WINTER 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.

Drawing is the art underling all other forms of visual expression.

This is a foundational drawing class for everyone— the absolute beginner, the experienced painter, and everyone in between.

The course works through a series of drawing exercises that address observation, technique, and key elements of composition: shape, placement, form, space, line, value, perspective, movement, and pictorial focus.

This course is closely modelled on the Drawing & Composition class I took many times as a student. It was the course that gave me the confidence to go out and draw just about anything!

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

Nothing beats oil!

Sumptuous, versatile, flexible, it's the art material you have been looking for. 

This class can be used as a beginners' introduction to oil paint, as well as a studio workshop space with individual coaching for all level learning.

For beginners, 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. 

For all level learners, this class will show a range of historical and contemporary oil paint approaches and provide individual support and feedback.

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.***

A foundational drawing class as well as an opportunity for students to develop portfolio materials, the portrait is a key component in any artwork of the human form.

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

Portrait is also a wonderful way to consider personality and psychology in art!

This class is the second 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.  

For students looking to develop a strong foundation in portrait 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
• toned (grey) drawing paper such as Fabriano Tiziano
• white conte

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 Winter & Spring  2026 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!