• on ArtistsNetwork.TV
• on DVD
• his previous books

• a one-year subscription to The Artist's Magazine OR any North Light art book
  
• three months of unlimited access to all the online art workshops at ArtistsNetwork.TV
• and 10% off every purchase you make at the North Light Shop.

Oregon-based painter Mitch Baird was surprised to hear the good news when we called him. At the American Impressionist Society show held at Saks Galleries in Denver, he won not just one but two top awards for his painting Morning Ensigns, Italy (oil, 16x12): Best of Show (selected by Quang Ho) and Southwest Art’s Award of Excellence.

For the past few years, Mitch says, he's usually entered landscapes in contests. But this time he decided to take a chance and enter something a little different with a figure in it. The inspiration for the piece originated from a trip to Venice two years ago, he says. "I was actually up one morning early on my way to San Marcos Square to get reference photos and paint the area before the crowds showed up. I turned onto this particular street looking into the light, and the Italian flags were lit up like firecrackers! I had walked this street before, but in this light and with the missing crowds it was something special. Because of light and perspective, I felt it might make an impression or add variety to the show."

Mitch was right. In the future, he plans to paint more figurative works, he says. Read more about Mitch Baird in Southwest Art's January issue, where he's featured in our Artist to Watch column.

—Bonnie Gangelhoff

MORE RESOURCES FOR ARTISTS

• Online Seminars for Fine Artists
• Instantly download fine art magazines, books & video workshops
• Sign up for your Artist's Network email newsletter

Our Artist's Network Online Seminars are a great way to learn about art from the comfort of your own home. Each seminar is presented by an expert in the field who guides you through an hour-long discussion of your favorite art topics. In our next seminar Nov. 3, The Artists Magazine's Maureen Bloomfield pairs up with Watercolor Artist's Kelly Kane to help you make a strong, positive impression on judges when entering art competitions. Learn more about Entering Art Competitions here.

ArtistsNetwork.TV's streaming, downloadable and DVD art classes are like having a one-on-one in-studio session with a professional artist. This month we filmed Sterling Edwards, and I am amazed at how just by watching him paint, right there in front of me, I now find luminous watercolors actually doable and fun. And, I've got to get my hands on some encaustic materials—once you watch our latest production, Encaustic Techniques with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch, you'll be itching to melt wax, too.

—Jen Lepore
Online education manager

• The US Mint is seeking artists. Professional artists can apply through its Artistic Infusion Program, the first deadline for which is Nov. 1. You might get the chance to design a real coin—how cool is that?
• Ways to save the environment, as envisioned by 20 video artists.
  
• A block-printing tutorial by artist Lizzy House. It's a good introduction to printmaking if you've never tried it! (And check out Print Liberation and our article on printmaking in the September 2009 issue of The Artist's Magazine.)
• For "those" days: An invoice for services rendered day ruining.
  

• Strokes of Genius 2 drawing competition book
• Splash 10: Passionate Brushstrokes

@artistsmagazine
@artistsnetwork
@wcamag
@pasteljournal
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@IMPACTbooks

• Sharpie's Project Backpack contest challenges you to decorate a backpack you buy at Office Depot with the two free Sharpie markers that come with it. (Or you can download a printable template to decorate.) The winner gets $5,000 and his or her design will be sold in stores next year. First- and second-place winners get cash prizes, too. The contest is open to US residents 5 and older. Deadline: Sept. 19
• Strathmore's illustration contest asks "how do you see green?" Just create a piece of work that expresses the environmental theme using dry mediums on Strathmore paper, and your work could be one of four to be featured on the covers of recycled drawing paper pads. The contest is open to artists older than 18. Deadline: Nov. 30
• Cray-Pas is seeking student artwork made with oil pastel. The 15th annual Wonderful, Colorful World Contest is open to US and Canadian students in grades K through 8. The winners get savings bonds and T-shirts. Deadline: Dec. 11

• The Pastel Journal Pastel 100: the deadline is today!
• The Artist's Magazine Over 60 Contest: Oct. 1
• The Artist's Magazine All-Media Online Competition: Nov. 2
• Splash 12: Dec. 15

• Post at least once a week—but several times a week is even better
• Let readers get to know you
• But don't get too personal
• Use lots of pictures!
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Artistsnetwork.com, a media sponsor of the show, had a booth with show attendees scooping up deals on books from North Light, issue compilations from The Artist’s Magazine and DVDs from ArtistsNetwork.TV. North Light authors Laurie Humble and Joyce Faulknor signed their books at the booth, too. You can see them giving one another's books the once over (right).

