Pastel Journal Awards to Ardith Starostka, Cathy Muhly, and Sharon Knettell!
 

Congratulations to our members for their success in The Pastel Journal's Annual Competition!

Ardith received not only the Ruth Richeson/Unison Award, but a four-page spread about her and her work.

Cathy Muhly took Fifth Place in the Portrait competition with her entry "Sweet Sixteen";

And Sharon Knettell received an honorable mention for her lovely ballerinas, which you can see here.

Cathy and Ardith, we would love to have you post your entries!

Thanks for the mention. Here's Natalie Didonna, the sweet sixteen.

I just bought my copy of Pastel Journal yesterday, and was so thrilled to see the talented artists of SOG represented so well! Congratulations, Ardith, Cathy, and Sharon! I'm so happy for you all!

Thank you....
 

I just saw this posting. Thanks. If anyone is still interested, I am posting a picture of my pastel. It's of my daughter Haley (again). I paint her quite a bit. It's nice to have a model here in my home!

Ardith,

This is gorgeous! Congratulations. Do you have any larger images and details?

Larger image....
 

Hi Garth,

I am going to post a new picture that is larger. I'm not sure what I did to the last picture because it turned out so small.

Thanks for your interest. It was a fun piece to do.

Ardith

Honorable mention
 

This painting was award an Honorable mention in the Pastel Journal Competition. And I am happy to say that this painting was just purchased by Fred Ross the chairman of Art Renewal Center. It is of my daughter, Haley. The paintings have been done from reference photos taken throughout the years. So, she keeps changing. In this painting she is about 11 (she's now 14). She's my favorite and most available model.

Catherine,

Just lovely and well deserved. Congratulations!

Beautiful, luminous, gorgeous color.
Now don't do what I do eveytime I sell something, buy a new set of pastels!

Congratulations!

Thanks
 

Thanks for the comments. I love your work Sharon. Your ballerinas are gorgeous. I can't imagine doing such large size pastels. And I've never gotten up enough energy to prep my own boards. That's a feat in itself. It's just too easy to grap a piece of pastel paper and start.

Ardith

P.S. I won't need to buy any new pastels for a while--I won the full set of UnisonsI I love them.

I am just nuts. Thanks for the kind comments.

I have a set of Unisons myself. Fabulous. I also bought a set of Great Americans. They are wonderful and consistantly creamy , have a fabulous range of colors, especially skintones and don't crumble like the Senneliers.

Pastels
 

I like Senneliers also. But they are so soft that I only use them on the last layer for final touches. I also like Grumbacher but again they are very soft. I haven't tried the Great American. May have to do so. I love trying the different pastels.

Do you spray your pastels? I've just recently started spraying since I have had some unfortunate incidents where the pastel really fell off in shipping. I tap my paintings also to get as much loose dust off as possible. Anything you would suggest?

Thanks
Ardith

My pictures are so big I feel I have to spray. This paranoia about spraying is incomprehesible to me as there are some really good sprays on the market.

Daniel Greene in his book "Pastel", unfortunately out of print, tells of the benefits of spray. He uses it to darken areas, the builds tones on top of them.

I like Perfix, by Rowney. I can't see where it darkens it at all.
The old Grumbacher or Blair spray did and were splotchy to boot. The Lascaux is also good.

I am now experimenting with the new matte archival spray from Golden. It apparently has a UV protectant. It seems to be a little heavier than the Rowney. Also, I think the surface may have to do something with darkening. Absorbtive surfaces may darken more than the acrylic surface I am using.

The Golden Acrylic ground also holds a lot of pastel.

DON'T DO THIS, but I do! Since my pieces are so large I carefully vacuum the surface. The nozzle is raised about 1" off the surface.

I said I was nuts. Hope this helps

Spray
 

Sharon,

Thanks for the info. That's funny you mentioned the vacuum cleaner. I just rec'd. my Artist's Magazine and there is an article about a pastel artist that said she used the vacumm on her pastel paintings too. Just goes to show you, you're not nuts!!!! I'm going to give it a try.

Hey, I've looked in all of my art material catalogs and cannot find the Daler Rowney spray you mentioned. Could you tell me where I could find it?

Thanks again,
Ardith

Call me nuts too. I keep a small hand vac next to my pastel paintings and vacuum all the way through the process. Really keeps the dust down.

And, congrats to all! All these paintings are breathtaking.

Jean

Congratulations to all three of you! Beautiful paintings.

[QUOTE=Ardith Starostka]Sharon,

Thanks for the info. That's funny you mentioned the vacuum cleaner. I just rec'd. my Artist's Magazine and there is an article about a pastel artist that said she used the vacumm on her pastel paintings too. Just goes to show you, you're not nuts!!!! I'm going to give it a try.

Hey, I've looked in all of my art material catalogs and cannot find the Daler Rowney spray you mentioned. Could you tell me where I could find it?

Thanks again,
Ardith[/QUOTE

Ardith,

I get a lot of stuff from www.dakotapastels.com, they have it.

Congratulations to all three of you. You all certainly deserve the recognition! Sharon, you know I have long admired your work and Ardith, I'm so thrilled to see you posting here. I have admired your website. I just discovered these little powdery sticks the end of last summer and have fallen in love with them. I can only hope that one day I can master them the way you all have. Keep talking, I'm taking notes. (vacuums, sprays etc.) ;)