FALL CLASSES: Details & Material Lists

Hamilton Studio School is thrilled to have Katherine MacDonald offer her celebrated Portrait Class in our studio!  Don't miss this opportunity to study with an exceptional teacher and portrait artist.

For beginners and experienced artists alike.  Learn core skills and approaches to this rich genre with focused and supportive instruction and demonstrations.

Group demonstrations and individual instruction. 

All levels.

This class is for beginners, experienced painters, and everyone in between.

Participants may chose to draw and/or paint in their preferred medium. 

For suggested material lists see the Material Lists in the Menu.

Work with an inspiring subject to strengthen core drawing skills!  

Figure Drawing is a foundational practice for artists in all disciplines.  It teaches observation, technique, a wholistic understanding of the subject and artistic responsiveness.

Figure Drawing Part 1 is part of a series of classes at HSS that develop a whole approach to figure drawing.  Part 1 is perfect for beginners, students seeking further drawing instruction and experienced artists looking to refresh their practice with first principles.

The course works through a series of core drawing techniques for artistic representation of 3-dimensional form. 

All levels. Class demonstrations and individual instruction.

Beginners, students seeking further drawing instruction and experienced artists looking to refresh their practice with first principles.  All levels!

· black conte or willow charcoal

· kneadable eraser

· 18” x 24” pad of manila or newsprint paper

The Fall is for oil painting!

If you love art materials, oils are for you! Oil paint is a rich, versatile and flexible medium, especially suited for representational painting.  The ultimate tactile medium, if feels like many paint possibilities in one.

This class will introduce materials, handling with the brush, simple colour theory and mixing, and ways of adapting traditions and techniques to the works created in class. 

Still life and interiors will be the subject focus. 

 Class demonstrations and individual instruction. 

All levels.  Previous drawing experience is recommended.

Recommended Paint Colours

• cadmium yellow medium
• yellow ochre
• cadmium red medium
• alizarin crimson or permanent      crimson
• ultramarine blue (not green      shade)
• cerulean blue or Kings Blue Deep
• burnt sienna
• raw umber
• titanium white

Oil Paint Brushes

At least 6 brushes are needed as a start (but more brushes, if you have them, is helpful): 

· 2 large (sizes 16-18)

· 2 medium (sizes 12-8)

· 2 medium-small (sizes 6-4)

Oil paint brushes are specifically designed to work with oil paint. They come in three main styles: flat, filbert and round. I prefer and only use filbert. 

There are many brands to choose from. Sizes vary with brand. The sizes I have suggested are based on the Raphael brand boar hair series. The Escoda Classico (hog hair) brand is sized smaller and in this brand size 6 would be very small. Try these or other oil brush brands to find the ones you prefer.

Canvas

· Canson Canva Paper Pad (min. size 12” x 16”)

Solvents/Mediums

· metal holder for solvents/mediums

· odorless solvent: Sansodor (Windsor & Newton) or Gamsol (Gamblin)

· medium: Artists’ Painting Medium (Windsor & Newton)—optional

Other items

· Palette (paper palettes are great, min. size 12” x 16”)

· Palette knife

· Cotton rags or mechanics’ (blue) paper towel

· Dish soap or brush cleaning soap for brushes

· Rubber glove for cleaning brushes

Why Oil Paint?

Oil paint is one of the most beautiful and flexible artist’s mediums. 

Oil paint co-evolved with the Western tradition of representational painting. If you love Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Chardin, Delacroix, Corot, Monet, Degas, Morisot, Van Gogh, Morandi (to name but a very, very few) you love oil paintings. Paintings by these artists could not have been created in any other medium.

It is a mistake to consider oil paint and acrylic paint interchangeable. They are very different. Acrylic was developed in the 20thC. as part of the plastics industry. It is fast drying and water-soluble and was used to great effect by Pop artists in the 1960s who sought flat, impermeable, fast drying and harder edge applications of paint. In contrast, oil paint is slow drying which makes the medium permeable and semi-permeable for a longer period, allowing for subtle and varied gradations of value and colour. Its properties also make it much easier to colour match than acrylic.

Why do I love oil paint so much? Despite having to give a little extra attention to cleaning my brushes, I would always choose oil because it is so gorgeously tactile. Oil paint maintains its handling structure and vibrancy in all formulations, whether thinned with solvent (creating a rich inky substance), combined with medium, or used straight from the tube. For me, oil is many paint possibilities in one.

Alternative “Oil” Paints

Next to traditional oil paint, there are alternative oil paints on the market including water-soluble oils and walnut oil paints. I do not recommend water-soluble oil paints. I have found that they have a tacky or waxy consistency. 

I have limited experience with walnut oil paints. They feel oilier than traditional oils which can make them muddy up faster, and as a niche oil paint the colour and product range will not be as extensive. For these reasons, I would recommend traditional oils over walnut oils.

Professional vs. Student Quality Paint

Oil paint is sold in professional/artist quality and student quality grades. 

Professional quality oil paint has a higher pigment content, resulting in fresher, more vivid colour that is less prone to becoming muddy in the mixing process. The higher pigment content also means that professional oils cost more. 

Student quality paint is made of cheaper components including fillers that will result in flatter, duller colour.  Student quality paint is less expensive.

When I was a student, I began with student quality paint. This paint did what they needed to do at the time, but I’ll never forget what it felt like when I switched to quality paint—it was an experience of stepping into a new, and splendid world.

***Absolutely avoid the cheapest of cheap oil paint—it will be terrible. Do not use oil paint from the dollar store or its equivalents.***

Pastel and the human form were made for each other!  Both are magnificently direct.

