"Explorations in Colored Pencil III" award winners

Thursday, September 4 was opening day for "Explorations in Colored Pencil III" at The Peninsula Gallery in San Mateo, and Saturday, September 6 was the opening reception. 

There are 24 pieces in the show by eight artists, all members of CPSA DC210:

• Janki Chokshi
• Phillip Dean
• Gemma Gylling
• Denise Howard
• Andrea Myers
• Mike Purdy
• Christopher Swetlin
• Ranjini Venkatachari

The show was juried for awards by accomplished painter Sheila Finch (www.SheilaFinchFineArt.com) , who shared that it took her more than two hours to make her decisions:  "I wish I could’ve had a few more prizes to pass out…  I had no idea this would be so hard!"  She remarked on the very high level of both skill and artistic value of all the pieces, which blew her away.

Here are the award winners!

1st Place and $100: "Don't Take the Bridge" by Denise Howard

2nd Place and $50: "Here's Lookin At Ya!" by Gemma Gylling

3rd Place and $25: "Watermelon" by Christopher Swetlin

Honorable Mention: "Tree of Character" by Denise Howard

Thank you to gallery owner Neeley George for arranging the show, the wonderful gallery employees who hung it, artist Sheila Finch for jurying for the awards, Andrea Myers and Gemma Gylling for managing the refreshments, and Chris Swetlin, Linda Huffman and Denise Howard for donating toward the refreshments.  An additional shout-out goes to Chris and his daughters for creating a beautiful Honorable Mention ribbon that's nicer than any store-bought ribbon!

For anyone who'd like to learn more about colored pencil as a fine art medium, on Saturday, September 20 1:00 - 2:30 PM Ranjini Venkatachari will give a presentation "Color Pencil Possibilities" at the gallery.  The presentation is free and no reservation is necessary.  Pass the word!