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YApril 2017 website: www.thepastelsociety.org.uk sponsored by Derwent

Plant on ornate chair, by Ann Wilkinson

Featured ArtistAnn Wilkinson, PS, RBSA

Family day out

“I was always an oil painter,” she says, “but one dayafter my husband Ken died I was invited out anddecided to take his box of pastels with me. I hadnever used them before and was gobsmacked.They were so nice and easy to use. And that’s whyI decided to stick with them for a while to learn howto use them. It was a good way to start, really,because nobody told me what to do. It was trial anderror, developing my own style, doing things ondifferent backgrounds and seeing how they cameout.”

This year’s Pastel Society Exhibition featured fiveof her instantly recognisable paintings. For Annfocuses very much on pattern. She assemblesobjects, textures, fabrics and colours that appeal toher and weaves them together into a still life thatappeals, with her sense of design honed by timespent teaching dressmaking as well as art. She isalso on a constant quest: to achieve a really goodpicture. “I have got one on the way at the momentthat isn’t too bad,” she says, “but I can always findfaults.”

At her 1930s home in Redhill, her pastels areranged in boxes on three small table tops, thelength of a big window, and sorted by colour intomasses of small pieces. She uses a tightly

Ask Ann Wilkinson how long she has beenassociated with the Pastel Society and she has topause to think. It turns out to be just over 20 years,and prompted by her move down from theMidlands to help with a granddaughter who hadturned poorly – and who is now about to getmarried. It also coincided with making use of a setof pastels she had inherited from her husband.

Fruit and flowers Apples on a patterned cloth

controlled palette, enjoys planning a colourscheme, and favours oranges and yellows. Thereis, however, one colour she has a problem with.“I have a box with hundreds of mid, light and brightgreens – and I don’t like it or use it very much,” shesays.

Although she paints landscapes, seascapes andfigures, and uses oils as well as pastels, it is herstill life works for which she is best known. Theseare often sketched from a high viewpoint, lookingdown on the arrangement. But, she says, “I don’tignore conventional perspective. Imagine that youhave a plate with oranges on, a bottle, andglasses, with a little book open. When you sit down,you are fairly near to its level, so as you aredrawing into the distance you are doing so inperspective with the lines going in. But if you standup, and look down on that picture, you will get atotally different – and usually much moreinteresting – arrangement, because you can fill itwith the pattern, the flowers and the objects.”

The result is a very compact image, for which shedraws inspiration not just from cupboards full ofvases and little pots, but also from her extensivecollection of sketches and photographs, andtextiles. She will often incorporate cut flowers, fruit,plants and seed heads in her paintings. Speed is ofthe essence when painting perishables, because itis “not a case of if they start decaying,” she says,“but when. I get the shape down, that’s the mainthing to draw in, and give it a light spray.” Then shegradually adds colour to the shape, trying toachieve a thin layer of almost everything that thepicture will contain, so that she can see how it isdeveloping.

Ann also draws on her travels for inspiration,although these have lessened of late. She recallstime spent in the Galapagos Islands, China, Cuba,Croatia, Calhoun, Hong Kong, Romania, Sicily, SriLanka, Spain, the Greek Islands and Malta…butcounts Oman as her favourite. She would stay witha friend’s family, mixing with different nationalities,and helping out with art classes for locals. Onememory that sticks in her mind is of driving across

the desert in a Land Rover with just one other lady,“a great stretch of sand, with no road, no othervans, no signs, just a little post which pops up withan arrow showing you the direction of the nextstage.”

Examples of the paintings that ensued feature onher website, glowing figures as well as still lifes.These are painted on boards which, when shestarted to work with pastels, she used ‘as is’. Shesoon discovered, however, that with such adelicate, smooth surface that if her cat’s tail wentover it hours of painting would go astray. Now sheis more likely to work on a dark mountboard,marking off the area she wants to use beforemaking a detailed charcoal drawing and thenapplying an underpainting.

The colours of her pastels are what stick in themind, and these are achieved because of the careshe devotes to her paintings. She advises alwayshaving two on the go at a time, so that if you haveto transport them somewhere you can always clipone on carefully on top of another. She alsorecommends, if space is not at a premium, placingpaintings somewhere safe, like on top of awardrobe so that the general moisture will settle it.Painting with pastels begins to sound like anadventure.

Ann Wilkinson

The President’s Letter

Thank you to all who exhibited and attended thisyear’s Pastel Society Annual Exhibition at the MallGalleries. There was an 8% increase in entries thisyear, so sadly we disappointed more artists. Some100 non-Members’ works were selected, though,along with 171 from Members. Three large roomsat the gallery enabled the creation of ‘theCandidates’ Wall’ as well as ‘the Young Artists’Wall’.

