2025
Prizes & Awards
The Pastel Society would like to thank the individuals and companies who generously award the following prizes:
Cash Prizes
Caran d'Ache Prize
£1,000 for the best work in the exhibition as selected by Caran d’Ache
Pastel Society Prize
£1,000 for the best work in the exhibition selected by the Pastel Society Council
The Yoshimoto Prize
£1,000 for an outstanding work in any dry medium by a non-member
The President's Prize
£500 for the best work by an artist aged 35 or under
The Bob Last Prize
£400 for a work that celebrates the spirit of Bob Last (1932–2020), a member of the Pastel Society who was known for his imaginative use of dry media, excellent drawing skills, and passion to present work that was different and innovative. With thanks to his daughters, Joanne Last and Jackie Jones, who will select the prize winner.
The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award
A certificate and cheque for £50
Product Prizes
Caran d'Ache Product Prize
Frank Herring Award
Henri Roche Award
Mamut Award
Pith Sketchbook Award
Schmincke Award
UART Award
Unison Member Award
Unison Non-member Award
Unison Young Artist Award
West Design Award
Publication Prizes
The Artist Magazine Award
A feature article in The Artist magazine
Pastel Society Catalogue Awards: First and Second Prize
The winning works featured in the exhibition catalogue
Plus
Visitors’ Choice Award
A set of Caran d’Ache pastel pencils
Cover Artist: Ian Rawling PS
Ian Rawling
Little Orange Teapot
Soft pastel and pastel pencil
30 x 30 cm £600
Growing up in Chester, Ian always loved to draw, paint and generally be creative. This developed and, after an Art Foundation course at Chester College of Art, he moved to Sheffield to complete a degree in Industrial/ Product Design at Sheffield Hallam University. While at art college Ian’s lifelong affinity with pastels and dry media was established as he supplemented his student grant by drawing on the pavements of many cities across the country.
Ian still lives in Sheffield and has a studio in the city centre crammed full of various objects for inspiration such as vintage toy cars, telephones and kitchenalia. He enjoys painting things which can create feelings of nostalgia and deliberately searches out those with imperfections which he feels makes them more individual and interesting visually.
With an eye for detail and a bold colour preference he often uses a simple plain background and limited colour palette to give the main subjects even more emphasis as he strives for a sense of realism in his paintings.
Ian became a member of the Pastel Society in 2021 and is represented by a number of galleries in the UK as well as having his work in many private collections at home and abroad.
President’s Foreword
Benchmark: something that serves as a standard by which others may be measured or judged (technical skill, originality, innovation and enthusiasm).
To accompany this year’s exhibition, we have produced two short films about the magic of pastels and these can be found on both the Pastel Society and the Mall Galleries websites. Members, both young and old, enthuse over their reasons for using dry media, particularly pastels, and also point out how pastels have been used by many great artists despite their popularity fluctuating over the centuries.
It is a mixed blessing today that there are so many media choices for the aspiring artist to take up but often it is still oil and watercolour that are pursued. This is a missed opportunity given that pastels have such a direct association with an artist’s first drawing implements, the humble pencil or piece of charcoal, and yet the small progression needed to discover the magic of painting in pastel is often overlooked. This is something that the Pastel Society strives to change
The late Paula Rego demonstrated the power and flexibility of pastels and I hope that like me, you will be inspired by the words of a youthful centenarian, the eminent pastel artist Anthony Eyton, who has written so beautifully in this catalogue about how pastel is so important for him in his work.
We are a proud member of The Federation of British Artists (FBA). All existing members of the constituent FBA societies uphold benchmarks by operating a peer review selection system for all new candidates, ensuring both a duty of care and that
standards will continue to grow. Whilst never complacent, we firmly believe that the proof of this approach is all around you today and that by encouraging young artists and new members and by setting higher and higher benchmarks, this year’s exhibition continues to emphasise the quality and beauty of work that can be created with pastel and dry media.
We hope very much that you enjoy our exhibition and that you will take the opportunity to try your own hand at pastel and dry media during the various events organised in our ‘Studio’ in the East Gallery. You may also see that unique piece of work that resonates with you so strongly that it becomes yours to own and enjoy.
Richard Rees, President, the Pastel Society www.thepastelsociety.org.uk www.mallgalleries.org.uk
Guest Speaker Carole Hübscher
We are very pleased to have the Caran d’Ache CEO Carole Hübscher open the exhibition this year. She is coming over specially from Switzerland to do this.