In addition to deals at manufacturer’s booths, the workshops drew a lot of interest from the crowds, especially the free demonstrations held in the shows pavilion stage. Patti Brady, author of Rethinking Acrylic, gave a free demonstration on the properties of acrylic paint (below), while Linda Kemp, author of Watercolor: Painting Outside the Lines, taught workshop attendees new applications for negative painting (up top).

Patti Brady gives a free demonstration on the properties of acrylic paint.

My favorite part of the show was the Next Top Artist competitions held on Friday and Saturday. Each competition began with five contestants who were given three colors and were asked to complete a painting on a given subject in eight minutes. From there, the judges eliminated two contestants. The remaining three contestants were given another color for use in their palette and a new subject to paint in five minutes. The winner received a gift certificate from show sponsor Dick Blick, $100 in books from North Light, Holbein acrylic paints or Sennelier, as well as bragging rights for at least a year. Congratulations to Christy Groner (at right) who won first place in the acrylic competition on Friday for her portrait of Ed Brickle from Canson and to Judy Gray who one first place in the pastel competition on Saturday for her portrait of audience member Susan Henshaw.

Visit the Learning and Product Expo website to learn more about the show and to register for the Pasadena show in October.

—Kelly C. Messerly

In many instance no one knew that original paintings of some of these were ever made! The discovery of these paintings came as a surprise even to Charley's son Brett. "I felt like I was opening a buried treasure chest that had been locked up for more than 35 years."

• How to read the rules and abide by them
• What the choice of jurors can tell you about a show
• How to choose works to make a strong, quick impression
• How the jurying process works
• What makes jurors see red
• How to act at the opening or during an interview, once you get in a show or win a contest

“Nobody wants me to do anything, so I’m just doing what I want,” she said.

Using thousands of dollars' worth of paint, brushes and paper shipped from New York Central Art Supply in the East Village, Mr. Bleckner, 59, worked with a group of 25 children — former abductees and ex-soldiers — for more than a week at a Roman Catholic aid center. The children made 200 paintings that will be sold at a benefit at the United Nations headquarters next month at which Mr. Bleckner will be appointed goodwill ambassador.

He said that after several days of teaching them rudimentary painting and drawing skills, many began to open up to him and to create work that powerfully expressed their experiences. ... "What this mission accomplished is what I call microcreativity," Mr. Bleckner wrote in a catalog of the children's work. "It is a personal interaction which gives someone the tools to create something that they can be proud of, and which can help them on the arduous path to restoring their dignity and sense of self-worth."

See a slideshow of the children's work here.

"There’s a challenge of rebounding from economic disaster and from people moving away after the collapse of the steel industry," says Curt Gettman of Pittsburgh's Sprout Fund. "But what was left was a really great infrastructure, a lot of assets, and a city that understands the value of art and that quality of life isn’t necessarily measured in dollars and cents."

No one can help you sell your Warhol fast like Cash For Your Warhol™! Sell your print or painting for cash regardless of the size, price, or condition. Cash For Your Warhol™ has been in business for several months so you can concentrate on moving on with your life.

• The latest All-Media Paint-Off is underway on the Forum. The challenge is to create a still life that includes these five objects: a feather, a key, a candle, a scarf and a pen. See all the details here to learn how you could win a $50 gift certificate.
• New merch in our CafePress store, like T-shirts with the new mag logo and a poster of 25 years of Artist's Magazine covers!
• And we've got a secret sale going on at ArtistsNetworkShop.com—get 30% off anything when you use the coupon code ART225. It's good through this Sunday, March 1!

