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We have grown from a few founding members to an international organization with nearly a hundred members. As we band together, we learn from each other. We gain strength and encouragement from seeing fellow members enter regional and national contests and win awards. As oil pastel artists have gotten their work published or won awards with their work, the oil pastel medium has gotten more attention. Oil pastels have been discussed or showcased in recent national art magazines and begun to be more prominently displayed in art supply catalogs. And with the newsletter, we have a way to share tips, techniques and advice.

We, the members, ARE the Oil Pastel Society. We are each others inspiration, guide and tutor. Here’s looking forward to another great year. Cheers!

The OPS had a table at the biennial art materials show in October in suburban Chicago.

Good’s of Evanston http://www.goodsofevanston.com, a local art supply store, sponsored the event, “Art Alive ’05 –Art Materials Exposition and Market”.

Chicago area members Kathleen Flaherty (not shown), Jennifer Wambach (left) and Ann Tucker (right) helped out at the table.

We had several brands of oil pastels out while we worked. Several hundred people came through the hall, many stopped to chat.

What surprised all three of us was that we got asked very few questions like: “what is an oil pastel?” And instead, people would start out saying: “I’ve got some oil pastels but I don’t know how to use them.”

We were busy all day with a lot of artists interested in finding out more about the OPS. And, we each got some work done on a painting!

After hearing so many artists at the Chicago Arts Alive Show say they knew about oil pastels but not how to use them. I thought it might be helpful to provide a guide to any member interested in giving an Oil Pastel Workshop.

So we enlisted the help of veteran workshop instructor Gretchen Markle, Canada, to write up how she does her workshops.

We hope that this guide encourages you and gives you the courage to do a workshop in your area. Also, if you do a workshop, let us know how it turned out!

Two of Marilynn Brandenburger's oil pastel paintings won awards in recent shows in the Atlanta area:

"Bisque One" won 3rd place in the Atlanta Artist Center's annual Member's Show. "Studio Meditations: Bisque One," 14.5x11, oil pastel over acrylic on Clayboard Textured

"Three Part Harmony" won an Honorable Mention at The South Cobb Arts Alliance's 18th National Juried Exhibition. "Studio Meditations: Three Part Harmony," 18x12, oil pastel over acrylic on Pastelboard)

Marilynn Brandenburger will be teaching an 8-week course "Introduction to Oil Pastel" at the Spruill Center for the Arts, Atlanta, GA, January 10 - March 7, 2006. This is a class for intermediate and advanced students who have solid skills in drawing & painting. We will focus on basic as well as experimental techniques. Students will work on a variety of supports, such as paper, panel and canvas; try out various surfaces, including gesso, clay and pastel grounds; and explore combining other media with oil pastel.
Subject matter will include still life and abstracts. Sessions will include lecture, demonstration, in-class exercises and weekly homework assignments.

TIME: Tuesdays 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

COST: $145 Spruill Center members; $165 non-members

For more information, go to http://www.brandenburgerstudios.com/classes.html or
email: marilynn@brandenburgerstudios.com

November 11, 2005 at their Art of the Carolinas Show - For more information here is the link:

This month we do not have a featured artist. Instead, we asked our membership to share their thoughts about the OPS. Read how some members responded to questions from “Why did you join OPS?” to “Is OPS having an impact?” Here is the link:

Local Chapter of Oil Pastel Society looking to form… - Ann Tucker

There are several members of OPS living in the Chicago, IL area. I have had the opportunity to speak with a few and we all share a desire to get together.

I will need to find a free place to meet that will allow us to use our oil pastels. And we will need to decide on a time to meet. So as a starting point, I have created a Blog (journal type website) as a way to share information as I look into how to start up a local chapter.

If you would like to be involved in the set up of the Oil Pastel Society –Chicago Chapter, please send me an email and don’t forget to bookmark the Blog site.

Oil Pastel Society - Chicago Chapter http://opscc.blogspot.com

The OPS is providing this information as a service to our members. No endorsement is intended. The artist assumes responsibility for reading the prospectus and determining eligibility.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Beginning January 2006, the OPS newsletter, Oil Spiel, will become a "Members Only" benefit. It was felt that during the first year the newsletter should be available to everyone, even non-members, in order to further the interest in oil pastels through the OPS web site.

Now it is time to send the newsletter exclusively to paid members. Please keep your membership current so you won't miss out on all the valuable information. Further information regarding how the Newsletter will be made available to members will be published in the December issue of the Oil Spiel newsletter.

Future Articles

Many of our best articles, demos and tips have come from members. If you have something interesting that you’d like to share, please send us an email. Even if you don’t think what you have to share could be a whole article, sometimes it can be a starting point for an email conversation which then can turn into an article.

There are only a few of us working on this newsletter and it is very easy to run out of ideas. So…..

If you have something interesting that you’d like to share, please send us an email at

One way that all of you can help to make the Oil Pastel Society more visible is by placing a link from your personal website to the Society's home page or you can link to your artist gallery from your homepage. Feel free to use the new society logo as a graphic on your links page! Below is the reference and the logo which has been downsized. Copy and paste the reference into one of your web pages and download the graphic and upload to your site.

If you have a new email address, please notify membership@oilpastelsociety.com so that our records can be updated and you don't miss out on any of the news!

And don't forget, Cafe Press has items for sale featuring our beautiful OPS logo and can be seen at: