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.