At the Private View we had an enthusiastic crowdfor our guest opener and speaker, the Rt Hon.Michael Portillo. With more than 300 in attendance,and with his polished charm, he proved to be quitea star draw (excuse the pun). By way of a thankyou, he was presented with a pastel drawing byPast President Moira Huntly.

Congratulations to winners of all the awards andprizes. The prestigious Alfred Teddy Smith andZsuzsi Roboz Award for a young artist was given toSteven King. Zsuzsi Roboz was a distinguishedMember of the Pastel Society and I thank thetrustees for continuing the Award with the PastelSociety.

In passing, it’s worth mentioning that Steven Kingshould be an inspiration to all aiming to have theirwork shown with the Pastel Society. He firstsubmitted work in 2014, but without success. In2015, two of his paintings got through thepre-selection round, but not into the show. Lastyear, one of the three paintings he submitted waschosen for exhibition. But this year all six of hisentries were approved at pre-selection. Three werein the show, with one – The Co-Pilot – receiving notonly the Alfred Teddy Smith and Zsuzsi RobozAward, but also the Pastel Society CatalogueAward for best work by a non-Member.

Our Sponsor, Derwent, has supported usthroughout the year, with awards and prizes,including the new ‘Visitors’ Choice Award’ whichproved to be very popular. The winner was PatriciaWhiting for her highly accomplished colouredpencil study, Jugs and Roses. Derwent alsosupported the FBA Coffee morning and the ArtEvent Evening.

The Art Event evening had two models posing,Megumi in Japanese costume and singer andsongwriter Hattie Whitehead singing beautifullywith her guitar. The evening brought in a recordnumber of over 40 people. I thank the Council andthe Staff of the Mall Galleries for mastermindingand organising the enjoyable event.

Throughout the exhibition, Workshops were held inthe Learning Centre and Demonstrations in theGallery. The 118th Exhibition went very well, and Iam happy to say achieved sales exceeding theforecast.

Jeannette Hayes

St George’s College Summer WorkshopsCouncil member Sue Relph has again organised aweek-long programme of workshops for bothamateur and professional artists in late August atSt George’s College, Weybridge Road,Addlestone, Surrey KT15 2QS. Early booking isadvisable.

The programme is as follows:Monday, 21 August: ‘Improving your PastelPaintings – Landscapes and Interiors’ with JohnTookeyTuesday, 22 August: ‘Landscape Abstraction’ withJeannette Hayes.Wednesday, 23 August: ‘Full Figure Costume inCharcoal and Graphite’ with Caroline Bays.Thursday, 24 August: ‘Life and Portrait Drawing forAll Abilities’, with Sue Relph.Friday, 25 August: ‘Developing Portraits’ withAntony Williams.

The fees for the workshops are £60 per day, or £55per day if booking four or more. For Friends of thePastel Society, reduced fees apply of £55 per day,or £50 per day if booking four or more. Visitwww.thepastelsociety.org.uk for more details andto book.

AGBI Steward, 2017-18Malcolm Taylor will be the Pastel Society stewardfor the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution for2017-18. He can be contacted at 544 NewtonRoad, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 1PQ, ortalcummailer@btinternet.com

The main gallery at this year’s exhibition becamereally crowded as the time approached for theofficial opening by TV personality and formerGovernment minister Michael Portillo, with a realair of excitement as he announced the awardwinners.

The Pastel Society is very fortunate in enjoying thesupport of many organisations and charitable trustswhich, between them, provide the prizes. Theirgenerosity is greatly appreciated. The full list ofrecipients is shown in the table.

Felicity House PS won the prize donated by oursponsor, Derwent, with her painting, Lemon Tree.Banana Bunch, by Jenny Halstead PS, took theCaran d’Ache prize, and Libby January PSreceived the Buzzacott award for her gently mutedabstract, Music & Silence. Tony Allain was the onlyMember to receive two prizes this year: theSchmincke award for his painting Cape Cod, andthe Artist and Illustrator magazine award forCadgwith Cove.

Three of the seven artists taking part in theexhibition, who went on to be elected tomembership at the annual meeting, were alsoamong the prizewinners. David Brammeld’s threetreescapes got The Artist magazine award, withJaana Fowler’s oil pastel and collage still life, BlueBottle, receiving the Frank Herring & Sons award.Melodie Cook was a prize winner for the fourth timein five years with Samuel Froggatt with Peonies.

