Welcome!

Held every spring, this annual show is open to all subscribers of Ann Kullberg's Colored Pencil Magazine.

HONORABLE MENTION Meet Market 9 x 30 Gretchen Parker, CPSA

Wenlock Stick Dance 10 x 16 Linsey Duncan-Pitt

A special thank you to our very generous sponsors! Bringing you the world's finest collection of art instruction videos and books. www.northlightshop.com

Premium sanded paper. http://uartpastelpaper.com/

Premium Colored Pencils for fine artists. www.prismacolor.com

Strathmore Makers of Fine Art papers since 1899. www.strathmoreartist.com

 

Holly Siniscal is a signature member and CIPPY award recipient of the Color Pencil Society of America (CPSA). Splitting her time between her home studio in Las Vegas, NV and the Los Angeles art scene, where her work has been featured in international juried gallery and museum exhibitions, Holly works in a range of media using colored pencil, watercolor, and pen and ink techniques. Her unique style blends moments of photographic hyper-realism with more painterly gestures, and has been featured in numerous books, print magazines, and online publications.

Our Juror - Holly Siniscal, winner of last year's Best of Show Award.

Juror's Statement

I’ve loved/hated my time together with what I feel is my family of images. We’ve had coffee in the mornings, tea in the afternoons, and occasionally wine in the evenings. For five days and nights I have visited each artwork over and over scrutinizing, enlarging, and then assigning an award. I then reassigned the awards, again and again. I’m not being arbitrary; it’s just the incredibly high skill level and uniqueness of each artwork that makes this an agony of choosing which of your children you love more.

Best of Show: "Rest on the Ferry" - Karina Griffiths

I keep coming back to this tranquil yet vivid drawing. The tenderness and contentment is made evident by Karina’s skilled portrayal. The juxtaposition between the serenity of the scene and the vibrant bold colors adds an unexpected element. The detail of the family is counterbalanced by the neutral negative spaces. The composition has a pleasing symmetry and an astute use of complementary colors. I love the saturation of colors in the reflective surfaces and especially in the bounced reflection on clothing and skin.

First place: "Internal Life of the Jug" - Irina Garmashova-Cawton

Well this just jumps out at you like an M.C. Escher drawing. Skillfully rendered and the subtle use of complementary color with that pop of red make this an interesting piece. I dare you to enlarge the drawing and look inside the kitchen reflections, its like peering into another world.

Second place: "Trailer Park Escapees" - Christina Price

The whimsical subject of this piece is presented in an almost dramatic regard with the lush blues and pinks virtually popping out at you from the black background. The composition is a perfection of detailed foreground diminishing to suggestive background with the right amount of balance with that contrary flamingo. I can’t help but smile with this one.

Third place: "On Guard" - Sharon Hester

The composition and diaphanous quality of this artwork is exquisite. Sharon’s unfocused detailed background is the perfect backdrop for the more restrained ethereal rendering of the bird. Harmony.

Honorable Mention

"Bone Yard" by Andrew Purdy - Remarkable, mad drawing skills! Breathtaking details with a rhythmical flow make this truly a stunning piece.

"Bliss" by Julie Podstolski -This is Bliss…Beautifully rendered; I love the soft pastel quality of the subject interplaying the precision and intricate details of the kimono and architecture.

"Hydrangea-scape #2: Last Blush" by John Ursillo - Masterfully rendered, the highlighted veining in the petals a marvel. I’m impressed by John’s smooth transition of light to dark and the evolution of color intensity. He has captured that golden quality of light you see, as the sun is low on the horizon.

"Two Thumbs Up" by Angela Bartlett - I just want to sink my hands into his luxuriant fur! This is a great example where the line between painting and drawing is blurred. Angela’s technique and drawing surface combined to affect a rich textural drawing that keeps drawing the eyes back to it.

"Portrait of an Artist" by Sunil Joshi - Besides his obvious skill, this portrait is fascinating because of Sunil’s use of directional pencil strokes in his subject’s skin and hair. And oh, those beautifully drawn eyes!

"Senor Molina (Mr Windmill)" by Sue Clinker - This portrait reminds me of an Andrew Wyeth watercolor. The hard and soft edges and how the artist captures the soul as well as the likeness of the subject. The handling of the beard is absolute perfection.

"Cowboy Boots" by Valorie Sams - This is beyond technical mastery and originality… the texture; perspective and colors are all brilliantly pulled together in this stunning artwork.

"Attitude Matters" by Janki Chokshi - WOW…I love the whole concept and execution of this original piece. The hyperrealism of the peacock feather is expertly executed and mind blowing.

"A-Peeling Clementines" by Iris Stripling - Lovely, the divergence between texture, color and detail make this an exquisite, expertly handled Old Masters style still life with a graphic touch.

"Meet Market" by Gretchen Parker, CPSA - Besides the fact that Gretchen is a virtuoso of the pencil, I love the fascinating and humorous vignettes in this opus to human nature.