First Show with the Pastel Society of New Hampshire

I joined the Pastel Society of New Hampshire (PSNH) last year and my first attempt at submitting to a show was not accepted. This year, I decided to give it another try and both paintings were accepted for the 17^th Annual Members’ Show held this month (July 2022) at the Wolfeboro Library.

It’s always nerve-wracking submitting work to be exhibited for all to see and critique. I work hard and love my paintings. But will others? Is it good enough? Will other artists see my work as professional? (Can they tell I’ve not had much traditional art training? That I’m mostly self-taught?) Will they fault me for not always following art rules and instead finding my own way? (I have to be me, though, and follow my own path.)

Not only is there opportunity to sell my paintings in this show, but there will also be an awards ceremony with $1,600 in cash and merchandise to be given on the last day, July 30. Do I dare hope for an award and recognition? Am I jinxing myself for mentioning it?

For the two weeks leading up to delivery day (my 68^th birthday), I was a nervous wreck. The drive would take about 1 ½ hours on a holiday weekend which meant the traffic would probably be crazy. (These days I don’t go far at all. It’s an effort to get me out of the house!) I studied Google Maps for the easiest route – and it was an easy route.

I arrived a half hour early expecting to hang around waiting, but they were already set up to receive and others were hanging the paintings. What a joy to meet other artists, see their work, and discover a little about some of these people I’ve only seen as names on a list.

Theses little interactions bring me much joy. I love hearing what others work with and hear a little about their techniques. It’s interesting to see how we can differ in styles, technique and some supplies. For instance, I prefer smooth BFK Rives paper while many other use pastel board or various other textured papers or even wood.

And we may all work with pastels, but there are many types and brands, and even the way the pastel is applied can be different. There are sponges, cotton balls, tortillons, and other tools beside pastel pencils and sticks. There are oil pastels, but in the soft pastel world, you find hard pastels, medium pastels, and soft, buttery pastels.

Some artists make small marks creating texture and movement with the pastels. Some are very impressionistic and with that, there are degrees of what I often call blur, but is actually called lost and found (soft and hard) edges. I prefer a smoother, sharper, realistic, vibrant look. I am always amazed how other artists can achieve crisp, clean lines with pastel.

How artists prepare to start their work differs, too. Some do what they call thumbnail sketches, doing smaller, quick drawings to decide exactly how they want their layout and composition to look on a bigger scale. (I do mine in a 5 x 8 ½ sketch book.) They might choose their colors ahead of the actual painting. Some prepare their support (paper, panel, board, etc.) with gesso or other elements to create texture. Others do alcohol washes over some initial background blocked-in colors. Others, like me, do the beginning sketching with charcoal.

Then there’s the controversy in the end of whether or not to spray the painting with a fixative. There are pros and cons to doing so. Some are totally against spraying while others prefer it. I do to try to keep pastel dust off the mat.

One of my favorite discussions is matting. Some artists don’t use a mat, some use single mats and others double mats. When I started out, I would choose mat colors to go with a color in my paintings. (For me, it’s all about the color.) But then I kept hearing some galleries will only accept paintings matted in white, so I compromised by doing the main mat in arctic white over a black mat with a white bevel. This gives a framed within a frame look which I like a lot.

However, I have doubts in seeing a lot of my paintings matted and framed the same. While the white mats pull all the paintings together as a whole, sometimes the whiteness is too stark and I’m not sure the white enhances the paintings.

This is when discussions become interesting. When we can be free to talk about what we like as individual artists in how we work. Discussion opens the possibility to learn and share. I am never interested in copying someone else’s work, but I believe in the sharing, the camaraderie grows stronger and we get to appreciate one another’s work.