Monthly Member Challenges

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We are excited to announce a monthly Painting Challenge to our Pastel Society of Maine membership! This was a recent suggestion at board meetings, and Polly Castor has kindly taken up the coordination for us. 

We invite you to copy all of the monthly topics listed below, and note deadlines for sending in images you may wish to paint, or have already painted, by the appropriate deadline. An email will arrive around the 1st of each month with a reminder of the next month's prompt, a brief explanation of the prompt, and a pdf document showing previous prompt, date, images submitted, name, and titles.

Every third month, we'll plan a Zoom get together to discuss the prompt and members' approaches to it. Please note that these zoom sessions are not mandatory, and explicitly NOT critiques, but simply convivial discussions exploring a topic together. We seek a positive, supportive, and curious environment. A powerpoint will be shared during the zoom to facilitate this discussion.

We expect to have different prompts next year, and each year will be skipping the months November, December, and January.

If you would like to participate in a given month, we ask for only one image per person, cropped to the painting's edges, and emailed to PollyCastor@gmail.com (in jpg format) before the due date. (Any questions you can direct to that same email.)

Our hope is that you will stretch yourself through these prompts and do something you may not have done otherwise. We have opted not to put these paintings on the website, and instead, to share them only with members. Keeping them private encourages exploration, experimentation, and risk, safe in our supportive community. 

Here are the prompts (and please put the zoom dates on your calendar):

** February 28: Your Painted Response to Jen Evenhus' Demo NOW LIVE !! **

Due March 31: Use Pattern in a Still Life

Due April 25: (with discussion on zoom Sunday, April 26 at 4pm): Paint a Landscape Without Local Color

Due May 31: A Bouquet of Flowers

Due June 30: A Plein Air Painting Done in Under One Hour

Due July 31: (with discussion on zoom Sunday, August 2 at 4pm):  How Do You Paint Rocks?

Due August 31: An Abstract Personification of August

Due September 30: Mostly Warm Colors in the Landscape

Due Oct 30 (with discussion on zoom on Sunday, November 1 at 4pm): A High Contrast Painting.

Email to: PollyCastor@gmail.com 

We look forward to playing with these prompts together, and getting to know each other better in this way, while expanding our understanding and use of pastels.

We hope you join in some or all of the fun!