What do you think of my video debut?

"We need a voice that looks broadly," said Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, a national lobbying group. He is advocating a senior position, not necessarily a Cabinet post. "We are calling for a person at the executive office level who understands there is a National Endowment for the Arts, but also understands the arts portfolio in the Education Department, the State Department—and in addition to the nonprofits arts, is looking at cultural tourism, broadband access and trade through records, movies and videos."

Wyeth gave America a prim and flinty view of Puritan rectitude, starchily sentimental, through parched gray and brown pictures of spooky frame houses, desiccated fields, deserted beaches, circling buzzards and craggy-faced New Englanders. A virtual Rorschach test for American culture during the better part of the last century, Wyeth split public opinion as vigorously as, and probably even more so than, any other American painter including the other modern Andy, Warhol, whose milieu was as urban as Wyeth’s was rural.

The perceived sense of entitlement and Nicole's self-appointed role as family spokesperson prompted Buffett to tell Peter that he'd renounce her. A month later, the mega-billionaire mailed Nicole a letter in which he cautioned her about the pitfalls of the Buffett name: "People will react to you based on that 'fact' rather than who you are or what you have accomplished." He punctuated the letter by declaring, "I have not emotionally or legally adopted you as a grandchild, nor have the rest of my family adopted you as a niece or a cousin." Nicole was devastated. "He signed the letter 'Warren,'" she says. "I have a card from him just a year earlier that's signed 'Grandpa.'"

• ASW: With coupon codes listed on the homepage, you can get $5 to $20 off orders over $50 through Dec. 8.
• Blick Art Materials: Through Dec. 8, you can get $5 to $20 off orders over $50 with the coupon code on this page.
• Cheap Joe's: Numerous deals in the sale flyer, and free shipping on orders over $250, through Dec. 31.
• Jerry's Artarama: Save 10 percent on any order through Dec. 9 with the coupon code found on this page.
• Legion Paper: Ten percent of every purchase made in its Overstock Store through Dec. 31 will be donated to the Children's Health Fund.
• MisterArt.com: Half off normal shipping rates for orders over $60 through Dec. 9.
  

• Bart Healy, Collingswood NJ
• Don Bronson, Clearfield UT
• Tracy Leuth, Bettendorf IA
• Linda Freund, Simi Valley CA
• Marilyn Doerter, Elida OH
• Kurt Jacobson, Anchorage AK
• Loisanne Kelle, Tucson AZ
• April Lopez, Kennewick WA
• Susan Genge, Crawford CO
• Crysteelaurie Abrams

Cool poster via HOW.

You can watch a preview below that describes Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, an installation piece in the Brooklyn Museum.

The boxes at right are just a portion of the approximately 1,500 entries we got in our call to artists over 60. (That number's just an educated guess on my part. We definitely got more than 700 e-mailed entries, and I lost track of how many envelopes we received.)

There have been more than 20 studies that suggest an increased rate of bipolar and depressive illnesses in highly creative people, says Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and author of the "An Unquiet Mind," a memoir of living with bipolar disorder.

Experts say mental illness does not necessarily cause creativity, nor does creativity necessarily contribute to mental illness, but a certain ruminating personality type may contribute to both mental health issues and art.

Three of the elder statesmen of comic books — Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Stan Lee ... are lending their talents to tell the tale of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, who survived two years at the Auschwitz concentration camp by painting watercolor portraits for the infamous Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele. Some of the artwork also survived, but it is in the possession of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland. Now 85 and living in California, Mrs. Babbitt wants the artwork back, but the museum has steadfastly refused to return it.

We're bringing it back for an encore! If you (or someone you know) are a fabulous artist 60 or older, we want to know!

Feel free to nominate yourself—we won't think you're conceited! (But please don't have all your friends, relatives and neighbors e-mail us. This isn't a popularity contest—we only need your name once for you to be in the running.)

And because our intention is to showcase artists unfamiliar to us, we ask those artists who were among the 2008 crop of "Splendid over 60" and/or have had their work featured in The Artist's Magazine within the last three years to give others a chance.

