Dynamic Landscapes in Pastel with Bonnie Zahn Griffith

Sunday, September 20, 2026

9:00 AM–1:00 PM

Held during the Wallowa Valley Arts Festival

$65 per student
(All supplies included)

Learn to use soft pastels in creating a landscape painting with a focus on composition, value, and the use of pastels. Students will learn to do preliminary drawing and value study for composition and values and using an underpainting technique to create a landscape painting. Prepare to learn and have fun!

All supplies provided, including:

* Soft pastels
* Reference photo
* Pastel paper
* Tabletop easel
* Art board
* Sketch materials
* Brushes, tape, paper towels
* Gloves and apron (as needed)

Adults – Advance registration required. Minimum: 6 students. Space is limited to 16 students.

Bonnie Zahn Griffith – Artist in Pastel and Oils
Bonnie paints the western landscape using the rich pigments of pastels and oils to create paintings that have the brilliance and bold color characteristic of these mediums. Working in a representational yet impressionistic approach, she tells a story with her paintings; one that will resonate with the viewer from their own viewpoint.

“I am drawn to these mediums because they allow my best representation of the landscape with the brilliant pigments creating texture, light and mood in my paintings. My goal is to create works that draws the viewer in; allowing them to use their senses to experience the time of day, the warmth or coolness, the message of the painting – for themselves, to merely “get lost”

Bonnie grew up in north central Montana . Early on she experienced the rugged country, the big skies, the vegetation of this landscape mostly from the back of a horse. Memorable childhood vacations included trips to Glacier Park to enjoy the sharp contrasts of the landscape from central Montana. Her parents were ranchers; her mother a talented visual artist; her father a musician. Art appreciation came early and studying the effects of light on the landscape and the colors were imprinted deep. She declared at an early age that she was an artist and that carried through along with a career in the medicine until she began painting full time in 2005.

Bonnie is a signature member of the Northwest Pastel Society and Pastel Society of the West Coast. She has studied with notable instructors Scott Christensen, Ned Mueller, Lorenzo Chavez and others. She teaches workshop, competes in numerous plein air painting events in the west. Workshops are offered both in studio and on locations throughout the west.