The most valuable prize on offer was the £5000Alfred Teddy Smith and Zsuzsi Roboz award fora young artist. It went to Steven King for TheCo-Pilot.

Encouraging young artists is a key policy. Otherprizes specifically aimed at the up-and-cominggeneration were the Society’s own young artistaward (won by Sofia Welch), and the UnisonColour £500 young artist award (Rachel Solani).

Derwent Sponsor’s Award: Felicity House PS

Alfred Teddy Smith & Zsuzsi Roboz Award: Steven King

Contemporary Arts Trust £1000 Award: Dominic McIvor

Pastel Society Young Artist Award: Sofia Welch

Pastel Society Catalogue Award 1st Prize: Steven King

Pastel Society Catalogue Award 2nd prize: Robert Strange

Jackson’s Art Supplies Award: Elizabeth Nast

Annie Longley Award: Michelle Lucking

Henri Roché Award: Melodie Cook

Faber Castell/West Design Product Prize: Kevin Line

Artist Magazine Award: David Brammeld RBA

Schmincke Award: Tony Allain PS

Buzzacott Award: Libby January PS

Unison Colour Product Prize: Jennifer Thorpe

Unison Colour £500 Young Artist Award: Rachel Solani

Caran d’Ache Award: Jenny Halstead PS

Artist and Illustrators Award: Tony Allain PS

Frank Herring & Sons Award: Jaana Fowler

Officers of the Pastel Society

President Jeannette Hayes

Vice-President Michael Norman

Honorary Treasurer Colin Murfet

Honorary Secretary Jenny Halstead FMAA

Exhibition Secretary Peter Vincent

Membership Secretary Brian Plummer

Publicity Secretary Jeannette Hayes

Friends Secretary Ann Wilkinson

Trustee Moira Huntly RWA RI RSMA PPPS

A generous array of prizes Award winners 2017

Not just an exhibition…

Top: Early visitors on Private View day enjoy a first peekat this year’s display. Above, left: Michael Portillopresents the Caran d’Ache award to Jenny Halstead PS.Left: Peter Batkin, who presented the £1000Contemporary Arts Trust award to Dominic McIvor.Above: Steven King’s painting, The Co-Pilot, winner ofthe Alfred Teddy Smith/Zsuzsi Robox award and bestpainting by a non-Member.

Among the special activities at this year’s exhibition, theArt Event Evening (top) attracted a record attendance.Megumi (above, left), a friend of Eiko Yoshimoto PS,modelled in traditional Japanese dress. Gail Tointon wonthe Derwent Art Event Evening prize for her drawing ofHattie Whitehead, singer/songwriter, who provided theentertainment. Pastel Society Members led workshops inthe Mall galleries’ Learning Centre on most days of theexhibition, including John Tookey (left), Eiko Yoshimoto,Ann Wilkinson, Cheryl Culver, Tony Allain, SheilaGoodman, Susan Relph, Jason Bowyer, Jenny Halsteadand Tom Walker.

…more a pastel fest

The Society welcomes seven new Members

A big welcome is extended to the seven newMembers who were elected to the Pastel Society atthe annual meeting which followed this year’sexhibition. All have made an impact with their work,not just at this year’s show, but over the previousfew years.

Most genres are represented in their work, fromcityscapes and landscapes to portraiture and stilllife, and the styles are as varied as the techniques.The common element is the artists’ passion fortheir work. Images of some of the paintings theyshowed this year are on the back page.

Janine Baldwin’s inspiration comes from thelandscape of the North Yorkshire coast, where shelives. It can be a bleak experience, particularly inwinter, and this is reflected in her paintings, whichoften combine pastel with charcoal and graphite.As she explains so clearly on her website(www.janinebaldwin.co.uk), “My interest lies not inmaking a literal representation of nature but ratherin celebrating the physical sensory experience ofland and sea. As a result, the semi-abstractpaintings are vibrant and energetic, combininggestural marks and the use of rich evocativecolour.”

In contrast, Liz Balkwill (www.lizbalkwill.com) isbest known to Pastel Society Members andFriends for her beautifully executed, classical, stilllife studies. However, she is also an accomplishedportrait artist. In both genres, she works in oils aswell as pastels. Liz lives in East Anglia, where shealso teaches. She has studied with leadingAmerican pastel artists including Daniel Greeneand Sally Strand.

Another of our new Members who enjoys teachingart to others is David Brammeld. Based inStaffordshire, he finds inspiration for his own artin the countryside, particularly trees, and theurban landscape. A group of three treescapes wonThe Artist magazine prize at our exhibition this

year. He shows regularly at the Mall Galleries –not just with the Pastel Society – and is a Memberof the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) andthe Royal Birmingham Society of Artists(www.davidbrammeld.com).

