post a photo of your painting with your question. Pomm and her team review it personally and respond within 24 hours โ not generic encouragement, but a specific diagnosis of what's happening in your work: "This works. This doesn't. Fix this."
This is the difference between practicing and improving. It's what YouTube can never give you, no matter how many years you spend there.
Live classes with Pomm โ face to face
One hour every week, live and interactive. Pomm teaches something new, then answers your specific questions while you watch her brush move. Can't make it? Every session is recorded and yours to keep. But the students who show up live will tell you: it's the hour of the week they most look forward to.
The Master Painter Checksheet
A step-by-step roadmap from your first wash to your certificate. Every step is reviewed and approved before you move on โ no skipping ahead, no falling through the cracks, no more wondering "what should I practice next?" You move at your own pace. Guided, never rushed, never left behind.
One-on-one sessions with Pomm through the year
Four to five private sessions where it's just you, Pomm, and your paintings. Her private mentorship normally runs $10,000 for two days. Inside the Institute, it's simply part of your year.
A private community of fellow artists
On its own private platform โ not buried in your Facebook feed. Post your work in progress. Celebrate the first smooth wash, the first painting you'd give as a gift. Your classmates learn your name and cheer for every win. Ask the students: this becomes family.
The full recorded course library
Forty years of method, organized into lessons in the right order โ color theory, water control, board preparation, wash technique, shadow and light, composition. Watch on your schedule. Pause, rewatch, return to it whenever you need.
The moments you're actually buying.
Nobody frames a curriculum. Here is what the year feels like from the inside.
Your first wash โ and your first "oh"
Within days of logging in, you paint your first foundation wash under Pomm's guidance. Smooth, even, glowing. The thing that always went muddy before, working on the first try โ because now you know why.
"Did I really do that?"
Several complete paintings finished. You understand light, shadow, and water control โ not by memorizing, but because Pomm has personally critiqued your actual work. You catch yourself staring at a piece you made, not quite believing it.
The first painting you give away
A painting good enough to gift โ to a daughter, a friend, a grandchild. Signed with your name. Watch their face when you tell them you made it. That look is worth more than the frame.
Certificate in hand. Paintings on the wall. And the sentence.
You complete every step of the Master Painter Checksheet โ personally verified by Pomm โ and receive your certificate. But the real graduation is quieter: someone asks what you do, and you hear yourself say "I'm an artist." And mean it. Some students go further and sell their first pieces. That door is open to you too.
This program is not for everyone.
Pomm teaches one student at a time. She'd rather you not join than join wrong.
The Institute is for you ifโฆ
- You've wanted this for years โ maybe decades โ and "someday" has started to sound like an excuse
- You've tried tutorials, books, or classes and ended up frustrated
- You secretly wonder if you have enough talent (you do โ it was never talent)
- You want a real teacher looking at your real work โ not another video
- You're ready to invest seriously in a skill you'll keep for the rest of your life
It is not for you ifโฆ
- You're looking for a quick fix or a weekend workshop
- You want another video library to watch passively and never open
- You're not willing to actually put brush to board each week
- You're hoping cheap and free will finally work this time (you already know how that ends)
What a year of becoming an artist actually costs.
Let's be honest about the alternatives first โ because you've probably already paid for some of them.
| Your options | A year costs |
|---|---|
| Private lessons, 1 hour a week at $100/hrNo structure, no community, no method | $5,200 |
| Weekend watercolor workshopsTwo days of copying someone else's painting | $2,400โ$10,000 |
| One semester of art schoolAnd watercolor is one elective | $15,000โ$40,000 |
| Another five years on YouTubeNo feedback, no system, no one watching your work | "Free" โ at what cost? |
| Pomm's Watercolor InstituteEverything below, with Pomm beside you all year | $8,000 |
Everything inside your year
That's $667 a month โ about $22 a day โ for 365 days of a master artist personally making sure you do not fail. And unlike everything else you've spent money on, this is still hanging on your wall in twenty years.
Prefer to talk it through with a human first? Completely understandable.
Book a free call with Megan on Pomm's team โ no pressure, straight answers.
The Pomm Masterclass
free while it's in production.
Pomm is currently filming her complete signature curriculum โ the 5-Phase Layering Method taught lesson by lesson, in the right order: color theory, water control, board preparation, wash technique, shadow and light, composition, and message. Self-paced, yours for life.
