2024 Members Only Competition Winners

Because the deadline for the 2025 Members Only Competition is coming soon, let's look back at the winners from the 2024 competition. Each first place winner shared their inspiration behind their winning work as well as their design and composition process. We hope their responses inspire you to enter this year's competition.

1st Place Commissioned Portrait - David Pagani

David Pagani, Marvin Curl, 18x24", oil

Inspiration

Inspiration is a multi-layered thing. In portraiture, for me, it often begins with the immediate impression of a subject—in this case, Marvin, a charming and handsome gentleman with impeccable taste. But that’s just the surface. Through our conversations leading up to the portrait, I discovered Marvin’s deeper story: he's a seasoned world traveler, an avid art collector, and a decorated Vietnam veteran, among other things. These richer layers of inspiration add depth and color to the portrait’s design.

Then there’s the personal reservoir of inspiration I’ve built over years as an artist and designer. What painters, photographers, or designers am I into right now? And in the past? Every artistic influence in my life up to the moment I begin a portrait converges with the unique inspiration provided by the subject. The result, I hope, is a dynamic and engaging portrait that captures more than just a likeness—it tells a story.

Design and Composition

Marvin is a no-nonsense kind of guy who naturally commands attention without demanding it. I wanted his portrait to reflect that quality, so I chose a relaxed yet direct pose, with him seated and facing forward. For the lighting, I used a large semi-soft single-light setup as the main source, complemented by a bounce card on the floor to illuminate the area under his cap.

To keep the focus on Marvin and his carefully curated wardrobe, I opted for a neutral background, avoiding any colors or environments that might compete with the portrait’s simplicity and strength. Knowing my tendency to get lost in fine details, I made a deliberate effort to reserve precision for his face and hands—the key areas of focus—while using more gestural strokes for elements like his sweater and pants.

1st Place Non-Commissioned Portrait - Carla Paine

Carla Paine, Whispers, 20x26", oil

Inspiration

My work grows in an internal and subconscious manner: my ideas begin with images rather than an intellectual statement, and I prefer to leave it to the viewer to find their own meaning. I will add, however, that hands can express as much as a face, and in this particular work I was looking to use that emotive quality as best I could. I remember looking a lot at John Collier’s painting ‘Cassandra’ for inspiration both in terms of pose as well as in his use of color.

Design and Composition

I began work on this piece planning to have some splashes of color in an otherwise dark portrait composition. The beads were decided upon and the rest evolved from work with the model in different dress and pose until something struck just right. In the end, I was drawn to the textural differences between the knitted shawl, the braided hair and the beads. Working with natural northern light, I set up a kind of 'shadow box’ using black drapery surrounding the model on three sides to heighten the drama of the window as the single light source.

1st Place Outside the Box - Jackson Wrede

Jackson Wrede, Self-Portrait in a Cowboy Hat, 24x18", oil

Inspiration

This self-portrait reflects my enduring fascination with the mythos of the American West—a world that feels very distant from my daily life in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Though cowboys and horses aren’t native to my surroundings, I’ve always felt a nostalgic connection to that rugged, iconic imagery. For this year’s annual self-portrait, I leaned into that inspiration, blending realism with a playful, expressive, exaggerated cartoon sensibility. Unlike commissioned portraits, which demand accuracy and sometimes a certain restraint, a self-portrait offers creative liberty. I am essentially using this picture as a childish opportunity to "play dress-up” and embody a character outside my everyday experience—one that blends sincerity with a touch of theatricality. 

Design and Composition

I find more success when my model and references look as close as they can to what I actually envision for the painting. I ordered a cheap cowboy hat and wild rag on Amazon, and I staged myself in natural window light with my camera on a tripod set to a timer. To heighten the character’s sense of grit, I even bought a pack of cigarettes—something I basically never do—to add as another prop. While posing the figure is always an essential part of a portrait, in some ways, the real focus of this picture for me became the dynamic background. After selecting my favorite reference photo, I printed black-and-white copies on computer paper and sketched various background ideas directly onto the paper. Drawing from works by several artists, I crafted a composition centered around strong diagonals and layered details that guide the viewer’s eye around the canvas. The goal was to create an energetic interplay where my gaze anchors the painting while inviting closer exploration of the richly articulated surface around it. 

1st Place Animals as the Subject - Yelena Lamm         

Yelena Lamm, Hide and Seek, 36x20", oil

Inspiration

Cows have been one of my favorite subjects for the past several years. I think I’ve painted enough cows by now to fill a decent-sized dairy farm, and I never get tired of their faces. What’s not to love about cows? They are social, friendly, and full of character. Their facial expressions are hilarious, they have beautiful eyelashes, the best hairdos, and the softest ears. Every time I work on a painting, I imagine what they might be thinking. I often assign animals distinct characters and personalities while trying not to fall too deeply into anthropomorphism. I enjoy adding a healthy dose of humor to my work.

Design and Composition

Hide and Seek is both playful and thought-provoking. It invites viewers to reflect on the fragile world we share while also encouraging them to simply smile at the cows’ adorable faces. The idea for the painting came to me when I envisioned cows peeking out from behind a bale of hay, and the title followed immediately. I built the composition in a tall, vertical format with a circular, forward-moving rhythm. Throughout the process, it was important to me that every element of the painting supported this spiral motion. Interestingly, the original composition featured three cows. However, partway through the process, I decided to paint over a cow’s profile in the lower right corner. It was a tough decision, but it ultimately made for a stronger painting.

1st Place Still Life - Steve Scheuring

Steve Scheuring, Tastes of Home, 40x40", oil on canvas

Inspiration

If you want to learn and know a culture, eat their food. Tastes Of Home features foods and food brands local to Reading, Pennsylvania/Berks County, the greater Pennsylvania Dutch area, and Southeastern Pennsylvania. The painting celebrates foods easily identifiable to anyone from my home area - some are obvious like pretzels and cheesesteaks, some are subtle “deep cuts” - breakfast foods like scrapple (a spicy fried pork/cornmeal loaf slice), Taylor pork roll (a ham sausage), “dippy” eggs, and fasnachts (a potato flour donut served with molasses, usually Turkey brand, on Shrove Tuesday), and other classics like ring bologna, red beet eggs, Yuengling beer, A-Treat soda, sticky buns, shoofly pie, pot pie, and various pretzels (Reading, PA, is considered the pretzel capital of the world). My goal was to try to use the painting to bond with others from my area and create curiosity for all.

Design and Composition

Many of my paintings serve as a collage or "best of" list around a certain topic, so to celebrate all the items, I go with an all-over composition. I position the objects to create a swirling flow and movement. I use colored plates to break up the detail and create zones in the painting. Objects I want to emphasize and bring forward will have high contrast of lights and darks or colors opposite on the color wheel (like red objects on a green plate). Opposites I want to sit back will have low contrast, will tend toward bluer, cooler colors, and will be close to each other on the color wheel. Unity in the painting is created by evenly spreading colors like navy and green and repeating circular shapes (pretzels, pepperoni, red beet eggs, ring bologna) evenly throughout.