*IMPORTANT* - March meeting and member show

What: First Coast Pastel Society meeting
When: Saturday, March 1, 10 AM to 12 noon
Where: Cultural Center of Ponte Vedra Beach

If anyone plans to participate in our upcoming juried member show in May please read on carefully. Requirements are different  from previous shows.

Entries submitted for the spring member show will be juried and accepted into the show based strictly on JPG images submitted on CD. If you are not comfortable with this process then read on, the March meeting may be just what you need:

The program for our March 1 meeting at the Cultural Center of Ponte Vedra will feature Pablo Rivera (photographer) and Susan Picket (graphic artist). They will demonstrate photographing paintings for entering shows or website display.  Pablo will begin by discuss his approach to photographing art. He will then photograph one of our member's paintings. Susan will then use the memory card, with these photos, to demonstrate how she prepares photos for entering competitions, websites or other uses. During this time Pablo will continue to photograph member's work. This is a great opportunity to have some of your work photographed by a professional photographer and artist. You are encouraged to bring up to 3 (unframed paintings) to be photographed.  

This year, we will jury paintings for our Juried Members Show from photos submitted on CD. As our membership grows and we have more members outside our immediate area, it becomes necessary to have paintings juried by photos on a CD similar to what other pastel societies do. The March 1, meeting at the Cultural Center of Ponte Vedra, will give you an opportunity to learn to do this yourself and if you like to have up to 3 of your paintings photographed for our Juried Members Show.

So get busy painting and work ready to be photographed at our March 1 meeting. To have work photographed, members need to sign up, in advance, so we have an idea of how much time to allow. You can sign up by emailing Lyn Asselta to say you are interested. Once we know how many are interested in getting photographs of their work, we can better plan the time needed for Pablo and Susan. There will be no charge to members to have their paintings photographed, however, we may have to charge a small fee for the CD disk and mailing. Below is a copy of the prospectus for our Juried Show at the Cultural Center. In addition, this show will continue at the Larimer Arts Center in Palatka. Read all about it in the Prospectus.

The prospectus is available online here at our blog. :Look to the right under "FCPS Website" just below the PayPal link. You can bring it from here if you choose.

Ravine Gardens

For two years the First Coast Pastel Society has been lucky on our scheduled paint-out days. But today the weather odds caught up with us. Although temperatures had warmed up some since earlier in the week it was still raw and cool and rainy today.

Which left us all wondering about the best place to set up and paint, as we took shelter under a picnic pavilion.

Some of us did stroll around the grounds, and took photos for possible reference images.

In the end most of us decided to set up in the picnic pavilion where we had a sturdy roof, and were able to look out over the misty landscape.

And despite the weather we had twelve hardy souls who showed up to paint with us today.

And the pavilion was large enough to give us multiple different vantage points for our paintings.

As one participant said, "At least we don't have to worry about constantly shifting light and shadows." :-)

Because of the weather there were few other folks in the park, and we were able to spread out and take over whole picnic tables for ourselves.

Or one could stand right at the very edge of the covered roof to get a more detailed look at the outdoor views.

And here are a few quick looks at some of the works done, in varying stages of completion.

The gray day didn't prevent us, as artists, from using a richer color palette.

But even the subdued hues of the day could make amazing art.

Man-made objects could add a splash of colors also.

As could some of the lush greens.

Sadly the azaleas had not bloomed very much, so we didn't see the park in all its glory. But it was still a great visit. And two of our members even ventured further into the park to take shelter under a gazebo and paint from there.

Next month we meet in Ponte Vedra on March 1. This will be an amazing meeting so stay tuned here for details about the meeting, and important information about our upcoming juried member show whose entries are due April 1.

One important thing to keep in mind: Our spring member show will be juried via JPG IMAGES ON CD. Stay tuned.