To see an interview with Carole go to look on YouTube for: In Conversation With Carole Hübscher and Eric Vitus, Caran d’Ache | Jackson’s Art. In this video, Carole discusses the history of Caran d’Ache and the complex processes used for producing their high quality products.
Richard Rees Bryce Canyon, USA
The Pastel Society Catalogue Awards
Second Prize
Christopher Perry
Just One Bite
Soft pastel 50 x 70 cm
I am a self-taught artist and my method is not focused on capturing the ultra-realistic but rather to suggest, with an emphasis on light and colour combinations. I have no real preference for my chosen subjects, they are often driven by some unique quality such as location, pose or how light interacts with it.
First Prize
Kevin Nzumbi Mutemi
Selfie at St. Catharine’s, Fun Vans, Shadow Silhouette
Oil pastel 24 x 18 cm
I was born and raised in Kenya, where I did my early schooling, later moving to Australia, where I finished school, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences.
I further studied a Master of Philosophy (Sciences) and moved to Germany to complete a PhD in Evolutionary Genomics at EMBL and Universität Heidelberg.
Toward the end of my studies, I became increasingly moved to pursuing art, which I had the good fortune to do in early 2024. I fell in love with pastels for their colour vibrancy and immediacy, and I feel very
lucky that pastels have been sharing their secrets with me. I want to tell stories through art, and explore some abstract ideas about scenery and still life. I’m still learning so I’m really not sure where I’m going, but for now I’m grateful.
I’m a bit shy about doing a self-portrait, and I felt this drawing expresses that sentiment as honestly as I currently know how. I really liked the strong contrasts of light and shadow and an overall minimal palette, except the Vans and the socks I was wearing.
Featured Artist: Anthony Eyton
Anthony Eyton RA Hon PS
The intensity in Anthony’s work comes from the fusion of direct observation coupled with the vibration of the process. Painting and drawing for him is an adventure where he enjoys being faced with dilemmas along the way. It becomes a method to justify his existence, to express spirit and soul and tell stories. Anthony loves to get words or thoughts into paint. Throughout his life his enthusiasm has never faded, now in his hundredth year he maintains a zest for life and a love of learning.
Artistic Process
‘I adopt a process of scanning, in an almost abstract way, later to be a search in depth, ending undoubtedly with a dramatic, dynamic design. I want to capture the resonance of a particular item, its presence and actuality. Leaving parts of the composition ambiguous for the audience to decipher, has a bearing on the feel and atmosphere of a painting’.
Anthony finds compositional rules can be an impediment by stopping the visual flow from the subject. ‘One must have a plan though, in order that everything speaks to one another. Colour contrasts of warm and cool are essential. I try to match the colours in nature, with a tonal structure. There comes a time when the picture in front of me prompts me to make colour changes. Paradoxically the picture rather than nature calls the tune.’ On some complex scenes Anthony doesn’t try to simplify, he finds its very complexity is its power.
Working in Pastel
‘I welcome the closeness of handheld pastels; it is in direct contrast to my gestural painting. With regard to pastels
I feel I am almost self-taught. I just feel completely at home with them as a quick means to self-expression. Pastel promotes physicality, a feeling of substance, and thus gives me an emotional response to the motif. I enjoy the immediacy. It becomes an intimate experience.
With a preference for Unison, Sennelier or Schmincke pastels, I like a slightly rough paper, either coloured, a grey or brown or even black. I have two boxes of pastels; one warm colours, the other cold and dark – all mixed up, no order.
Like Degas I try to achieve transparency in pastel by adding a fixative after each layer of colour. This is repeated until chromatic richness is achieved. By fixing each stage hatching could be added without smudging previous layers or compromising vibrancy of colour.
To begin a pastel piece I make a few tentative marks on the paper. I can start in charcoal or any colour, to see composition. Sometimes, a colour or extraordinary person, a woman or possibly child can galvanize me; I look for colour, and then pounce! No technique. I just apply colour as subject demands. It’s very important when surface gets powdery, clogged or stale to spray on a good coat of fixative to remake a hard surface. This makes the surface darker so more fresh pastel must be applied, full of light and resonance. I try not to fix it on completion, as the brilliance of colour becomes dulled.’