Figure & Pastel is as much a way to develop one's figure drawing practice, as it is a means to broaden pastel technique and an artistic understanding of colour.

The figure is a good subject for understanding colour, because the human form presents a coherent and limited palette.  The class will begin with an exploration of simple warm and cool colour palettes in a composition, moving towards more individualized colour choices with each new subject.  

Three models will pose for two classes each.

Class demonstrations and individual instruction.

All levels.  Previous drawing experience recommended.

This class is useful as an introduction to pastel as well as a means for broadening approaches to the medium.

For students and artists interested in developing figurative compositions with the benefit of long poses.

There are two broad categories of pastel: hard pastel and soft pastel.

Hard Pastel

Hard pastels have a consistency comparable to conté although they are also dryer in feel. Final works will feel more like a drawing. They are excellent for layering and can produce a very luminous effect because more of the underlying paper can be left exposed.

Hard pastels come in stick or pencil formats.

Of the hard pastels I have used and enjoy the following brands:

· NuPastel 

· coloured conté

· Stabilo Carbothello which is in a pencil format. 

*The Stabilo I have used a lot, and I love them. Make sure you buy an excellent pencil sharpener—look for a German blade.

Due to their easy layering capacities, one can get by with fewer hard pastels than soft ones. For someone experimenting with pastel and/or colour for the first time, a 12- or 24-piece set of hard pastel would do the trick.

Soft Pastel

Soft pastels are beloved for their rich tactile nature and painterly effects. It can feel very close to painting with one’s hands. 

Soft pastels are generally sold as sticks and come in different sizes. A starter set is a good place to begin, but if you enjoy pastel, you will love having more.

I have used many different brands of soft pastel. Some of my favorites are:

· Schmincke

· Sennelier

· Great American

· Unison

Others have recommended Holbein Artist Soft Pastel as a good, slightly economical brand. 

Cheaper brands are cheaper in every sense.  They will be very dusty and will limit how much layering is possible. If cost is a concern, consider going with hard pastels.

Paper

Pastels require a paper with a “tooth” to hold the fine particles of the medium. Usually, papers will be labelled as pastel paper.

Hard pastels do not require as toothy a paper. They will take very easily to common brands or series of papers like:

· Mi-Teintes (Canson)

· Ingres (Canson, Fabriano, Hahnemühle)

· Old Master (Saint-Armand)

Soft pastels can also be used on these papers, but it will be necessary to use a fixative on the drawing in between the layers of pastel.

Other papers that hold soft pastel well are printmaking papers:

· Somerset

· Rives

Specialty Papers

There are many specialty paper products for pastel with a surface treatment that augments the tooth of the paper. Recently I have used Art Spectrum Colourfix and I enjoyed it. It is a finely textured surface that holds the pastel but also lets you move it around easily.

There are more highly textured paper products on the market. These I don’t enjoy. They eat the pastels and I can’t move the material as I like to; however, they do deliver a very opaque painterly effect if that is what one is after.

Paper Colour

Drawing and pastel papers are available in a range of colours which are wonderful to use. If you are new to pastel, consider starting with more neutral colours: grey, blue-grey, warm-grey.

How much paper do I need?

Paper is sold in pads or by the sheet. A pad is very convenient and often has more than one paper colour in it, making it possible to try different colour combinations. A 12” x 16” size pad is a nice size.

Buying by the sheet allows one to experiment with different brands. 4-5 sheets for the course should be plenty. 

Other Materials

· Workable Fixative: SpectraFix Degas Fixative. Non-toxic so can be applied indoors. (Other fixatives are toxic and will need to be applied outdoors and left to off-gas for 30 mins.)

· Kneadable eraser

· Willow charcoal

· Stubs (newspaper rolled into pencil shapes)

· Clips for holding paper to the board

· Cheap paper (newsprint, manila for any preparatory work)

A foundational drawing class as well as an opportunity for students to develop portfolio materials.

A comprehensive introduction to figure drawing that addresses form, movement, proportion, introductory anatomy and key drawing skills.

It takes time to develop in figure drawing!  This class is the first in a three-part series of evening classes offered at HSS throughout the 2025/26 academic year, devoted to growing a strong drawing and figure drawing foundation.   Subsequent parts will give focus to other areas of the discipline, including, portrait, composition, costume poses, long poses and further study of anatomy.  Students can chose to take any or all of the three parts.  

The evening series of classes is based on the instructor's extensive experience teaching at the post-secondary level.  Students who complete all parts will receive 75 hrs of instructional time, roughly equivalent full-year college of university course.

For students looking to develop a strong foundation in figure drawing.

For individuals preparing post-secondary entrance portfolios.

For adult learners of all levels, from absolute beginners to experienced artists seeking to refresh their practice.

For everyone who enjoys drawing and the human subject!

• black conte or willow charcoal
• kneadable eraser
• 18” x 24” pad of manila or newsprint paper

Create, develop, experiment. 

Be part of a drawing community and develop your artistic direction with uninstructed time in the studio with the live model.

Figure Drawing Studio in Fall 2025 will focus on long poses--all poses will be between 2-4 sessions in length--and is suitable for drawing, painting and sketching the same pose from multiple views. 

8-session option: $190. Drop in to any 8 or the 14 sessions.

10-session option: $230. Drop-in for any 10 of the 14 sessions.

14-session option: $320.  All sessions!

Drop-in $25/session.

Poses will be set by Hamilton Studio School. 

Requests and suggestions are welcome; direct these to Hamilton Studio School.

Your choice!