Spring Classes: Details

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.

 Bring colour to your drawing compositions!

Pastel is a standout way to learn about colour and colour relationships. It is also a perfect medium to explore the effects of light in space. 

Still life and interiors will be the subject focus. Beginners & All Levels 

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.

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)

Fluid and thoughtful, watercolour is a beautiful, surprising art medium.

A class that will introduce materials, core watercolour techniques, brush handling, colour theory and composition.

The class will focus on a series of watercolour exercises as well as developing still life compositions in watercolour.

Class demonstrations and individual instruction.

Beginners to watercolour.

Those looking for a refresher to the medium.

See Materials List in the menu.

Develop portrait and costumed figure compositions with attention to value and colour. 

A class for drawing in black & white and/or colour pastel. The painting medium of focus is oil paint. For participants who chose to paint, this class will provide an introduction to working with oil.

This class is the third in a three-part series of evening classes offered at HSS throughout the 2025/26 academic year, devoted to growing a strong drawing and figurative arts foundation.  Students can choose 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.  

A class for beginners and all levels.

Previous drawing experience is recommended for students who choose to paint.

For drawing: 

• black conte or willow charcoal
• kneadable eraser
• 18” x 24” pad of manila or newsprint paper
• toned (grey) drawing paper such as Fabriano Tiziano
• white conte
• or, any preferred drawing materials

For Painting:

• Please see Material List in the menu for oil paint materials

Jewellery is small scale sculpture!

Compose, construct and finish an original pendant or asymmetrical earring set. 

Experience the process of creating jewellery from first ideas and compositional experiments to wax construction and the finishing of final silver cast pieces.

HSS is thrilled to have Clare Pearson share her knowledge, experience and love of art and design in our studio!  Pearson is the skilled craftsperson and creative vision behind cpmetal.

Beginners and all levels.

All materials and tools included in class cost.

Dundurn Castle Park is the sketching location with everything--historic buildings, sweeping parkland, water views, historic kitchen garden and nearby neighbourhood streets!

Attention to composing a view in drawing or paint media.

Group demonstrations and individual instruction.

Beginners and all levels.

Drawing materials of your choice.

For paint materials, please see Material Lists in the menu.

Equipment suggestions:

• portable chair or stool (a camp chair is great)
• small stool, box, or bench for supporting materials
• travel easel (optional)
• umbrella to attach to easel or chair (optional)