First Coast Pastel Society: May 2018

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Season Finale and Swap Meet

What: End of season meeting
When: Saturday, June 2, 10:00 AM to noon
Where: Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach

It's June and summertime is here. As we finish our season this Saturday here are some words from our President about what we'll be doing:

Hello Fellow Pastelists,

We’re heading into the last meeting of the season on June 2. There are a few things happening that day besides the business meeting:

- Pick up your paintings from our Members Show.

- Some have chosen to leave their paintings for the Cultural Center to display them at Vicars Landing until September. (See the group email for your names).

- Swap Meet/Garage Sale of art supplies and materials for any medium. We’ll have tables set up for your wares. Please have your items clearly priced with your name.

- A demo by Richard Lundgren about framing pastels without a mat.

I look forward to seeing everyone there! Then it's time for summer vacation, and I hope we have a great time, and look forward to seeing one another again in the fall.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Mayo plein air

May 5th was our scheduled plein air at the Mayo Clinic. Originally this was supposed to be a Big Deal - with Mayo hosting a show for us in their excellent gallery but, sadly, those plans all fell through and is became just a "regular" plein air date.

However, with various scheduling conflicts and things, we only had a small turnout - with four stalwart FCPS members showing up to paint. They did have a nice day for it though.

Rick Petersen

Rick Petersen: This plein air painting is a view of one of the ponds with an island at Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville. I wanted to capture the dappled sunlight and the sweep of shoreline on a quiet morning. Many of the details of the scene were edited or eliminated to emphasize the sense of motion in the curves of the shore and the grace of the tree.

Tish Hubbard

Tish Hubbard: It was so nice to be out painting today.

Thanks to all who participated to represent our group. This was our last plein air event before the summer break. In the fall we will start up again. If anyone had some suggestions for great plein air locations please let us know. Happy painting everyone.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Chris Ivers Workshop

After the great demo Chris Ivers did for us a number of us were privileged to take her workshop as well. The subject was nocturnes, and as you can see from some of these great paintings it was a subject everyone seemed to enjoy and do well with. For those of us who couldn't attend it made nocturnes look like a great topic! Here are some of the student paintings as well as comments about the workshop:

Lyn Asselta

Lyn Asselta: Chris Ivers’ Nightscape workshop gave us a taste of something new! Using photos that some of us collected after dark at the Vilano town center, the class worked on textured black panels that Chris made for the students and created vibrant nocturnes lit by street lights, neon and moonlight. Chris laid out an organized strategy for working with complicated scenes, and gave us all something exciting to think about!

Janelle Wagoner

Janelle Wagoner: I was fortunate to spend three days with outstanding pastelists in a workshop led by Chris Ivers who invited us to explore nocturnal subject matter. I learned so much and enjoyed great company as well. Thank you First Coast Pastel Society and Chris Ivers!

Paula Pascucci

Paula Pascucci: Christine is a knowledgable, generous and friendly instructor. She shared with us not only the topic of painting night scenes but also information about framing and supply vendors, pdf's regarding formatting the painting, printer/printing topics in addition to helpful design tidbits gained from her advertising career. Her critiques were encouraging yet informative. I would take her workshop again if offered.

Barbara Adams

Barbara Adams: Chris Ivers workshop was a great liberating challenge. I usually use bright bold colors and to move into darks pastels on a black surface well ...! It was fascinating to see the results when you play your darkest darks against each other and then pop in some light colors. WOW! If you ever get an opportunity to take a class or workshop with Chris Ivers do it.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Chris Ivers Demo

After our wonderful reception on Friday night we were also lucky to have Chris Ivers do a demo for us on the following Saturday morning, showing her beautiful nocturne painting style.

She started off showing how she sets up a grid to work from, and it was a simple and straightforward format that any of us would be able to follow.

And then showed how she worked her way around the painting.

It was wonderful seeing the city begin to light up as she stepped through the painting

In the time she had available there was no way to finish the painting, of course, but we were all impressed with her amazing start, and she said she would continue to work on it over the next few days during her workshop.

She had lots of great hints and tips on how to make the neon lights of the city light up. What a fun workshop it looks like it would be.

Friday, May 11, 2018

All the Rest

I'm so behind on my blog posts! Darn that's what happens when you are too sick to sit up. Let me try to catch up a bit and finally show off the rest of the amazing paintings in our show.