About the Artist
Sarah Blumenschein makes her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Many are surprised to find out that even though creating art was her first passion and first choice of a degree, she ended up earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering. As a result, she spent 14 years working in industry as an engineer before “retiring” to raise children and start working on her art again using pastels as a medium.
Initially, Sarah thought she wanted to paint landscapes, but eventually found herself more interested and excited about painting still-life due to the variety of colors, shapes, textures, and reflective surfaces possible. She enjoys painting both and often experiments with mixing a still-life with a landscape.
The pastel medium is appealing to Sarah because of the immediacy of the color, and the ability to build layers of colors. Her selection of subjects is often based on a desire to find and replicate the way light bounces around a scene or setup. For that reason, glass, china, and other reflective surfaces are often featured in her still life paintings. Flowers are also a favorite subject, whether as part of a still life or as found in nature. Sarah enjoys the challenge of capturing a strong sense of light and creating the illusion of 3 dimensions on a 2 dimensional surface.
Sarah entered her first Art exhibition in 2003 and was honored to be awarded 2nd place. Since that time she has won many local, national and international art competitions, including 1st place in the Still Life Category of The Artist Magazine 2009 Annual Art competition, The Grand Prize in the Pastel Journal’s 2010 Pastel 100 annual competition, “Best of Show” in the 2014 New Mexico Masterworks competition and the 2015 Pastel Society of New Mexico National Exhibition, “The Pat and Bob Suggs Award for Still Life and Floral” in the 2021 Pastel Society of America “Enduring Brilliance” Exhibition, and 1st Place in the Open Division of the 2021 International Association of Pastel Societies Web Show. In addition to awards, Sarah has also earned Signature status in the Pastel Society of America, Distinguished Pastelist status in the Pastel Society of New Mexico and Pastel Society of the West Coast, and Master Circle Status in the International Association of Pastel Societies. Her artwork has also been featured in magazine articles in both the Artist’s Magazine and the Pastel Journal.
With each painting, Sarah hopes to inspire an emotional reaction in the viewer of joy or happiness.
“I found I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no word for.” – Georgia O’Keefe
Awards and Honors:
2026 IAPS Master Circle Exhibition
2026 Best of Show - Richeson75 Still Life Exhibition (All Media)
2026 Honorable Mention - Richeson75 Small Works Exhibition (All Media)
2026 1st Place Pastels - New Mexico Masterworks 28th Exhibition
2026 4th Place in Still Life - Pastel Journal 27th Annual "Pastel 100" Competition
2025 3rd Place - 2025 Dakota Pastels Year End Contest
2025 4th Place - Dakota Pastels Q3 Online Competition
2025 1st Place - Pastel Society of New Mexico "Enchanted Colors" Exhibition
2025 1st Place Pastels - New Mexico Masterworks 27th Exhibition
2024 Best of Show (American Art Collector Award) - Pastel Society of New Mexico "Enchanted Colors" Exhibition
2024 Best of Show - Masterworks of New Mexico 26th Exhibition
2024 2nd place and 2 x Honorable Mention in Still Life – Pastel Journal 25th Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2024 Finalist - Richeson75 Small Works Exhibition
2023 1st Place Pastels- New Mexico Masterworks 25th Exhibition
2023 Honorable Mention – Pastel Journal 24th Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2022 Honorable Mention – 4th Quarter Dakota Pastels Competition
2022 1st Award of Excellence – Pastel Society of the Southwest 41st Annual Juried Exhibition
2022 J. Luda Pastels Award – Pastel Society of America 50th “Enduring Brilliance” Exhibition
2022 Honorable Mention – 2nd Quarter Dakota Pastel Competition
2022 3rd place – Uart Annual Online Comopetition
2022 3rd place – Pastel Society of Colorado “17th Annual Mile High Exhibition
2022 4th place and Honorable Mention in Still Life – Pastel Journal 23rd Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2022 Award of Excellence – New Mexico Masterworks 24th Exhibition
2021 Honorable Mention - 4th Quarter Dakota Pastel Competition
2021 “Best of Show” – Pastel Society of Colorado Small Works Exhibition
2021 1st Place Award – Open Division of International Association of Pastel Societies Web show
2021 2nd Award of Excellence – Pastel Society of the Southwest “40th National Juried Exhibition”
2021 Pat and Bob Suggs Award for Still Life and Floral – Pastel Society of America “49th Annual Exhibition”
2021 2nd place – Pastel Society of New Mexico “29th National Pastel Painting Exhibition”
2021 1st Place Pastel Division – New Mexico Masterworks 23rd Exhibition
2020 3rd place – Pastel Society of New Mexico “28th National Pastel Painting Exhibition”
2020 2nd place – Pastel Society of Colorado “16th Annual Mile High National Exhibition”
