This class offers a hands-on exploration into sustainable, textured mixed media painting. Students will paint their own background, then learn to source and prepare household materials, such as coffee grounds, salt, baking soda, dried botanicals, into a sculptable paste. Instruction focuses on composition, texture-building, and the distressing/aging techniques that give each piece its rich, weathered character. Students will develop their own visual language while working across a range of project styles, from simple gestural pieces to a multi-form signature composition. This class is ideal for beginners and intermediate students.

Time: Thursdays, 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Instructor: Najia Hashmi 
Location: FVAC Annex 8C at 8 Canal Court, Unit C, Avon, CT 06001, across from FVAC campus
Level: Beginners and Intermediates
Materials: View materials list here
Become a Member: FVAC Members save 10% on tuition.
Cancellation Policy

Winter Session (8 weeks)
Dates: Thursdays, Jan 14 - Mar 4, 2027
Tuition: $290

About the Instructor

Najia's art is a result of nearly a decade of painting and a deep pull toward sustainability and reinvention. Over the past five years, that pull led her to develop a signature technique: transforming everyday, discarded materials, such as used coffee grounds, salt, baking soda, crushed leaves, dried botanicals, into a richly textured paste applied over hand-painted backgrounds, then hand-distressed and aged over time. Her work sits between the deliberate and the organic, letting reclaimed materials dictate as much of the final surface as her own hand does. Najia also works in pottery and hand-built ceramics, trained at Chastain Arts Center in Atlanta, and previously founded and ran an all-ages community art studio for five years, offering guided painting experiences to students of every background. Her paintings have been shown in local exhibitions and featured in retail spaces around Atlanta. She believes accessible materials can hold the same depth and intention as any traditional medium, and she brings that belief into every class she teaches.

- Instructor Email: hashmi.najia@gmail.com
- Instructor Phone: (860) 964-0622

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