Here's the honest situation: once production is complete, the Masterclass becomes its own product at $2,500, sold separately from the Institute. Students who enroll now get it included, free, permanently โ and get early access to every lesson as it's released.
No countdown clocks, no fake urgency. Just a real bonus with a real expiration: the day filming wraps.
The moment you enroll.
If technology makes you nervous โ relax. This part has been made grandmother-proof, on purpose.
Within 5 minutes โ your welcome email arrives
Your login details and a plain-English guide to getting started. If anything is confusing, our support team walks you through it personally.
Pomm's welcome video is waiting for you
The first face you see when you log in is hers โ telling you exactly what to do first.
Your Checksheet shows you step one
No staring at a library of videos wondering where to start. The roadmap begins at the very beginning โ no prior skill assumed, nothing to unlearn.
You introduce yourself to the community
And for the first time in your painting life โ you are not doing this alone.
The questions you're actually asking.
These are the real questions students had before joining โ answered straight.
"Am I too old to really learn this?"
The best students Pomm has ever taught are over 60. That's not a pep talk โ it's her honest observation after decades of teaching. Patience and life experience make better watercolor artists than youth does. You're not learning for a grade. You're learning for yourself.
"I've tried to learn watercolor before, and it never stuck."
Good. That means you already know exactly what doesn't work: random tutorials with no system, no feedback, and no one holding you to it. That's not a talent problem โ it's a method problem, and the method problem is precisely what the Institute was built to fix. The missing piece was never your ability. It was having someone look at your work and say: "this works, this doesn't, fix this."
"I'm not good with computers. Will I be okay?"
Yes. The live classes run on Zoom โ if you can join a video call with your grandchildren, you can join a class. And our support team is available to walk you through every step, personally, for as long as you need. Nobody gets left behind over a password.
"I'm busy. Do I have to attend everything live?"
No. Every live class is recorded and yours to keep. The Checksheet moves at your pace โ there are no deadlines and no "falling behind." Even 30 minutes a week keeps you moving forward. You have a full 12 months, and the start line is whenever you're ready.
"I need to talk to my partner first."
That's fair โ and here's what to tell them. This isn't an impulse; you've wanted this for years, maybe decades. It costs less than one semester of art school and includes a level of personal mentorship that normally costs $10,000 for two days. And by next week's live class, you'll have something to show them that you painted with your own hands.
If it helps, bring your partner on a free call with Megan and ask every hard question together.
"What if it doesn't work for me?"
Straight answer: enrollment is a final commitment โ we don't offer refunds, and we'd rather tell you that plainly here than hide it in fine print. It's also why the program is built the way it is: Pomm teaches one student at a time, every step of your Checksheet is personally reviewed, and in all her years of teaching she has never had a committed student fail to improve. Show up, do the work, and you will paint.
And because this is a serious commitment, we mean this sincerely: if you have any doubt at all, talk to Megan first. If the Institute isn't right for you, she will tell you so. We would genuinely rather lose the sale than have the wrong student.
"Can I really do this if I can't draw?"
Yes. You trace your outline directly onto the board โ and before you object: tracing is not cheating. The masters have always done it. As Pomm says, "we are painters, not illustrators." The program starts at the absolute foundation and assumes zero prior skill. In fact, complete beginners often progress fastest โ there's nothing to unlearn.
You've spent a lifetime giving. To your family, your work, everyone who needed you. And somewhere in all those years, there was this quiet thing you kept for yourself: someday, I'm going to paint.
Most of my students said "someday" for twenty, thirty, forty years before they walked through my door. I want you to hear this from someone who has watched hundreds of them: this is someday.
You don't need to be ready. You don't need to be talented. You need to decide. The talent was never the problem โ I'll prove that to you within your first month.
A year from now, you will be staring at a framed painting on your wall. Your name in the corner. And every single time you walk past it, you'll feel it: I made that.
This program is not for everyone. But if you've wanted this for a long time โ really wanted it โ and you're finally ready to do something about it?
I want you here.
โ Pomm
A year from now, you will have either painted โ or you won't.
Same walls, or your paintings on them. Same "someday," or your name signed in the corner. The only difference between those two futures is what you decide right now.
Begin Your Year โ Enroll Now$8,000 ยท Masterclass included while in production ยท Starts the moment you do