Biography
Anthony Eyton studied fine art at Reading University in 1941 before serving in the Army from 1942 to 1947. He went on to study at Camberwell School of Art from 1947 to 1950, and in 1951 received an Abbey Major Scholarship, taking him to work in Italy for two years.
Anthony has won many awards and had many solo exhibitions. He taught at the Royal Academy Schools from 1964 to 1999. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1986, and a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1988. Anthony was awarded an OBE in June 2023. Lockdown Life 2020–2021 An Inside Job is a recently published book available from the Royal Academy shop. Portrait photography, taken by his daughter Sarah, captures the work Anthony was creating at that time with narrative taken from his diaries.
This was a large pastel on board, which gave firm support. It is my garden. Its wildness appeals to me. On the left, an oak tree in deep amber, strident against the white sky. The bright cadmium and emerald green contrasts with bright, cold blues of ferns in the foreground. It’s all about dappled light and the Vandyke brown of the trees.
Brixton Road Garden Pastel
Exhibiting Members
Tony Allain Isle of Eigg Soft pastel 26 x 66 cm £1,200
Angela A’Court Hidden Dreams
Soft pastel 41 x 51 cm £2,400
Glenys Ambrus Still Life with Old Doll Pastel pencil 64 x 84 cm £1,850
Michele Ashby Mood Pastel 45 x 35 cm £1,500
Tanya Avchinnikova Frequencies. Celtic Sea. XI
Soft pastel 100 x 70 cm £4,000
Janine Baldwin Between the Showers Pastel, charcoal and graphite 24 x 34 cm £475
Liz Balkwill Boiled Egg and Soldiers Pastel 20 x 23 cm £895
Andrew Barrowman Tangled Tree Trunk
Charcoal on handmade paper 24 x 27 cm £595
Sarah Bee Dartmoor Gorse Soft pastel with acrylic 59 x 59 cm £1,500
Caroline Bays Kelly with Green Scarf
Pastel 70 x 50 cm £1,200
David Brammeld Up on the Hill Pastel 42 x 60 cm £1,200
James Crittenden Chestnut in Winter Andalusia
Pastel 66 x 87 cm £4,950
Cheryl Culver Little Waterfall
Pastel 56 x 56 cm £1,575
Roger Dellar The Little Yellow House Kitchen
Pastel 30 x 30 cm £695
Melodie Cook The Imminent Escape
Pastel 60 x 84 cm £2,950
Louise Diggle Fountains, Kensington Gardens
Soft pastel on card 18 x 22 cm £520
Anthony Eyton Spitalfields Pastel 60 x 74 cm £POA
Jaana Fowler Blue Rubber Pastel and pencil 20 x 25 cm £475
Sheila Goodman Harz Mountain Lake Pastel 46 x 44 cm £895
Jenny Halstead Time & Tide Pastel 47 x 49 cm £950
Jeannette Hayes Ringdale Walk Pastel on paper 26 x 27 cm £750
Valeriy Gridnev Before the Curtain Call Pastel on paper 65 x 50 cm £5,200
Martin Goold White River Oil pastel and pencil 54 x 42 cm £950
Benjamin Hope Threadneedle Sun Charcoal 31 x 31 cm £1,100
Jane Hodgson The Blue Tits
Soft pastel and carbon pencil 33 x 37 cm £785
Simon Hodges Venice; Considering a composition
Soft and water-soluble pastel 26 x 40 cm £2,500
Felicity House Washing Up Pastel 42 x 48 cm £850
Moira Huntly Vaison La Romaine, Provence Pastel on board 59 x 70 cm £2,950
Jill Jeffrey Red Shed Pastel 34 x 54 cm £975
Curtis Holder The Stage Technician Coloured pencil and acrylic gouache on paper 100 x 80 cm £4,250
Henry Jabbour Hug Oil pastel and pigment stick on board 36 x 28 cm £1,200
Simon Klein Fragile Oil pastel on paper
77 x 48 cm £1,665
Kevin Line Gunsmith Charcoal on paper 84 x 59 cm £2,800
