Cindy's demo session

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour)

March was a tough month for some members of the First Coast Pastel Society, and a number of us were laid low with bad colds and various illnesses. Fortunately there were enough healthy members to provide a warm and attentive audience for our presentation.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour) 

The presentation was by our own award-winning Cindy Pierson, who is an amazing portrait artist.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour) 

Our own Debbie Fox was chosen to be the model for the demonstration. Great job Debbie on having the patience to sit for this demo.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour)

(photo courtesy of Kay Deuben)

(photo courtesy of Pat Mahoney)

President Lyn Asselta was unable to be with us but sent these words to us all: 

I want to say a great big thank you to all of you who helped make our last meeting a great success even though so many of us were away or unable to attend! You guys are great!! Although I was able to sort of keep track of what was going on from afar, I knew everything was in good hands!

(photo courtesy of Cindy Pierson)

Cindy later shared with our group the finished portrait of Debbie. What a fantastic likeness, and what a beautiful portrait. 

A wonderful portrait demo - Bring an Artist friend to the meeting!

What: March general meeting

Where: the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach

When: Saturday, March 7, 10 AM to 12 noon

Most of you know our own Cindy Pierson, one of out faithful members and attendees. But are all of you familiar with her marvelous portrait work? If you attend our Saturday meeting you will be! Cindy had graciously agreed to be our demo artist for our upcoming meeting.

You may not also know that Cindy was recently accepted as an Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America based on her wonderful portraits. 

Many of you remember Casey Klahn from the workshop he did for us last year, and he's instantly recognizable about in the portrait Cindy did of him, with great color choices for the Man of Color also!

Cindy won an award for Best Pastel Portrait for "The Handyman" (above) at the recent Faces and Figures show at the St. Augustine Art Association.

Do you have any artist friends that work in pastel? That might be interested in pastel?  The March meeting could be a wonderful time to invite them to attend the meeting with you, and to help grow our society. We always welcome guests. When they seem the stunning sort of work our members can accomplish they may be inspired to join us, to take part in our plein airs, to take advantage of our workshops.

So come out and be inspired by Cindy, and bring a friend with you!

A Wonderful plein air day

Wow, what a day. When I was a girl I used to go to Bible Camp every summer. We had art lessons, and songs, and learned Bible verses. One that always stuck with me was from Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it" Even now, after 50 years have passed, this is the first thing that pops into my head when we have a day like the one we had on Saturday at Marineland.  It was a glorious day - with the sun shining, the wind blowing, the waves crashing on the beach, the birds flying overhead (including a bald eagle). It was the sort of day that truly makes me rejoice, and what fun it was to share that beauty with my fellow pastelists.

How amazing it was for us to have a rocky beach scene to paint - so unusual in Florida. It truly felt more like coastal New England, at least until you turned around to look at the palm trees.

The waves were rough and big enough to bring out surfers later in the morning, and we shared the boardwalk with whale watchers.

There were a number of picnic tables scattered at different spots along the length of the boardwalk. The tide was quite high when we arrived and for some of us the boardwalk itself seemed like a great place to paint from.

But of course the beach was glorious too and certainly had plenty of spots to set up on.

The wind was invigorating, but we also had to bundle up against it to stay warm while painting in one place.

It was not a bitter, biting wind however. Just the sort of wind to get your blood stirring and your heart and soul rejoicing.

Different groups found spots that appealed to them.

And we were spread out from one end of the beach to the other.

(photo by Cynthia Pierson) 

Even your faithful blogger got captured on film for this occasion, a rare event!

As is our custom we gathered for lunch at the end of a fine morning of painting.

We were pleased to have a couple new attendees with us - Carmen who is from Minnesota but visiting her daughter in St. Augustine Beach, and Corinne who recently joined us and came all the way from Savannah for this event! It was great to have you both with us.

We didn't have as much of a show-and-tell as we sometimes do, but here are a few images from the morning, including one watercolor!

Two of our members from up Amelia Island way felt it was too far to come all the way down to Marineland to join us, so they got together to have their own paint out at Fort Clinch. Sorry you could not be with us Linda and Janet, but what a great idea.

Don't forget that the deadline to enter our Spring juried show is fast approaching. See the entry form on the blog for details, but Feb. 16 is the deadline date for jpg submission.

Also February 14 is the deadline for getting in your deposit for the Ann Manry Kenyon workshop, before we open it up to non-members.

Then on March 7 we will be back at our meeting place in Ponte Vedra Beach. Our own Cindy Pierson, a wonderful portrait painter, will be doing a demo for us.

Ann Manry Kenyon workshop

FPCS members - here's your chance to get first dibs on a workshop with world-class portraitist Ann Manry Kenyon:

FCPS portrait/figure workshop with Ann Manry Kenyon

IMPORTANT Dates
February 14 Member sign up deadline. $100 deposit will hold your spot.
February 15 Workshop sign up open to non-members.
March 1 Final payment for workshop due.
May 9-10 Workshop, 9am-5pm, Ponte Vedra Cultural Center

Workshop Fees:
$200 FCPS members
$240 non-members
Lunch (optional) $10 per day
You may pay your fees on the blog (firstcoastpastelsociety.blogspot.com) or mail a check (email us for the address to mail the check)

FCPS Portrait workshop schedule
Saturday and Sunday, May 9-10, 9am-5pm

From Ann: I’d like to begin the first morning with quick poses of 3 or 4 minutes and gradually building to ten minutes and perhaps the last before the lunch break, 30 minutes. Then the afternoon can be one long pose (with model breaks, of course). The second day might consist of a partially clothed single pose throughout the day. Or we often play it by ear, so to speak, and even have one long morning pose and a different long afternoon pose. The participants will be free to choose to paint only the head and shoulders or the entire figure. I do not want to pressure them concerning their choice as I think the happier one is, the more one can relax and drink in information.