How to enter: Send five to 10 images (on a CD, as slides, or visible on a website) and the artist's name, birth date and contact information (e-mail, phone and/or mailing address). We regret that we can only return materials if they are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Do not, under any circumstances, send the only existing copies of your slides or prints!

The deadline for nominations is October 1, 2008.

E-mail your submission to over60@fwpubs.com, or mail it to:
Artists over 60
The Artist's Magazine
4700 E. Galbraith Road
Cincinnati OH 45236

We ask, too, that you please refrain from calling or e-mailing us to check if we received your submission; we cannot respond to every submission. We will get in touch with the selected artists by the end of October.

Make sure to read the March 2009 issue of The Artist's Magazine to see who makes the cut!

We just launched ArtistsNetwork.tv, a site chockablock with instructional videos from leading contemporary artists, such as recent Artist's Magazine contributors M. Katherine Hurley and Costa Vavagiakis.

Members can view videos 24/7 from any computer with a high-speed internet connection—no software downloads required. You can buy access to a single workshop video, or if you want an all-access pass, you can subscribe to all ArtistsNetwork.tv video workshops for six months. You can preview the videos for free before you buy, so check out the site today!

• Winners will be featured and finalists' names will be published in the December 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine
• 13 finalists will be included in The Artist's Magazine's 2009 calendar
• A number of finalists will be featured in the magazine's Competition Spotlight column
• 12 more will be featured as the 2009 Artists of the Month on our website

Hello, blog readers! I've returned to my cube here at The Artist's Magazine. Thanks to Skybus, I ended up with an extra day on the West Coast, and I loved having more time in San Francisco. In the coming days I'll write about a hot art neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, and a few notable San Francisco sights.

In unrelated news, I just posted a demonstration of how to make a book box for my other job. You can watch it below and download a PDF with detailed directions on the Family Tree Magazine website. Happy weekend!

For example:

Take a field trip. Spend some time online and make notes about what sites you like and what sites you don't. Make sure to note what it is you like about each site. Do you like the color palette of a particular site? The way the navigation is structured on another? Does it annoy you how long it takes a certain site to load? All this information will help your Web designer create a design you love.

Click here to read the article!

And now the March issue of The Artist's Magazine is finally in print! The artists over 60 project was practically all I worked on in my first two months here. The resulting "Splendid over 60" article turned out, well, splendidly, and that is one of the featured artists on the cover! Sandra Sallin is a California-based oil painter who does magnificent florals.

I have more stories to share about the artists over 60, but you'll have to check back next week for that. In the meantime, subscribers will get their copies of the March issue in the next week or two, and you'll be able to find it on newsstands on Feb. 5!

The French government has closed off the caverns entirely and to replace the air circulation system to try to save the drawings, estimated to be at least 15,000 years old. Historians believe hunter-gatherers drew the mineral-pigment paintings that include images of horses, bulls, birds and a rhinoceros.

The caves have been closed to the public since 1963, but wannabe spelunkers can explore a nearby replica of two of the Lascaux caves. Tourism ends up being a problem at a lot of attractions, both natural and art-based: Simply by being there, you're altering what you came to see.

I attempted to post from home but couldn't log in—c'est la vie. So here's some good reading I've come across in the last little while. Happy new year!

• The New York Times on the Ashcan School
• Cityscapes painter Herman Rose passes away
• Jacob Lawrence's Migration of the Negro
• Schools catering to booming interest in comics (via ArtsJournal)
• Exhibit shows "extreme embroidery"

Via the Watercolor Artist blog: Gauguin's teeth found in a well

From the Chicago Tribune: How a fake Gauguin ended up in the Art Institute

There are varying reports of exactly how many people have been injured by Shibboleth, but in a New York Times story today, the reporter writes about witnessing such an event:

Two visitors from the Netherlands, Manon Straatman and her husband, Victor, were equally mystified by the perils of "Shibboleth."