Melodie Cook (www.melodiecook.co.uk) began hercareer working as a freelance with top brands as afashion designer in Italy, later opening a designstudio. She returned to the UK and took a two-yearcourse in fine art, specialising in the figure andportraiture. Her distinctive paintings have wonawards at four of the past five Pastel Societyshows, including the Henri Roché award this year.

Born in Finland, Jaana Fowler came to the UK totake a Fine Art BA. Until 2013 she was a freelanceassistant to Sir Anthony Caro. While sculptureremains her main medium, she has continued towork in two dimensions, particularly with collageand oil pastel. At this year’s Pastel Societyexhibition she won the Frank Herring and Sonsaward (www.jaanafowler.co.uk).

Simon Hodges (www.hillviewstudio.co.uk) workedas an architect, mainly on public sector projectssuch as schools and hospitals. By 1999, however,he’d concluded that landscape painting now held agreater attraction to him than computers andcommittee meetings. A full-time artist since then,he works on location and in the studio, in anImpressionist style, seeking to capture theatmosphere of ‘place’.

Hemel Hempstead cricket pavilion inBuckinghamshire is the somewhat unexpectedvenue for regular art classes with Jan Munro – seeher website (www.janmunro.com). As she says,“Enabling others to enjoy and develop their own artis a big part of my life and a most rewardingendeavour”. Best known to Members and Friendsfor her strongly-coloured still life paintings, she alsopaints buildings and landscapes.

Six Pastel Society Members will be featuredalongside other international pastel artists in a newbook, Pure Color 2, to be published this summer bythe US magazine, Pastel Journal. Felicity House,Victor Ambrus, Tony Allain and Angela A’Court willbe in a section headed Style and Expression, whileCheryl Culver’s work will be included underComposition and Design, and Glenys Ambrus willfeature in Color and Light.

In Scotland, Trish Cain has been very busycurating a touring exhibition, Seeing Beyond theImmediate. It’s a large show, filling six rooms atGracefield, Dumfries, and features her own workand that of the late Scottish abstract artistWilhelmina Barns-Graham. It originates from athree-month residency that Trish spent atBarns-Graham’s house, Balmungo. “I very rarelysee fellow Members, so there will be a specialwelcome for any who can make it to the opening on20 May,” she says. The exhibition runs until 8 July,moving on to the Hawick Scott Museum, and thento the Lillie Gallery, Glasgow. Trish will also have ajoint show with Roy Wright, Millefolia, at theRebecca Hossack gallery in London in November(dates still to be finalised).

Angela A’Court has just enjoyed a solo show at theStour Gallery in Warwickshire, based on workinspired by time spent recently in Japan. British-born but living these days in New York, she hadother work based on her Japanese experiences onshow with the Susan Eley Gallery at NY’s Art onPaper exhibition. She’s currently working as anartist in residence at a charter school in Brooklyn,and is also developing a series of paintingsinspired by Benjamin Brittain and Peter Pears forThompson's Gallery in Aldeburgh.

A new practical art magazine in the UK, Paint andDraw, has featured paintings by Past PresidentCheryl Culver, and has invited her to write anarticle for later in the year. Libby January hascontributed a short article to their ‘Bite Size’ sectionin the April issue on her creative process.

Victor Ambrus was commissioned by CreativeDirection (Worldwide) to design postage stamps for

Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Island,commemorating the 400th anniversary of the deathof William Shakespeare last year (see illustration).

Dry Red Press has published Cheryl Culver’s AShower of Gold as Winter Creeps into the Forestas a greetings card. Royalties go to the RoyalSociety of British Artists (RBA). She will beexhibiting at the Affordable Art Fair, with the RussellGallery in May, with the RBA at the Russell Gallery,4-27 May, and The Pilgrims Way Artists, The TitheBarn, Lenham, Kent, 20-30 May. She has work inLion Street Gallery and Erwood Station Gallery,Hay-on-Wye, Powys.

Sarah Bee will be leading courses at West DeanCollege, West Sussex (www.westdean.org.uk) 9-13 April and 10-14 September, as well as at JackBeck House, Yorkshire (www.jackbeck.co.uk) 20-22 June, and Coombe Farm Studios, South Devon(www.coombefarmstudios.com), 17-20 July.

