I rejoined the Mid-Atlantic Pastel Society (MAPS) this month and attended my first meeting in some time, today. I sure did miss these folks and was glad to see old friends and meet some new ones today.

I continue to be amazed at the talent in this group of pastelists, their professionalism and their dedication to the medium.

I picked up some good tips on where to find framing materials for my pastels, so I’m really glad I was able to attend today. In all honesty, painting with pastels can be a very expensive undertaking. They must be protected under some sort of glazing (normally glass and often very expensive museum glass to show at their best). And the pastel sticks, themselves are expensive. It’s sort of like buying hundreds (maybe even thousands) of tiny tubes of paint as each stick is a slightly different color. Different brands go on the painting surfaces in different ways and the painting surfaces themselves, can sometimes cost as much as a canvas. So, we are a dedicated lot, if often misunderstood by gallery operators and the general public.

One of my goals for 2019 is to mix things up a bit and put my pastels back to work while maintaining my oil painting.