Scottsdale Artists' School

09/14/2026

🎨 Watercolor Unleashed! Paint a Mountain Stream with Julie Gilbert Pollard

Ever wanted to paint water that actually looks wet, reflective, and splashy? Join Julie Gilbert Pollard for a 6-week online workshop where a stunning waterfall, river, or creek becomes your model - capturing water as it cascades, splashes, and moves over a rocky stream bed.

This live Zoom class covers:
🎯 The basic “anatomy” of a water cascade — waterfall, creek, and more
🎯 Painting rocks that look solid and hard
🎯 Keeping the watercolor process manageable
🎯 Watercolor methods and techniques suited to this subject
🎯 A minimal introduction to gouache and liquid matte acrylic white to expand your watercolor possibilities
🎯 Using reference photos as inspiration (not absolute fact) to maintain a plein air feel — a reference photo will be provided, or use your own, or both!
🎯 Negative painting techniques
🎯 Creative color use — color mixing, painting with green, and “using color as value”
Julie also shares PDF documents and illustrated articles she’s written on these topics throughout the course. Expect demos, instruction for all levels, critique, and plenty of painting time — structured, yet open enough for your own artistic spirit to shine. All levels are welcome; the only real prerequisite is a joy for painting!

📅 November 10 – December 15, 2026 (6 Tuesdays: Nov 10, 17, 24, Dec 1, 8, 15)
🕐 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Arizona Time (MST)
💻 Online via Zoom | Real-time class | Recording available for 2 months
📊 Level: All Levels
💰 Tuition: $315
🖌️ Medium: Watercolor

Register now: https://www.scottsdaleartschool.org/events/23-watercolor-unleashed-paint-a-mountain-stream-julie-gilbert-pollard-online-watercolor/

Online on Zoom | 6 Tuesdays| Nov 10, 17, 24, Dec 1, 8, 15 2026 | 1pm-4pm Arizona Time (*always on Mountain Standard Time) | Real time class | Recording available for 2 months Learn to paint water that looks wet, reflective, and splashy! With a stunning waterfall, river or...

09/14/2026

The Traveler’s Creative Sketchbook with Jane Barton

Ready to travel again? Make it the best trip ever by using art to enhance the experience! Creating a travel sketchbook opens up exploration and connection, helping travelers return home with less stress and more fresh ideas to incorporate into their work. This one-day class includes drawing, painting, and writing — no airport hassle or lost luggage required to learn Jane’s favorite travel sketchbook techniques!

After twenty-five years as a nationally recognized graphic designer, illustrator, and portrait artist, Jane Barton’s paintings pay tribute to the best designer of them all — Nature — with images of vast landscapes, colorful figures, and intimate still lifes. Originally from Chicago, where she studied at the American Academy of Art, Jane holds a B.A. from Boston University and an M.A. from Syracuse University. She is the recipient of many national design awards, and her work can be found in corporate and private collections. An avid world traveler, she never leaves home without her sketchbook!

📅 October 24, 2026 (one day)
🕘 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Saturday
📊 Level: All Levels
💰 Tuition: $110

Supply list available on the class registration page. Spots are limited — register today!

Learn more about Jane: www.janebartonstudio.com
Register now: https://reg129.imperisoft.com/SAS/ProgramDetail/3631363836/Registration.aspx

09/11/2026

Keys to Building Drama and Design in the Studio with John Lintott
Learn the process John Lintott uses to create studio landscape paintings with an emphasis on drama and design! In this 4-day workshop, you’ll pick up techniques to plan a successful painting through a flexible process that will add real value to your painting toolkit.

John will give lectures and multiple demos explaining how he plans for a successful studio painting. Students will have time to work on a 16” x 20” planned studio painting, culminating in a constructive group critique at the end of the workshop. Bring your photos, plein air studies, studio studies, and a sketchbook along with your paints — John will also bring supplemental photos to paint from if needed.

📅 November 9 – 12, 2026
🕘 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Mon–Thurs
📊 Level: All Levels
💰 Tuition: $600

Learn more about John: www.johnlintott.com
Register now: https://reg129.imperisoft.com/SAS/ProgramDetail/3631323739/Registration.aspx

09/10/2026

It’s that back-to-school time of year again…
And we’re excited for all of it.

09/10/2026

50 Shades of Pastel Greys with Ellen Wagener
Ever wished you could make a painting that looks like a photograph? In this one-day micro-class, learn to create luminous black, white, and grey pastel paintings that evoke vintage photography. Using simple techniques, you’ll create two small “photo-inspired” vintage pastel landscape paintings — seizing your own “50 shades of pastel greys” along the way!

This class will cover:
🎯 Everything you need to know about soft dry pastels
🎯 Blending pastels effectively and quickly
🎯 Using black to create contrast and depth
🎯 Layering pastels for glowing effects with soft whites
🎯 Mark-making and repetitive patterns as a pastel painting approach

Focus will be on landscape painting.