Susie Prangnell Park Entertainers Soft pastel
33 x 33 cm £680
Jayne Perkins Cornish Cove Pastel
40 x 60 cm £850
50 x 50 cm
£1,200
91
Susan Relph Prolonged Study from Life, Autumn 2024 (Work in Progress) Pastel
x 70 cm £7,000
Dave Roberts Bardsey Sunset Soft pastel
76 x 76 cm £2,200
Richard Rees Iona Beach Oil pastel on acrylic ink on paper 60 x 42 cm £1,200
Ian Rawling Love on Toast Soft pastel and pastel pencil
John Tookey Showers Gilling West Pastel
25 x 35 cm £600
Halla Shafey Still Life with Hibiscus Soft pastel
27 x 40 cm £1,200
Malcolm Taylor Return of the Tide Pastel 40 x 43 cm £1,200
Norma Stephenson Farms and Barns
Pastel 35 x 35 cm £800
Peter Vincent Down to Earth (Tuxlith Chapel)
Pastel 64 x 64 cm £850
Christine Watson Blue Steps
Pastel on paper 59 x 42 cm £750
Katrina Wallis-King Wind through the Cottongrass
Pastel, charcoal and acrylic 53 x 34 cm £750
Roy Wright Late Summer Oak Charcoal 42 x 57 cm £1,450
Members of the Pastel Society
Members
A’COURT, Angela
ALLAIN, Tony, RSMA
AMBRUS, Glenys
ASHBY, Michele
AVCHINNIKOVA, Tanya
BALDWIN, Janine
BALKWILL, Liz
BARROWMAN, Andrew
BAYS, Caroline
BEE, Sarah
BENNETT, Keith
BRAMMELD, David, RBA
BROWN, Peter, PPNEAC RBA ROI
COOK, Melodie
CULVER, Cheryl, RBA
DAKAKNI, Susan
DELLAR, Roger, RI ROI RSMA
DIGGLE, Louise
DRAPER, Matthew
FOWLER, Jaana
GLASS, Margaret
GOODMAN, Sheila
GOOLD, Martin
GRIDNEV, Valeriy, ROI RP
HALSTEAD, Jenny
HAYES, Jeannette
HODGES, Simon
HODGSON, Jane
HOLDER, Curtis
HOPE, Benjamin, NEAC ROI RP RSMA
HOUSE, Felicity, NEAC
JABBOUR, Henry, VPRBA
JEFFREY, Jill
KLEIN, Simon
LINE, Kevin
PERKINS, Jayne
PRANGNELL, Susie
PROWSE, Alexander
Acknowledgements
RAWLING, Ian
REES, Richard
RELPH, Susan
ROBERTS, Dave
ROPER, Keith
ROWBOTHAM, Mark
SHAFEY, Halla
STEPHENSON, Norma
TAYLOR, Malcolm, RBA
TOOKEY, John
VINCENT, Peter
WALLIS-KING, Katrina
WATSON, Christine
WRIGHT, Roy
Senior Members
CRITTENDEN, James
DUNCE, Brian
HAYES, Jeannette
MARSHALL, Richard
SMITH, Norman
SPENCER, Claire
YOSHIMOTO, Eiko
Honorary Retired Members
ARNOLD, June
LONGUEVILLE, James
NORMAN, Michael
RICHARDSON, Robert
Honorary Members
ARMFIELD, Diana, RA HNEAC
DRAPER, Kenneth, RA
EYTON, Anthony, RA Hon ROI
HEMINGWAY, Andrew
PACKER, William, NEAC Hon RBA
The Pastel Society is a registered charity number 296479
www.thepastelsociety.org.uk
Sponsor Caran d’Ache
President Richard Rees
Vice President Simon Hodges
Treasurer GMP, LLP
Honorary Secretary Jenny Halstead
Trustee Jeannette Hayes
Membership Secretary Martin Goold
Publicity Secretary Melodie Cook
Education Secretary Richard Rees
Exhibitions Officer Peter Vincent
Council Sarah Bee, Cheryl Culver, Sheila
Goodman, Felicity House, Susan Relph, Roy Wright
Archivist Felicity House
AGBI Steward Simon Klein
Website & MailChimp Cheryl Culver
Companions of the Pastel Society
Jack Clewer, Ken Gofton, Greg Ladd, Anthony J Lester, John Molony, William Packer, Patricia Patterson, Alec Reed CBE
President: Nicola Hicks MBE
For over 200 years the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution has provided assistance to professional artists and their dependants in times of need. Funds are urgently needed for the continuation of this work.
Office of the Institution: 15 Churton Street, Pimlico, London, SW1V 2LY
www.agbi.co.uk Telephone 020 7734 1193
Registered Charity No. 212667
www.thepastelsociety.org.uk