The Pastel Journal, April 2011

Highlights
100 Winners
Five Jurors on Painting a Winner
Negative Space, Positive Results
Best of Show: A Fresh Take on Landscape

Features
The 12th Annual Pastel 100 Competition
Each year thousands of entries flow in to our annual competition. Of those, only 100 are selected for publication. Join us as we celebrate the talent and the astonishing variety demonstrated in this year's collection of winning pastels.

Best of Show: Don Williams
By Anne Hevener
Our top prize goes to Sonoma, Calif., artist Don Williams whose foggy chance encounter with a freight train supplied the subject for a moody, unconventional landscape.

The Pastel Journal Grand Prize: Cuong Nguyen
By Meredith Lewis
A lovely model, some stunning roses and a bit of inspiration a la Caravaggio all play a role in Cuong Nguyen's stunning prizewinner.

Ruth Richeson/Unison Pastels Award: Abel Marquez
By Sarah A. Strickley
Abel Marquez's award-winning still life demonstrates astonishing skills in the medium, but the artist credits his creative success to a willingness to remain "open to the possibilities."

Gold Medal Award: Aaron Schuerr
By Christine Proskow
The personal experience of painting on the scene fuels the drama and emotional power behind Aaron Schuerr's medal-winning depiction of an icy, mountain river.

Silver Medal Award: Diana Sanford
By Robert K. Carsten
By allowing herself the freedom to simply "see and play," Diana Sanford created an abstract scene that captured the excitement and promise of a moment in time—and a silver medal.

Pastel 100 Category Winners
Landscape and Interior
By Deborah Secor
Portrait and Figure
By Jessica Canterbury
Animal and Wildlife
By Beth Williams
Abstract and Non-Objective
By Tamera Lenz Muente
Still Life and Floral
By Michael Chesley Johnson

Honorable Mentions
Browse an additional 70 stand-out pastels that made it onto our jurors' lists.

Jury Duty
By Anne Hevener
What makes one painting stand out over another? Find out from each of our five distinguished Pastel 100 jurors as they discuss their judging criteria and overall impressions, and provide advice for future competitors.

Columns
Art Matters
By Jessica Canterbury
Giving back to the community is an adventure all its own.

Pastel Pointers
By Richard McKinley
To be attentive to a painting's negative space, we have to think about how we perceive.

Master Class
By Tamera Lenz Muente
Max Liebermann's pastels brought the flavor of impressionism to German painting.

The Society Page
By Anne Hevener
The award-winning pastels in the Pastel Society of New Mexico's annual exhibition celebrate pastel achievement.