Medium: Students will be working in hard and soft pastels with wet underpainting. Photo references and a still life will be provided.
Materials: Students should refer to the class materials list tab.
Registration: Each student needs to enroll individually.
Location: Sedona Arts Center, Theatre Studio in the Art Barn.
This class will jumpstart pastel beginners with a toolbox full of tips and tricks for better pastel paintings. There will be pastel demonstrations, fun warm-up exercises, and plenty of at-easel encouragement in Pastels Plus. You will experiment with different underpainting techniques, explore mark-making and layering with hard and soft pastels and try out a range of pastel surfaces. With an emphasis on achieving correct values, colors, and shapes you will create an expressive raven portrait and leave the workshop with skills to continue your own pastel journey. No drawing skills necessary – just a love of color and sense of adventure!
Please bring your lunch and a sense of adventure.
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Nori Thorne
A transplant to Sedona, Nori Thorne now claims the desert Southwest as her home. She is a graduate in Studio Art from University of Pittsburgh and spent a semester at Habib Bourguiba University in Tunisia “painting in the souk and skipping French class.” Nori taught art and art history in Montgomery County, Maryland, Public Schools where she was the recipient of numerous grants from the Arts and Humanities Council, National Art Education Foundation, and the Fulbright/Hayes Scholarship. An award-winning pastelist, Nori received first place recognition in Tucson Pastel Society’s Juried Exhibition at the Amerind Museum. Other events include inclusion in Pastel Society of America’s Enduring Brilliance 2021, 2022 41st National Western Spirit Exhibition, 2024 99 Voices in Pastel, and 2023 and 2024 Ironwood Gallery Exhibit, Power of Pastels. “Little Red” was juried into the Women Artists of the West’s 54th National Exhibition at the Phippen Museum in 2024. She was a featured artist in Art of the West’s July/August 2023 issue. Currently she is working on a series of paintings inspired by ancient ruins and pictographs found in the red rock canyons near Sedona.
Nori is Signature Member, Emerita of the Women Artists of the West, Pastel Society of the West Coast, President of the Arizona Pastel Artists Association and is a juried member of the Pastel Society of America. She is represented by Sedona Arts Center Gallery.
Materials List – students should bring the following with them:
Small sketchbook (used for notes and thumbnail sketches)
Nupastels hard pastels. Set of 24 ($28.00) on Amazon
Medium and soft pastels. If you don’t have any, you could purchase one of Unison’s 8-piece mini sets at Dakota Art Pastels ($18.00)
We will work on 9 x 12 panels. You can purchase white 9 x 12 Ampersand Pastelbord ($12.00) on Amazon.
Paper towels
Please note: A selection of hard and soft pastels will be available for you to experiment with and there will be a limited number of pastel panels you can purchase. You will be experimenting on a variety of pastel surfaces provided by the instructor and will save your Pastelbord panel for your raven painting.
Students may register online or call Sedona Arts Center Office at 928-282-3809, Ext 1 or toll free at 866-282-3809 Ext 1.
Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express are accepted or student may pay with cash or check by registering in person during office hours Monday – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm.
In-Person and Online Classes Cancellation
Payment in full is due upon registration, or a payment plan can be put in place by the student upon check-out through Sezzle.
There is a $125 Cancellation Fee for any cancellations made before March 23, 2026. Remaining balance will be refunded.
There are no refunds after March 23, 2026.
If Sedona Arts Center cancels the workshop for any reason, all payments made will be refunded in full.
Note: If traveling to Sedona, we strongly urge students to purchase refundable airline tickets or travel insurance in case of workshop cancellation due to insufficient enrollment or other unforeseen changes. Sedona Arts Center is not responsible for non-refundable ticket purchases or lodging fees.
Important Message
Sedona Arts Center is not responsible for providing make-up sessions or issuing refunds, credits, or transfers for courses missed as a result of illness, emergencies, or other events beyond our control. There are absolutely no refunds after the cut-off date for any reason, unless Sedona Arts Center has to cancel the workshop, then all fees paid will be refunded in full.