Ellen Wagener has developed a deep connection to certain places over the years, revisiting sites to observe changing crops, weather, and seasons, absorbing a location’s characteristics and recreating it anew on paper. Her landscapes draw on the great tradition of landscape painting — from the Hudson River School and American Luminism to the French Barbizon School, Impressionism, and 20th-century Iowa artists like Grant Wood and Marvin Cone — while also showing the influence of Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Po***ck and Franz Kline in her gestural mark-making. Her tour-de-force painting F5 Tornado (2003) is part of the permanent collection at the Figge Art Museum. Contrast is central to her work, balancing tactile, grounded renderings of fields and trees against ethereal, elusive skies.

📅 October 21, 2026 (one day)
🕘 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Wednesday
📊 Level: All Levels
💰 Tuition: $110
🖌️ Medium: Soft Pastel

Supply list available on the class registration page. Spots are limited — register today!

Register now: https://reg129.imperisoft.com/SAS/ProgramDetail/3631363835/Registration.aspx

09/09/2026

The Artful Still Life with Nancy Chaboun

Explore the art of still life painting through carefully arranged subjects and thoughtful observation! In this 3-day workshop, Nancy Chaboun will guide students in developing strong compositions while exploring color, light, texture, pattern, and the relationships between objects.

Through demonstrations, discussion, and individual instruction, students will learn to translate everyday forms into paintings with warmth, personality, and visual harmony.

A native Arizonan, Nancy Chaboun lives and works in North Scottsdale. She was introduced to art at an early age by her father, who studied for years with George Bridgman at the Art Students League. Nancy studied art at Arizona State University and the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. At 21, she married her husband Hilal and began a 15-year career in women’s high fashion, buying from top European and American designer s and handling visual merchandising and advertising for four stores - experience that helped shape the sense of taste and elegance she brings to the canvas. Since 1991, she has painted full time. Nancy also teaches classes and workshops at Scottsdale Artists’ School as well as various locations across the U.S., France, and Canada, and is honored to welcome many returning students year after year. In her own work, she’s always striving to learn, see, and express more deeply through her art.

📅 November 9 – 11, 2026
🕘 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Mon–Wed
📊 Level: All Levels
💰 Tuition: $450

Learn more about Nancy: nancychabounfineart.com

Register now: https://reg129.imperisoft.com/SAS/ProgramDetail/3631343831/Registration.aspx

09/08/2026

Crash Course in Oil Painting with Brighton Demerest-Smith

New to oil painting? Start from square one! In this hands-on crash course, Brighton Demerest-Smith (MFA) will take students through everything they need to know to get started with oil paint — covering surfaces, supports, canvas, types of paint, underpainting, overpainting, palette setup, studio setup, and different limited and extended palettes for various subject matters.

This straightforward, practical class gives you all the knowledge you need to dive into oil painting confidently — no headaches, no muddy color!

Brighton Smith was born and raised in Southern California, beginning his artistic training at an early age at the Orange County School of the Arts before studying Studio Art and Art History at Pepperdine University, where he studied under the late Art Historian Michael Zakian, one of the greatest academic voices for contemporary realism. He is currently pursuing his MFA through the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and has taught traditional academic and observational drawing and painting for more than a decade. Brighton is an Out of State Artist Member of the California Art Club, and in Summer 2022 filmed a 10-part video series on traditional approaches to drawing education through Classical U and Classical Academic Press. He has more than a decade of gallery experience, mounting 10 solo exhibitions and more than two dozen group exhibitions. His work is held in the museum collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, as well as private collections in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Chicago, London, and Berlin.

📅 October 17 – 24, 2026
🕘 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Saturdays
📊 Level: Beginner
💰 Tuition: $220

Supply list available on the class registration page. Spots are limited — register today!

Learn more about Brighton: www.brightonsmithfineart.com
Register now: https://reg129.imperisoft.com/SAS/ProgramDetail/3631363834/Registration.aspx

09/07/2026

Before color, there’s light.

Value. Contrast. Composition. The fundamentals every artist learns first.

That’s the idea behind Beaux Arts 2026: A Black & White Gala. Nov 5–7. Online auction + gala honoring Signature Artist Dale Terbush.

🔗 Link in bio for more information

09/07/2026

The Portrait in Relief with Eugene Daub

Capture likeness and spirit in a fresh, unlabored way with this invaluable 4-day sculptural portraiture workshop! Eugene will demonstrate how to use every stage of the process to enhance the final portrait, guiding students through creating a plaster mold that offers the opportunity to refine and enhance the piece.

From this mold, several options are possible, including a fired ceramic clay cast or a plaster cast. Eugene will also demonstrate the process of adding names or wording to the relief — a rare opportunity to learn this remarkable art form from one of the pioneers and leaders in the field!

Eugene Daub studied at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Alfred University in New York. He won the Arthur Ross Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America, and has received awards in figurative and bas-relief sculpture from the American Numismatic Society and the American Numismatic Association. His work is held in institutions including the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

📅 November 9 – 12, 2026
🕘 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Mon–Thurs
📊 Level: All Levels
💰 Tuition: $650 | Model Fee: $65

Learn more about Eugene: eugenedaub.com
Register now: https://reg129.imperisoft.com/SAS/ProgramDetail/3631343832/Registration.aspx