Workshop supply list
Newsprint pad
Charcoal sticks
Chamois cloth
Kneaded eraser
Long clips to hold your paper
At least 5 sheets of Moonstone color (you may bring other colors as well) Canson mi teintes paper or any brand sanded papers or boards. Ann will be using Canson paper for demos.
Light flesh tones graduating to darker earth tones, used in initial drawing.
Soft pastels - Any good set. The more colors, the better.

Lunch options
Lunch is available to workshop participants for $10 per day. There will be bread, lunch meat, cheese,
condiments, snacks, green salad, and fruit. We also provide bottled water and coffee. You must pay for lunch in advance. There is a paypal button on the blog site and the money is due at the same time as the final workshop payment or you can include the cost in your check mailed to Theri Dufour (email us for address)

About Ann Manry Kenyon

Ann Manry Kenyon is a nationally known portrait artist based in Jacksonville, FL. She has painted CEOs, academic faculty and private commissions. She had served as a juror many times, most recently at the Sumner Show for the Portrait of Society of Atlanta. She is faculty for the Portrait Society of America, a member of the Salmagundi Club of NY, Pastel Society of America and many other notable organizations. More info at www.annmanrykenyon.com.

Plein air Marineland

What: First 2015 plein air paint-out
Where: Marineland, FL
When: Feb. 7, 2015, 9 AM to 1 PM

This year we are starting out in the Southeast quadrant of our territory, with a plein air day at the public beach in Marineland, FL.  This is a easy place to reach, take state route 206 exit off I-95, head east, and once you cross over the Intracoastal Waterway bridge take a right onto A1A south, and it will be a few miles south on the ocean side, past Fort Matanzas and past the Marineland Aquarium.

There is a large public parking lot there and restroom facilities. Not too much shade though, so bring a hat, and hope that February weather will be pleasant here.

Marineland is a fascinating place because it has something very rare in our area, rocky beaches! Doesn't this photo look like it should have been taken along the coast of Maine rather than the coast of Florida?

However along this stretch of the coast the coquina rocks make an interesting change from the miles of flat sandy beaches we are used to seeing.

There are also several picnic tables on the boardwalk that fronts the beach, so we should be able to eat together, though may have to split into groups.

Contingency plan? If it does seem to be too hot without shade, or maybe too drizzly, we can always move another mile or so down the road to Washington Oaks State Park which we have already been to once before. It not only has the coquina beaches but also shade, trees, lovely formal gardens, and a picnic pavilion. Note, however, there is a fee for Washington Oaks.

Mother Nature has generally smiled on our efforts though, so let's all hope for good weather, and a great day of painting at Marineland!

Into our Fourth Year

It's hard to believe we are starting our fourth year now, but so it is, and we now have over 50 members! More than 20 attended our meeting this January. Our President, Lyn Asselta, gave a nice synopsis of all the things we have accomplished in the past three years.

You only need to review our blog to find details about our shows, workshops, meetings, guest speakers, and all sorts of other wonderful events that we held.

We started with refreshments of course, but had a crazy time running around trying to fine a working electrical outlet for our coffee pot! We all love our meetings, but many folks look forward to that morning coffee also.

After the meal we had the "Tools and Tips" portion of the meeting where each attendee had a change to describe a favorite tool, or a favorite tip that helped them in their work. More than one tool or tip created an "aha" moment for the other attendees, so it was well worth it.

Following this we had the "Trade" portion, where member brought in items they were no longer using that might be of interest to other artists. These were available for sale, or possibly trade, and some just given away for free.

Coming up will be our first plein air get-together for 2015 so, as usual, stay tuned here to the blog for details.

2015 - Third anniversary!

What:    FCPS General meeting
When:   January 3, 2015, 10 AM to 12 noon
Where:  The Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach

Wow, can you believe that we are headed into 2015 already? That means we will be celebrating the *third* anniversary of our group's official founding. Just think how far we have come in the past three years. We have hosted wonderful workshops, had great shows and wonderful plein air events. We have grown to over 50 in membership. I hope many of you will be able to be with us this coming Saturday as we ring in the new year together.

New years are always a time for new and fresh beginnings, and that includes artistically as well as personally. As we grow and change as artists we also change the ways we enjoy doing things. Somehow that item that seemed so perfect a few years ago now just seems to be gathering dust in our studios, but it may be just the item some other artist is looking for! Maybe over the years we have learned some things that help our art that we wish we had known about much earlier.

That's why our January meeting is called Tips, Tools and Trade.

Our wonderful President, Lyn Asselta, describes our meeting like this:

Each member attending the meeting is asked to bring along his/her favorite "pastel tip or pastel tool".  This can be anything from a painting tip to a particular tool that you just can't live without.  Even better if it involves something you've made or "repurposed" that you use in your studio or en plein air.  This portion of the meeting will be sort of like a show-and-tell...but you'll have between 3-5 minutes to share your tip or idea, so please keep that in mind.

You will also have an opportunity to bring along UP TO 5 ITEMS to trade, give away or sell.  If you have very large items (like easels), please leave them in your car and bring a photo of the item into the meeting.  We will be doing this toward the end of the meeting.

This is a great way to get off to a fresh start without any big financial outlay. Let's think of what we all want to share with our fellow pastelists to make 2015 our best year ever.