I am very proud to announce that I have achieved Master Circle status with the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS).   I achieved this status when "Red Stripes" was recently juried into the IAPS 2012 Web Show.  IAPS is an association of 74 pastel societies from all over the world.  Like many organizations, IAPS offers membership levels based on being juried  into IAPS competitions (1 point each) or winning awards (1 point each) in the shows.   Master Circle status is earned by achieving 5 points.   The following is taken from the IAPS website:

Each recipient of the award receives a gold medallion engraved with his or her name and the year the honor was bestowed engraved on the back. The design of the medallion was created by IAPS founder and President Emeritus, Urania Christy Tarbet. “It is of a rose with a pastel stick next to it. When I designed it, I was thinking about the rose as the resurgence of spring, as pastel is in its Renaissance period, now being recognized as a wonderful medium after being in the dark for so long. I wanted something very special that had never been done in the art world before, to honor pastel artists whose work was accepted in our exhibitions or awarded prizes.”

The three-inch round medallions were created with a bronze core and then dipped in 24k gold. Prior to the awards ceremony at each convention, the medallions are sent back to the foundry to be engraved on the back with the recipient’s name and the year of the award, and then dipped into 24k gold the second time. “It is important for the recipients to cherish this symbol of excellence,” Urania says. “It can be worn at IAPS exhibitions and conventions, and readily identifies IAPS artists who have received one of the most important honors in the pastel world.”

I will receive my Master Circle medal at the tenth biennial convention which will be held in Albuquerque, NM this coming June.  I am thrilled and honored to be able to say that I am an IAPS Master Circle pastelist!

I shared my latest painting, "Rocking Horse", yesterday in a blog posting......but what I didn't mention was that I had painted this piece with the intent of entering it into the Randy Higbee Gallery "6x6 Show".  This is the first oil painting that I have entered into a competition, so I was tickled when I got the e-mail this morning notifying me that it was successfully juried into the show!  There were over 1250 entries for this annual show which makes the news even more gratifying.  The show will be hung in the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa, CA. during the month of December.   This news is an early Christmas present for me!

"Rocking Horse" was finally released from the easel this week."Rocking Horse" is a 6 x 6 oil painting on a panel.  This composition was painted in pastel a year ago in a 9" x 12" format.  I wanted to see if I could create the same lind of texture in the tail and bow in oil.  I think I did!  It was actually fairly easy to create the twining colors of the yarn.  But most of all....it was fun to paint!

For the third consecutive year I had artwork juried into the Scottsdale Artists' School's Best and Brightest Show.   Marbles II is a 12 x 12 pastel painting.  This show always has great competition because of the level of students that come from all over the nation to take classes at the school.  I am honored to once again be juried into the show.  This is also a fun show because the entries are not only hung in the school but are rotated through the Celebration of Fine Art which is one of the big tent shows in Scottsdale each year that draws thousands of visitors during the 10 weeks it is open.  I am looking forward to the opening reception in January to see all the wonderful artwork this year!