Your Eyes to the World of Soft Pastel Art
Archive for July, 2010
Featured Pastel Artist: Monique Straub
Jul 28th
Monique Straub is California based pastel artist with a very recognizable style. Formally trained in fine art photography, art history, illustration and painting, she works freely, unrestricted by the traditional rules and concepts. Monique paints in studio but her works are inspired and created using outdoor sketches and photographs as inspiration. Occasionally she will paint on a location. Since 2001, she has taken to painting full-time, and actively participate in juried art competitions, art festivals, daily painting groups, and various community art activities. Monique is currently a member of the “San Diego Museum of the Living Artist” and The Pastel Society of San Diego.
If you are interested in her style (like I am) here is what Monique says about it:
“MY TECHNIQUE: Usually working in series, my inspiration comes from everyday scenes that I capture with a digital camera. These photos are only my “jumping off” point, since I freehand render only rough sketches onto my paper. My rough sketches are then refined and adjusted with ink and brush, and sometimes a watercolor wash for additional background color. My color palette is decided before I begin. I make choices based on the mood of the scene, and sometimes stay within a range to complete a series.”
Artists statement:
“I enjoy painting the world with my own twist. Rather than producing textbook renditions, I choose to concentrate on emphasizing the individual character of my subject. Blending of traditional materials allows me to give unique personality to everyday scenes. I approach each of these original works as an adventure. The result is as surprising for me as I hope it is for you.”
Monique runs very active blog and you can enjoy her regular posts on Monique Straub’s Painting a Day blog.
IAPS Master Circle 2010
Jul 26th
The International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) Master Circle was created to honor those artists whose work has been accepted and/or given awards in a specific number of IAPS Exhibitions and IAPS Convention Catalogue Cover Contests.
Newly qualified artists for IAPS Master Circle (Medallion will be awarded in Spring 2011) are:
Phil Bates, Christine Bodnar, Linda Gross Brown, Bill Canright, Kathryn Hall, Claudette Gamache, J. Kay Gordon, Marcia Holmes, Tatijana Jacenkiw, Janis Krendick, Alice Laputka, Sangita Phadke, Maggie Price, Lisa K. Stauffer, Liz Haywood-Sullivan, Vianna Szabo, Sharon Will.
Franz von Stuck Pastel Paintings (1863 – 1928)
Jul 21st
Franz Von Stuck lived most of his life in Munich, Germany and attended the school of Plastic Arts and the Munich Academy. He first made his living by illustrating for numerous magazines. Eventually around 1892 he became one of the founders of the Munich Secession and his symbolist period is also of this decade. Around 1895 he began teaching at the Munich academy that he once attended. Some of his pupils at the academy included Klee, Albers, and Kandinsky.
Franz von Stuck
His paintings are full of strange, mythological creatures, femme fatales, and allegorical figures. Stuck generally remained lost to public memory until the late 1960s when a renewed interest in Art Nouveau brought him to attention once more. He is not know as a pastel artist but you will find a couple of remarkable pastel paintings in this post.
Porträt einer Dame
Porträt einer Dame 2
Tochter Mary als Spanierin
Portrait of Marie Stuck
Bonnie Zahn Griffith Gift
Jul 18th
The regular readers might remember an older post about Bonnie Zahn Griffith 100 pastels series. I’d like to share my joy with you and let you know that I’m now the proud owner of one of them. Bonnie has send it to me as a gratitude token for that post. Bonnie, thanks 100 times 
!!!
Bonnie Zahn Griffith
IAPS 16th Juried Exhibition
Jul 16th
Ruth Hussey "Confrontations"
The 16th IAPS Juried Exhibition is taking place in The Flora B. Giffuni Gallery, Ohio, USA from July 11-Aug 29, 2010. The jurying is completed and the honors went to Ruth Hussey (Prix de Pastel) for Confrontations (see image on the left); Cuong Nguyen (Gold) for Violin and Tulips; Lorraine Trenholm (silver) for The Flow; Sally Strand (bronze) for Breeze;
The honorable mention winners were Edward Kennedy for Heise; Jane McGraw Teubner for Evening Light; Terri Ford for Barn in Morning Light; and Barbara Benedetti Newton for Tuesday’s Child. You can see a slideshow of all the selected works on the IAPS website or directly on Picasa.
The jurors who selected these 36 paintings for the show were Alan Flattmann, Liz Haywood-Sullivan and Jimmy Wright. The IAPS president Maggie Price was in charge of assigning awards.
If you have missed this IAPS show you still have time to apply for the 17th juried exhibition which will be web based for the first time. The deadline is September 15th, and here is the prospectus.
Newsletter: the Pastel Scribbler, June/July 2010
Jul 14th
Steffi Decker "Sammy"
The Pastel Guild of Europe has published the June/July issue of the Pastel Scribbler. This is a free newsletter dedicated to a soft pastel art and is gathering European pastel artists. Please note the new website address pastelGuild.com.
- Meet the June Get Dusty winner: Steffi Decker
- PanPastel Artists? Colors
- Challenge: Composition in the landscape
- Street Painting with Pastels
- The French pastellist society – La Société des Pastellistes de France
- Gallery of recent paintings by members
- Composition and Design Matters – Tiziano and Rubens
Pastel Society of North Florida Juried Exhibition 2010
Jul 13th
Diana DeSantis "Lititia"
The Pastel Society of North Florida has announced the call for the entries for the 11th biennial national (USA) juried exhibition. The entries must be received by August 15th and the prospectus can be found here. The show will take place in Niceville, Florida, USA, from October 22nd through December 2nd 2010. Margaret Dyer will be the Judge of Awards and she will be the workshop instructor.
The Best of Show pastel for 2008 was Diana DeSantis with the painting “Lititia” (on the left). Bill James took first place, second place was Melody Bogle, and the third place went to Cyndi Marble. To see these winning paintings, read the post from 2008 at the Pastel Journal blog.
Featured Pastel Artist: Patrick Hedges
Jul 7th
Patrick Hedges collage
Patrick Hedges was born in Uganda, and lived for 14 years in and around East Africa. This early childhood instilled in him a love of wildlife and the outdoors. Since then he has traveled the world extensively, visiting over 50 countries. He now lives in South Australia.
Patrick Hedges
I’ve seen Patrick’s work on the WetCanvas first, where he provided beautiful portrait step-by-step instructions like the Old man, Chimp, Oriental lady and others. When you look at Patrick’s portfolio you see his great passion for a wildlife, but for me his human portraits are even more fascinating.
Patrick’s work is very detailed and best explained by his own words “I love detail and it’s often my wish to communicate the soul of the subject by paying special attention to the eyes and facial features. My goal with my art is to allow the viewer to feel something and for that to happen, I need to feel it first. It may be compassion, pain, love or some other emotion, but if I’ve created it, it made me feel something in the first place and I hope to convey this to the viewer”. Follow Patrick’s interesting travels and inspired art on Patrick Hedges blog.
Cecilia Watson won the Gallery Director’s award
Jul 1st
Cecilia Watson "Shy Boy"
You might remember Cecilia Watson from Spain, who has already been presented on this blog as a Get Dusty winner. Cecilia won the Gallery Director’s award this time at the Infinity Art Gallery Summer 2010 show. Here are the comments from the juror Julie Weismann:
Shy Boy, is beautifully composed.
Watson masterfully conveys the title of
this piece through this little guy’s eyes
and expression. I can feel myself
squatting down attempting to coax
him out from behind those safe legs.
The other pastel art that was accepted in the finals was by Sabina Haas, Switzerland, who you have also seen on this blog several times.
Barbara Benedetti Newton
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