After six consecutive years, this annual juried exhibition of pastel paintings by members of the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada has become one of the highlights of the fall Arts Calendar in Montreal. PSEC, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has consistently raised the bar with each exhibition such that once again, visitors who came to the beautiful Tudor Hall found a collection of 120 stunning pastel paintings in all genres.

The work chosen was so professionally executed that our two Judges of Prizes, Master Pastelist, Dave Beckett and Gallery director Brian Brisson, took much longer than expected to name the winners. However, they were unanimous in their choices and they both had very positive comments about the quality of the paintings.

PSEC’s first weekend of the exhibition was jam-packed with three very well attended events. Our Vernissage, was shoulder-to-shoulder, standing room only right to the back of the hall. The next day, PSEC repeated last year’s very successful Trade Show, allowing our members to take advantage of discounts on a wide selection of pastel related products. Thanks to ArtTec, St.Armand Papers, Currys, Mount Vision Pastels, Photographer Michel Filion and ImageTech Digital Printers.

As for the traditional Sunday Tea it once again filled Tudor Hall with admiring guests and sales went pretty well as the soft piano jazz music created a warm ambiance. Our pianist Mr Léo André  is the husband of one of our members. New this year, during the week in Tudor Hall, 3 hour demonstrations by Pamela Carter, Juan Cristobal, Max Stiebel and Denis Jacques were much anticipated and very appreciated. We will certainly put that on the agenda during next year’s show...only with more chairs and better lighting!

Needless to say, “The Pastelists “ exhibition this year was a huge success. Final number of paintings sold was 24. PSEC’s Exhibition committee and all its volunteers made this exhausting, but oh-so-fulfilling event possible...Thanks to all who participated!

This year, for our 10th anniversary, PSEC was the proud donor of a cash prize of $500 which was awarded to the first prize winner. We will continue this tradition and try to get more cash prizes for the top winners. Congratulations to all the winners! 

1st Prize  : Jacques Clément - "Resti"


2nd Prize : Anne Lemieux - "C'est ta fête"


3rd Prize : Mary Dorland - "Winter Light"

Categories


Landscape : Lise Dagenais-St-Hilaire - "Vent d'été"

Portrait & Figure : Anne Létourneau - "Bain de soleil"

Still Life & Floral : Josie Rinoldo - "Sans Tige"

Scenes of Life : Susanne Strater - "Keep Things Together..."

Honorable Mentions

Michelle McMillan - "Tammy"

Pamela Carter - "Chinese Parasol"

Linda Creasy-Brown - "End of afternoon"

OGILVY Choice :

Ino Algranti - "Boréalis"

Papiers St-Armand Prize :

Juan Cristobal - "Dégel, pluie et mystère"

People’s Choice Award:

Marie-Hélène Auclair – "Le matou"

Pictures from the exhibition...


Pamela Carter, PSEC's President, and most of the executive officers were  hosting the vernissage.

Ino Algranti receiving the Ogilvy Choice prize for 'Boréalis'.

Jacques Clément, our grand prize winner in front of his three paintings.

Anne Létourneau, winner in the Portrait & Figure category.

Josie Rinoldo, winner in the Still Life & Floral category.

Mary Dorland, winner of the 3rd prize.

François Simoneau, winner in the Abstract category.

How about a warm cup of tea before Pam Carter's Demo?

PSEC President, Pamela Carter, starting her demo.

Pamela's painting, almost done..

During the Tea, Mr. Léo André entertained the visitors with jazzy melodies.

A lot of people came to see one of the four demos of this year's exhibition. Here is Juan Cristobal, painting a landscape from his imagination (and experience!)

Juan Cristobal's demo was a great event.

Juan Cristobal's finished work.

Max Stiebel's portrait demonstration was relax and funny but also very helpful in many ways.

Portrait tips from Denis Jacques were very welcome in his astounding demo.

The model is none other than PSEC's Vice President, Mrs. Suzanne Godbout.

Denis Jacques' finished artwork.