2026 Stone Scholarship Awards

This is the 6th year that the PPSCC Scholarship Committee has been awarding scholarships to emerging artists that have shown great commitment and potential as pastelists.

Each recipient gets a free seat in one of our popular workshops led by award-winning master pastelists.

We believe Barbara Stone, former president and founding member of PPSCC, would be delighted to see how this fund has benefitted so many people.

Congratulations to all of the 2026 recipients!

Scholarship Recipients

A retired architect, Bob has recently taken a deeper dive into pastels.

He is drawn to images with atmospheric and graphic qualities and eager to learn more about composition, color and improving his overall execution, working with intention. Bob’s work was accepted into the FPO exhibition.

Mary fell in love with pastels at an early age but a family and a career took her in another direction. She circled back to pastels years later, as a reprieve from her work as an oncologist and as a way to express herself.

For the last six years, Mary has gotten more serious about the medium, and now, will continue her learning with the benefit of a workshop seat. Mary’s work was accepted into the FPO exhibition.

A full professor & Dept Chair of Design Arts at Cornell U, Sheila chose an early retirement in 2018 to focus on her artistic development.

Since then, she has taken dozens of classes in a variety of media but keeps returning to pastels for its bold color and mark making. She is grateful for the opportunity to continue her development as a pastel artist.

Sheila’s work was accepted into the FPO exhibition.

Paula discovered pastels 7 years ago after taking a pastel workshop with Betsy Payne Cook.

She likes to explore new techniques, styles and subject matter and wants to be more expressive. She is looking forward to more workshops with accomplished pastelists to continue her artistic journey.

Throughout his career as an engineer, Carlos has worked with several mediums including oils, mono-prints, watercolors and, since 2024, pastels.

He likes painting landscapes and florals with an abstract and colorful style. He is looking forward to continuing to develop his skills, particularly mark-making.

After leaving her career as a graphic designer in NYC, Sue got her teaching degree and became an art teacher.

Initially working in oils, she recently discovered pastels and fell in love with the medium. Sue is interested in landscapes, still life and especially food paintings. And she is ready to learn more!