Perfumed Peonies in Connecticut

I made a deal with myself to finally enter a couple of national shows. It is always a very scary, intimidating thing to put yourself out there, open to critical review. But I did it, three times in 2019 in three separate national juried shows. Yay! Three pieces in the Pastel Society for Southeast Texas National Show(PSST), one piece in the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod(PPSCC) and one piece in the Connecticut Pastel Society(CPS). It really was very exciting to be juried into these shows. Then I actually got a super phone call where I learned I had been awarded a prize. Last week my prize arrived from Great American Pastels! I received a beautiful box of Daniel Green Portrait colors that are sitting on my desk as I type to you. Simply wonderful!

Having run two national juried shows in Texas and helped out on a couple of others I know that the people running them put in many hours locating suitable galleries, seeking jurists and judges, sourcing prizes, getting the marketing just right, balancing the budget, organizing volunteers, etc. etc. and I want to acknowledge all of the volunteers that make shows happen.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for running these shows. Your volunteerism promotes the beautiful medium of soft pastel and creates a forum for creatives to collaborate and get together to share ideas and artwork.

I also want to thank the companies that support these shows with product for prizes. The smile that opening a new box of pastels brings is priceless. The joy in unwrapping pastels, cataloging them for reordering is, immense! Then comes the time to use them, to hear them glide and zoom across a piece of sennelier la cart, u-art or home made surface, aaaah, music to my ears. Can you tell I am in my happy place – oh yes. So thank you, thank you Great American, for supporting the CPS. I promise to use these pastels to enter an PSA show in 2020, that’s my new goal.