Kicking off the new year

Wow, can you believe that it's almost 2013? It was a year ago January that the First Coast Pastel Society began, and by the end of the year we were well on our way to 40 members and had become a member of IAPS. We had fun meetings and a painting exchange and great plein air paint-outs. In the upcoming year we will have at least two workshops that we are hosting, and will also hold our first member show.

But in the meantime we will kick off our new year with our January 2013 meeting. Once again we will hold our meeting at Reddi-Arts, whose gallery will host our first member show. The meeting will be held on Saturday, January 5, 10 AM to 12 noon.

Our topic is "group critique and what judges are looking for". Please bring two paintings to the meeting. They can be finished paintings or ones that are in-progress. We look forward to seeing everyone!

Holiday Greetings from

The First Coast Pastel Society 

As our first year comes to a close we are reminded that we've accomplished much and made many new friends in 2012. We are grateful for your enthusiasm, and your commitment to our group and to the pastel medium. Our calendar next year is filling up quickly with plans for our first Members' Exhibit and our first workshops. We hope you'll join us for all the excitement 2013 will bring! Our very best wishes to you and your families for a joyful holiday season and a very happy and healthy new year. 

Sincerely,

Lyn Asselta, President

Richard Lundgren, Vice-President

Debbie Cusick, Secretary

Rick and Patty Petersen, Co-Treasurers

(note that this also went out to all our members as an email, but there are a few we don't have valid email addresses for. If you are a member seeing this, and you didn't get an email from us, please contact us with your correct email address)

Happy Holidays to All

Today was our last meeting of the year, and we had a lovely holiday breakfast together at the St. Augustine Art Association. Many thanks to our President, Lyn Asselta, for providing the lovely feast. We had quiche and biscuits and coffee cake and cantaloupe and fresh hot coffee!

And just being together for a holiday meal was a lovely start to the day. It was great getting together with other pastelists.

And being able to chat with folks we don't see that often and catch up on news and happenings.

Normally this would have been a plein air day, but we decided to hold it indoors and set up still lifes for all of us to work on today. This turned out to be a good idea when a rain squall came through about halfway through the morning.

Because of the holidays the theme of the still lifes was Christmas ornaments, with various ornaments set up in different directions so that we all had something to work on no matter which way we were facing the setup.

Following are looks at the work people started during the morning. Because of the time allotment most of these are clearly still works in progress. But we all had fun being together and look forward to all the events that will be happening in the new year.