Our first Member Show kicks off

What: First Coast Pastel Society Member Show

Where: Reddi Arts, Jacksonville, FL

When: May 4 - June 28

After three straight days of rain we finally had a good turn of weather, and it was a delightful afternoon for the opening reception of our very first Member Show. It took a lot of work to put this show together. Thanks go to Lyn Asselta, our President, for having the vision for this society, Richard Lundgren, the Show chair, who worked so hard to organize the show, Carron Wedlund, who did such a great job in acquiring wonderful donations to give as prizes, Betsey Hogan for organizing the goodies, all the people who brought goodies - and all the artists who entered the show, and all the guests who showed up yesterday to enjoy the show!

With the turn of the weather even folks who had been stuck by the rains were finally able to get out and about and enjoy the show. Guests came from far and wide. Even Elaine, our member from Miami, came up for the show!

After mixing, mingling, eating, and admiring the show we all came to the most exciting part of the afternoon, the presenting of the prizes awarded by our great judge, Andy Kenyon. We had four Merit Awards of Excellence, and First, Second and Third place awards. The Merit awards went to (in alphabetical order):

Jimmy Blackwell, for his painting "Unused, Needs Fix-Up".

Richard Lundgren, for his painting "Solo Sax".

Rick Petersen, for his painting "Morning Shadows". 

Jackie Piontek (who was unable to be with us) for her painting "Marsh - Fort Mose". 

And then, for the three top prizes we had:

Third Place to Carron Wedlund, for her painting "Morning Calm at Beaver Pond".

Second Place to Lyn Asselta for her painting "Straight up the Middle". 

And our top prize, First Place, was awarded to Janet Christenson (who also could not attend, alas) 

for her painting "Koi Pond". 

Huge congratulations to all our award winners, and we hope they can make great use of the fabulous prizes they won. Stay tuned to this space and we'll soon show you all the artwork entered into the show. When you see the whole body of work you'll see why judge Andy Kenyon had a hard time picking the winners!