The 2005 Pastel 100 competition

My copy of the April edition of "The Pastel Journal" arrived all the way from across the big pond yesterday - and gosh is it BIG this month! It's simply bulging with luscious images of the pastel artwork which were distilled down from 4,000 slide entries to the final 100 of the 2005 Pastel 100 competition.

The competition is divided into categories and each has a specific juror - this year it was as follows:

• Landscape and Interior - Juror: Albert Handell / Winner: Aaron Schuerr
• Portrait and Figure - Juror: Wendy Caporale / Winner: Jean Hildebrandt
• Still Life and Floral - Juror: Doug Dawson / Winner: Robert E Fojut
• Animal and Wildlife - Juror: Brennie Brackett / Winner: Elizabeth W Gibson
• Abstract / Non-Objective - Juror: Urania Christy Tarbet / Winner: Suzanne Jack

You can see a couple of the winning entries on this page of the website including the winner of the Jack Richeson/Best of Show Award - a painting by Paul Murray and Brian Cobble's painting which won the Ruth Richeson/Unison Pastels Award. One of John Vistaunet's female nudes won the Pastel Journal Grand Prize Award. Aaron Schuerr also won the Art Spirit Foundation / Dianne B Bernhard Gold Medal Award of Excellence (there's a lovely photo of Aaron pastel painting plein air - with his very small son Isaac planted between his feet!). Colleen Paul Hoerner won the Silver Medal.

Details about entry to the next Pastel 100 competition are available in the Journal and will presumably be available on the website when it updates this link . In essence,

• the competition is open to all artists except artists who've been honoured with an Art Spirit Foundation award in the last three years in any competition.
• Artwork which is eligible are original paintings completed using at least 80% soft pastel .
• Paintings which are not eligible are those painted using oil pastels, and/or based on published material, and/or completed during a workshop under another artist's supervision and/or those previously published in a national publication or in receipt of a major award in a national competition.
• There are some additional restrictions of the normal sort associated with competitions.

Entry is by 35mm slide. The deadline for entries for the 2006 competition is 1 September 2006 and winning entries will be shown in the April 2007 edition of Pastel Journal! Lots of time to produce a stunning pastel work!

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