Libby January is participating in the WarwickshireOpen Studios, 17 June – 2 July. Details can befound at warwickshireopenstudios@gmail.com

News from members

Victor Ambrus commemoration stamps

Channel-islander Tony Allain was elected aMember of the Pastel Society in 2015, following hisreturn to the UK after several years in NewZealand. A much-travelled artist, he was invited toexhibit and teach at the 2nd Biennial InternationalPastel Art Exhibition in Suzhou, China, last October– November. Here is his report:

Why me? I have been involved with theInternational Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS)for about six years as an Instructor anddemonstrator, attending their Biennial Conventionin Albuquerque, New Mexico. Being a member ofthe Master Circle of Pastel Artists and a regulartutor for IAPS resulted in me being one of the smallInternational team of five artists – four from the USand myself from the UK – to travel and helppromote and introduce the art of soft pastel into theeducation system of the elementary schools inSuzhou.

I had the honour of teaching three workshops at theMing Jia Art Education Centre; I also took part inpublic lectures and painting demonstrations, pleinair outings and visits to schools and universitiesaround Suzhou to spread our passion for pastel.

It was a pleasure and a great honour to share thisonce in a lifetime experience with some of the bestpastel greats, including such artists as MasterPastellists Isabelle Lim (Singapore), Liz Haywood-Sullivan (USA), Stan Sperlak (USA), Desmond

O'Hagan (USA) and, of course, editor-in-chief ofthe Pastel Journal, Anne Hevener (USA).

The workshop schedule was split into threeone-day workshops with three different tutors. The20 ‘students’ would then rotate each day to theirnext tutor. Alain Picard would teach his portraiturefrom life, Liz Haywood-Sullivan taughtrepresentational landscape and I would theninvolve my students in impressionism for catchingcolour, light and movement.

It seems, however, that there is no word inMandarin for impressionism, so I was known as Mr.Teacher of Abstract! Most of the students were artteachers from schools and universities in Suzhouand Shanghai. Our job was to pass our knowledgeand experience of all things pastel to our students,so they in turn could take it direct to the educationcentres and schools.

All pastel sticks and paper were supplied by ourhosts and we were told to use only Chinese-made materials. I guess it made sense to keep tomaterials available to our students. Chinese cultureappears to be very orderly and every detail has tobe just so, everything should sit in its correct space.My challenge was to get the students to thinkoutside the box and encourage them to create workfrom memory or a past experience (no photosallowed). One session was a day of plein air whereI was surrounded by all 60 students eager to watch

Tony Allain’s art mission to China

An attentive audience in the demonstration hall at the Ming Jia Art Education Centre

Each evening our hosts escorted us to a differenthotel, where a traditional Chinese banquet wasstaged in a private dining room. No expense wasspared as we were treated to some interesting andunusual local cuisine. Warm distilled water wasdrunk with the meal and also used to toast eachguest many times!

Some free time was built into the programme,allowing us to explore the area around Suzhou,which is a bustling cultural city, and spotlesslyclean. This was a trip well worth being involvedwith, and I would like to express my thanks to IAPSand Yang Hui (Simon), the Ming Gallery director.

me paint and sometimes exaggerate the colourseen in the landscape in front of us. The questionswere relentless:

“Why are you making that yellow wall so bright?”

“Why are you adding that figure in the wrongplace?”

“Why are you adding blue/grey to your shadows?”

Once they had grasped the fact that there are nohard and fast rules when creating, they seemed toembrace the idea of freedom of experimentationand individuality – so much so that all of mysketches and demos ended up being welcomed asgifts and mementos from Mr Abstract Teacher!

The main exhibition was located in the MingGallery of Art, the Ming Jia Arts Education Centre.It featured 100 paintings – one each from 60international artists and 40 from Chinese artists –all beautifully framed by the gallery. My own paint-ing was a large version of my subject titled MarinaReflections, a smaller version of which wasexhibited at the Mall Galleries last year. The workson show were varied in style and content, but all ofa high calibre. We are told that the exhibition willtravel throughout China in the coming year.

A demonstration piece by Tony Allain – ‘impressionism’ was a new concept to students

Anne Hevener, editor of Pastel Journal, introduces Tony Allain

Don’t forget to visit our website at www.thepastelsociety.org.uk

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New members display their work

On this page, works by seven artists newly electedto membership of the Pastel Society.Clockwisefrom top left: Liz Balkwill ‘Blue Pitcher withClementines’; Melodie Cook ‘Samuel Froggatt withPeonies’; David Brammeld ‘On the Downs –Winter’; Janine Baldwin .’Horizon’; Jan Munro‘Homage to Hastings’; Jaana Fowler ‘Blue Bottle’;Simon Hodges ‘Reflection, St Mark’s Square,Venice’. See also page 8.