In the February issue of the magazine ("Creative Spark," in the Art Matters column, page 7), pastel artist Carole Katchen offered readers a Creative Spark challenge: generate visual energy by developing an entire painting with a certain type of stroke. We invited readers to e-mail us with their stroke-inspired creations.

How surprised our team was by the increase in responses since the first challenge; our inbox was flooded with excellent work! Congratulations to Becky Way, of Yukon, Okla., for her winning piece, Two of a Kind (above). “Two of a Kind is a small study, painted with the ‘chunk-chunk’ stroke with half-inch pieces of Ludwig pastels on Kitty Wallis paper, toned with a watercolor wash. It’s a quick push-and-pull stroke,” the artist writes. Way can look forward to some more Wallis paper—her prize is 16 (18x24) sheets of Wallis’ Belgian Mist and Museum paper. Many thanks to Kitty Wallis for her generosity!


Other favorite submissions include Warm & Cool (below, left) by Lisa Fricker, of Lakeport, Calif., in which the artist “experimented with crosshatched strokes to move beyond filling contours, exploring the painting vs. drawing issue that is unique to pastel.” In Turning Point (below, right), by Barbara Newton, the artist “was thinking of wind and movement. The strokes I chose to portray that feeling are loose, open and random to give the feeling of rustling leaves and swaying grass.”


More favorites (below, L-to-R): Le Petit Dejouner de Blu by Brenda Boylan, Sadie by Carol Murphy and Carbon by Maret Webb.
   

Thanks to everyone who participated in our challenge. Look for the next Creative Spark in the April issue of the magazine—coming soon (on sale on newsstands March 11). The winner of that challenge will receive $150 worth of PanPastels.