2016 Juried Show - All the Entries

Okay, here they are, all the entries for our 2016 juried show. It was great to see 49 entries in the show, with 27 participating artists. I'm always in awe of the talent we have in this group. It's an honor to be a participating member with you all. As I've said in the past these photos are not the best. It's hard to photograph framed pastels without glare and I have to try to sneak up at angles, etc. Again, a perfect reason to go to Ponte Vedra and see them all in person.

 Jane Alexander - Guana River State Park

Lyn Asselta -  Afternoon Light

Lyn Asselta - Wind at the Edge of Nowhere 

Janet Christenson - Sanderlings 

Debbie Cusick - Cindy's Pitcher 

Kay Deuben - Riding Ahead of the Herd 

 Wendy Deverieux - Grayton Morning

Wendy Deverieux - Sunset Reflected 

 Renee Fauré - A Dim Grey Loop of Light

Renee Fauré - Left to Wander 

Debra Fox -  Spring Renewal

 Linda Green - Blue Plate Special

 Arlene Saltzman Hanly - Watchful Palms

 Betsey Hogan - Marsh Glow

Letitia Hubbard -  Ojai Flowers

Sherri Lewis-Seals - First Flight 

Sherri Lewis-Seals -  The Greater Light

Richard Lundgren -  Wild Grape Vine

Richard Lundgren - Work in Progress 

 Patrick Mahoney - Castaway Light

Patrick Mahoney - Left Out 

 Eve Miller - Last Light

Eve Miller - Low Tide 

Eve Miller - Tranquility 

Rebecca Pasko - Into the Gloaming 

Rebecca Pasko - Morning Rush 

 Rebecca Pasko - Sunrise on Amelia

Rick Petersen - Alpine Plantation - Gray and Breezy 

 Rick Petersen - Beach Colors 2

Cynthia Pierson - Guinnevere's Dilemma 

Cynthia Pierson - Judy in the Sun with Glasses 

Cynthia Pierson - Max in Clover 

Jackie Piontek -  Passing Storm

Karen Rose -  

Karen Rose -  Solliloquy

Perry Russell - Fire Upon the Water 

Perry Russell - Intracoastal Palms 

Corinne Samuels - Chloe 

Corinne Samuels - Solo 

Corinne Samuels - Splash Landing

V. Christi Shatzel - Reflections 

V. Christi Shatzel -  Robbie Sunburned

V. Christi Shatzel - Roses on the Side 

Jessica Shippee - Beaded Blue 

Jessica Shippee - Sprawling Sentinel 

Janelle Wagoner -  Atlantic Evening

Carron Wedlund - Lake Ray Shimmer 

Carron Wedlund -  Marsh at Dusk

Carron Wedlund - Silent Sentinel

Juried Show Reception

Wow, between days of babysitting and a week of house guests it was impossible to find time to work on the blog, but today is sort of quiet now and I finally have some time! It's been over a week now since we had our wonderful reception at Ponte Vedra. Sorry it took so long to post this, but those who made it to the reception know already how excellent it was.

We nearly took over the entire Cultural Center with works not only in the back gallery but along the hallway walls and in a small room to the right as you came down the hallway. Our shows just seem to get better and better every year.

We had a large turnout of guests, and of course the food was wonderful too! Thanks to Christi and Becky for coordinating and setting up for the wonderful reception, and thanks to all the members who provided the food.

Young and old got to enjoy the refreshments, and to have fun studying all the artwork in order to cast two votes for their favorites for the "People's Choice" award. My two grandkids both "stuffed the ballot box" to cast votes for my painting. :-)

It was wonderful to have our amazing judge Karen Margulis on hand for the awards. It was fascinating to hear her talk about the things she looked for when selecting the award winners. She also said she wished she had more awards she could have handed out! We will have a couple other blog posts upcoming on her Saturday workshop, and on all the show participants, but before we get to to that: Here are our winners for the 2016 Juried Show:

People's Choice:

 Wendy Deverieux - "Grayton Morning"

Corinne Samuels - "Splash Landing"

Merit Awards: 

 Arlene Saltzman Hanly - "Watchful Palms" 

 Sherri Lewis-Seals - "First Flight" 

 Carron Wedlund - "Lake Ray Shimmer"

Richard Lundgren - "Wild Grape Vine"

Holbein Award of Merit:

Patrick Mahoney - "Castaway Light"

Third Place:

Renee Fauré - "A Dim Grey Loop of Light"

Second Place:

Corinne Samuels - "Solo"

First Place:

Lyn Asselta - "Afternoon Light"

Best in Show:

Cynthia Pierson - "Max in Clover" (also People's Choice Winner)

Our FCPS History

Can you believe we are nearly five years old now? We've done a lot in the last few years, and most of it is documented in our blog. That is our history, but it's nice to have our history in concrete form, which is why I've taken on another project of turning our blog into a series of concrete and physical books. With books I can intersperse posts from Facebook and to our mailing list, and get an even better running history,

I'm doing a book for each year, and have managed to complete 2012 and 2013 already. Some of the folks who were at the meeting Saturday got a chance to look at them as I had them there to donate to the library. If you didn't get to see them and are curious about them I also have PDF copies of them which you can view right here and here.

The books are also available for sale from blurb.com both here and here. Blurb does a wonderful job but the books are not cheap, so if you'd like your own I would "like" Blurb on Facebook or get on their mailing list, and they sent out 35% and 40% coupons pretty often. I used coupons for both the hardcopies above! That makes the price fairly reasonable.

A fun play day

We had such fun at our pastel society meeting today. It was a relaxed and fun day for all of us, a pure "play day" and yet we all learned something very useful.

We had a nice turnout of 19 at the meeting in Ponte Vedra, a pretty good showing considering that a number of our really core stalwart members were not with us as they were participating in the Romanza festival in St. Augustine, painting plein air there instead of being with us.

 

But those of us who attended were greeted with a very interesting table set up by co-President Lyn Asselta at the front of the room.

Our topic today was how to make your own pastels from the leftover dust the little bitty odds and ends of pastels that you manage to collect over time.

Lyn showed us how easy it is to make pastels by taking the dust - as you already have it, or from grinding up odds and ends into a powder - and carefully mixing it with drops of distilled water, being careful not to get too gooey, but just enough for it to hold a shape.

After her demo everyone went back to their own tables to practice making their own homemade pastels.

Some had more chips, chunks, and dust that others and were willing to share.

Dust collected over the months and years tended to be mostly gray, but the chips and chunks could be any color of course.

Folks said that often when you buy a certain set of pastels there may be colors in that set that rarely, if ever, get used.

Lyn's lesson gave us "permission" to be fearless about grinding up those colors we find less than appealing.

By mixing in dust from other colors it's possible to create something new and unique. I was amazed at some of the gorgeous colors people were able to create.

After rolling or shaping the new pastels it's time to lay them on newsprint or paper towels to dry for a couple days, and then have fun using your new colors, and no more wastage.

We have a big month coming up in June with our next juried member show, and the mini-workshop with Karen Margulis. Keep tuned in here for more details.