Explore Painting Classes at Art in the Wilderness

Discover and develop your creativity with the celebrated Hamilton plein air & studio artist, Cheryl-Ann Hills.

What We Offer

The classes and workshops provided by Art in the Wilderness focus on fun, creative exploration in a safe non-judgmental environment. Art classes are available both indoors and outdoors. Classes sizes are small to ensure students receive maximum time with your instructor. These are not “paint-nite” styled classes. These are workshops and classes for students wishing to explore their creativity with joy and curiousity. Students are 18+.

Private small group and/or individual lessons are available upon request.

Why I Teach Art

I believe making art is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. When we create something we access a part of our brain that provides us with those feel good chemicals. Creating art strengthens our critical thinking skills and stretches our observational skills.

I know when I go too long without creating something I begin to crave creative activity. So I teach art because I want to help others find the same joy and wonder I feel when I am creating.

An artist painting landscape scenes of the outdoors, featuring water, trees, and sky, on canvases placed on small easels in an indoor studio.

What You'll Experience

At Art in the Wilderness, art classes and workshops are designed to ensure you will not only thoroughly enjoy your creative time but also learn new skills that in turn will increase your creative confidence.

In every class you will be encouraged to explore new ideas, try new techniques and take creative risks.
Small class sizes ensure that you have maximum one-to-one instruction.
Students leave my classes relaxed, inspired and feeling joyful.

A woman with long dark hair smiling and looking down, holding a colorful landscape painting of trees and a river.

Who Are These Art Classes & Workshops For?

I welcome both beginners and experienced artists into my classes. Art is one of those activities that invites you to constantly learn and exploring new ideas. I provide a supportive, non-judgmental space focused on exploration NOT perfection in every class.

A woman painting with a brush on a canvas features a colorful abstract shape with green, purple, and blue shades, in an art studio with paintings on the wall.

Where Are the Classes and Workshops?

My home studio on the West Mountain neighbourhood of Hamilton is bright, cozy and welcoming. You can expect I'll have some homemade snacks and tea available during our class breaks.
My plein air studio is outdoors at various Hamilton Conservation Authority locations. I have partnered once again with HCA to provide you with amazing urban forest and escarpment views. And new partnerships coming soon! Subscribe to the newsletter for upcoming classes and locations.

View Current Art Classes & Workshops

About Your Instructor

Cheryl has provided instruction during classes at Homer Watson House & Gallery, Oakville Art Society, Handmade House Dundas and her own home studio since 2017. She loves to see that "wow" moment as each student learns something new and gains greater confidence.

Cheryl was elected to the Ontario Society of Artists and the Colour and Form Society in 2022.

She continues to expand her skills and explore new materials, processes and methods in her own artwork which provides her with hands-on experience to share with her students.

Person painting a landscape of mountains and water on a canvas outdoors, wearing a black jacket, red cap, and black gloves, with natural trees in the background.

The Happy Students of Cheryl-Ann Hills

"I think that one's art is a growth inside one. I do not think one can explain growth. It is silent and subtle. One does not keep digging up a plant to see how it grows."

Emily Carr