From the Archives: Thoughts on the Last IAPS Convention 2015

'Emergence'     16x20       pastel        ©Karen Margulis
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The anticipation for the IAPS convention is building. I am starting to get organized and thought I'd share this post from the last convention. I'll be sharing more convention tips over the next two weeks so let me know if you have any questions!

The boxes sat in the corner of my studio. They called out to be unpacked but I wasn't ready. I had just returned from almost two months of travel and was in the middle of planning for my fall classes. I didn't have time to open the boxes...even though I was curious.

Today I finally had a chance to open them and I would like to share the contents with you. The boxes contained the demo paintings I did at the IAPS convention in June. It was an amazing convention and I was honored and thrilled to be a part of it as an instructor. I did two presentations at the convention....a 3 hour demo on wildflowers and a 3 hour seminar on blogging for artists. I had a wonderful time sharing with artists who are just as passionate about pastels as I am.

During my wildflower demo I did three large paintings. In this post I am sharing my second demo....daisies done with a watercolor underpainting. I used Cretacolor aqua bricks for the underpainting and the painting is on Pastel Premier white sanded paper.

Group shot of the IAPS Master's Circle recipientsI was also honored to receive my Master's Circle medallion at the banquet. What a fantastic group of artists to share this honor with! We were all like kids as we received our award and cheered one another. It was an evening to remember!

Group shot of instructors and demonstrators

closeup detail of painting

I will be sharing the other demo paintings in upcoming posts. The convention was an amazing experience and I encourage you to make plans to attend the next one in June 2017!
Here is a report of the convention that you might like to read:

http://www.artistsnetwork.com/medium/pastel/iaps-convention-2015-the-greatest-pastel-party-on-the-planet