January 2013

 Happy New Year to all 248 current Southeastern Pastel Society members. Thanks for the opportunity and honor to serve you and our organization as President in 2013. We celebrate our 25th year as one of the United States’ premier pastel societies.

As I take the reins, I want to thank all of the wonderful volunteers who founded and nurtured this society in the past. Activities and functions don’t fall perfectly into place by themselves. This is a volunteer organization that wouldn’t function without people stepping forward offering their time and talents to further our mutual goals and causes. I urge you to take an active part in the activities and functions of SPS.

 Please let one of the Board members or me know where your interests lie. We will find a position for you to enjoy, assist and grow while helping others. The more you participate, the more you will benefit from your Society membership.

 In this year, the Board of Directors and I will be evaluating our internal workings: the Bylaws, our 5013c tax status, our financial strength and accounting systems, our society’s purpose, and SPS goals for the next two, five and twenty-five 25 years. Annual exhibition venues and judges have been selected through 2015. We will be planning and finalizing exhibition locations and judges for the 2016-17 calendar years. Other goals will be to continue to provide support and timely information for our current members while encouraging unaffiliated pastel painters to join our society.

Please encourage your friends to join with us by sending them a copy of the DustBuster and taking them to a monthly meeting or annual exhibition. Someone encouraged you to work in pastel and to join SPS. Now is the time for you to pass on the opportunity to someone else. And remember to renew your membership through the easy on-line system. It just takes a minute and the benefits will last a lifetime.

Keep on strokin’, Gary Baughman