2020 3rd place – Uart Annual Online Competition
2019 1st place – Uart Annual Online Competition
2018 4th place – Pastel Society of New Mexico 26th National Exhibition
2017 Juror of awards for Still Life Category – Pastel Journal 17th Annual “Pastel 100” competition.
2016 People’s Choice Award – Pastel Society of New Mexico 25th National Exhibition
2016 3rd Place and Honorable Mention in Still Life – Pastel Journal 16th Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2016 Finalist in Still Life (twice) – The Artist’s Magazine 32nd Annual Competition
2015 “Best of Show” – Pastel Society of New Mexico 24th National Exhibition
2015 Sponsorship Award – New Mexico Masterworks 17th Annual Exhibition
2014 Honorable Mention in Still Life – Pastel Journal 14th Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2014 Finalist in Still Life – The Artist’s Magazine 30th Annual Competition
2014 “Best of Show” – New Mexico Masterworks 16th Annual Exhibition
2013 1st Place Pastels – New Mexico Masterworks 15th Annual Exhibition
2012 Sponsorship Award - Pastel Society of New Mexico 21st National Exhibition
2012 Finalist in Still Life – The Artist’s Magazine 28th Annual Competition
2012 3rd Place and Honorable Mention in Still Life – Pastel Journal 12th Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2011 2nd place and Sponsorship award – Pastel Society of New Mexico 20th National Exhibition
2011 Official Poster Artist – University Of New Mexico Homecoming 2011
2011 Honorable Mentions – Pastel Journal 12th Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2010 Finalist – Southwest Art Magazine’s 21 over 31Annual Competition
2010 Finalist in Still Life (twice) – The Artist’s Magazine 27th Annual Competition
2010 Honorable Mention and People’s Choice – New Mexico Masterworks 12th Annual Exhibition
2010 Pastel Journal Grand Prize Award – Pastel Journal 11th Annual “Pastel 100” competition
2009 2nd Place and People’s Choice - Pastel Society of New Mexico 18th National Exhibition
2009 Official Poster Artist – 2009 Weems International Artfest
2009 1st Place and Finalist in Still Life – The Artist’s Magazine 26th Annual Competition
2008 2nd Place and Honorable Mention in Still Life and Floral – Pastel Journal “Pastel 100” competition
2008 Pat Berret Award – Pastel Society of New Mexico 17th National Exhibition
2008 Presidents Award – Pastel Society of the West Coast 22nd “Pastel USA” International Exhibition
2008 1st Place Pastels – New Mexico Masterworks 10th Annual Exhibition
2007 Anita Louise West/Terry Ludwig Award – Pastel Society of New Mexico 16th National Exhibition
2007 4th Place and Honorable Mention in Still Life and Floral – Pastel Journal “Pastel 100” competition
2007 5th Place and Honorable Mention in Still Life and Floral – Pastel Journal “Pastel 100” competition
2006 4th Place and People’s Choice - Pastel Society of New Mexico 15th National Exhibition
2006 1st Place Pastels – New Mexico Expo Fine Arts Exhibition
2005 Daler-Rowney Award – Pastel Society of New Mexico 14th National Exhibition”
2005 Finalist - “The Artist’s Magazine” 22nd Annual Art Competition. (13,000 entries)
2005 3rd Place Pastels - New Mexico Masterworks 7th Annual Exhibition
Publications:
The Pastel Journal Spring 2026: "Pastel 100" competition - 4th place in Still Life
The Pastel Journal Spring 2024: “Pastel 100” competition – 2nd place, two Honorable Mentions in Still Life
The Pastel Journal Spring 2022: “Pastel 100” competition – 4th place, Honorable Mention in Still Life
“Pure Color 2” – contributor to “Color and Light” section
The Pastel Journal August 2012: Feature Article - “Brought to Life”
The Pastel Journal Mar-Apr, 2012: “Pastel 100” competition – 3rd place, Honorable Mention in Still Life
The Pastel Journal Mar-Apr, 2010: “Pastel 100” competition – Grand Prize award feature and Cover
The Artist’s Magazine Dec 2009: Annual Competition – 1st place and Finalist in Still Life
The Pastel Journal Mar-Apr, 2009: “Pastel 100” competition – 2nd place, Honorable Mention in Still Life
The Pastel Journal Mar-Apr, 2008: “Pastel 100” competition – 4th place, Honorable Mention in Still Life
The Pastel Journal Mar-Apr, 2007: “Pastel 100” competition – 5th place, Honorable Mention in Still Life
The Pastel Journal Jul-Aug, 2006: Feature Article
