In the April issue of the magazine ("Creative Spark," in the Art Matters column), pastel artist Carole Katchen offered readers a Creative Spark challenge: "Take some time off, even if only long enough to walk around a park or visit a farmers' market—and let your surroundings inspire your work." We invited readers to e-mail us with their travel-inspired pastels.

We received our largest response to date: more than 100 submissions! Congratulations to Julie Deane, of Gainesville, Ga., for her winning piece, Reverence (at right). “During a music and praise session one evening [on a mission trip to Peru]," the artist writes, "the man in the foreground of the painting came into the church and stood next to me. He was obviously very weary, but he stood for hours that night, worshipping quietly. The scene was a highlight of my trip." Deane won $150 worth of PanPastel colors and tools—many thanks to Colorfin for their generosity!



Other favorite submissions included: (below, top row) Nature’s Cathedral by Cecilia E. Baker, of Ridgeland, Miss., and Karen Ann Patton’s Along the Ormond Loop; (second row) Grand Indeed, by Sandy Byers; (bottom row) The Grid by Trish Callaghan, of Murwillumbah, Northern New South Wales, Australia, and Lamar Valley, by Lisa Sheppard, of Westminster, Md.