"Maybe someone walks into the museum and isn't interested in what's in the museum," Mrs. Straatman mused.

Mr. Straatman said the crack was modest in its width and depth, hardly the sort of gaping abyss into which you might plummet to your doom.

"Oh look, there's someone falling now," he said suddenly.

Indeed there was: A woman nearby had caught her foot in the crack and pitched awkwardly forward, ending up sprawled on the floor.

Well, I will fret no longer! Our Artist's Sketchbook 2005 & 2006 Annual CD is on sale now, containing all nine issues from those two years. It's got more than 100 articles, with ready-to-use art-making prompts and exercises, plus artists' success stories, sketchbook showcases and much more.

Just like our 2006 and 2007 annual CDs, this puppy is fully searchable and utterly portable. The Artist's Sketchbook 2005 & 2006 CD will be in stock Dec. 17, and if you pre-order by Dec. 13, you'll still get free shipping in time for Christmas.

In fact, all our CD products will ship for free in time for Christmas if you order by Dec. 13. And have a look at our sweet swag at Cafe Press, like new shirts, mugs and even magnets! (Check Cafe Press' shipping details to see all the options and deadlines.)

Panthéon officials and guards were unaware of the activity until the restoration was complete and the group asked an administrator to try winding up the clock. (The cultural ministry overseeing the monument later fired the administrator.)

According to The Guardian, the Untergunther gets into a lot of fun stuff:
Since the 1990s they have restored crypts, staged readings and plays in monuments at night, and organised rock concerts in quarries. The network was unknown to the authorities until 2004, when the police discovered an underground cinema, complete with bar and restaurant, under the Seine.

Just one question: How do I join? Click here to read the whole story.

Following up from 2006 Annual CD (which is flying off the shelves, by the way. Not that I actually can see those shelves, but I think you understand my gist), The Artist's Magazine's 2007 Annual CD is on sale now!

On the fully searchable CD you get all 10 issues from 2007—that's 990 pages worth. All you need to open the files is the free Adobe Reader (available for download here if you don't already have it).

(And to all of you who've written in asking whatever happened to Artist's Sketchbook—stay tuned for digital versions of the 2005 and 2006 issues!)

We've put all 11 issues from 2006 in a digital format that is fully searchable and easy to navigate. All you need to open the files is the free Adobe Reader (available for download here if you don't already have it). Pop the CD into your computer, and you can browse through issues, search for a specific medium or artist, or print out articles to share with a friend! Web links in the issues are activated, giving you one-click access to helpful resources.

To learn more and order your own copy, click here.

After three years, it came to light that the painting she found was Three People, a 1970 work by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo that was stolen 20 years ago, the New York Times reports. She hid the painting behind a false wall in her apartment until she could get an art expert to confirm what the painting was.

Gibson will get a $15,000 finder's reward, and the original owner of the painting is putting Three People up for auction Nov. 20 at Sotheby's, where it's expected to fetch $1 million.

The girl's work raises all sorts of questions about abstract art, and her father's been accused of coaching her and even finishing or altering her paintings. Is she a prodigy or a hoax? I'm hoping the film opens near me soon.

Want to know more? A Slate article explores the whole story. Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum also weighs in. L.A. Weekly's article about Marla includes some pictures of her work.

We've been seeing a lot of work by people over 60 here at The Artist's Magazine because of our recent call for submissions for an upcoming feature. The volume of mail is impressive, even overwhelming at times. It's great to see there are so many working artists in their 60s, 70s, and even some pushing triple digits.

There are still a few weeks before the deadline (October 1), so if you still have to send in a nomination, please refer to our handy list of Dos and Don'ts:

Do:
Send in your (or your nominee's) name, age, contact information and images or links to your images. E-mail them to TAMedit@fwpubs.com, or mail them to Artists Over 60, The Artist's Magazine, 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236. If you are mailing slides or prints and would like them returned, include an SASE.

Don't:
Call to check if we received your submission. We've received hundreds of nominations, and as much as we'd like to help you out, we have other work to do.

Do:
Send five to 10 images so we can get a good feel for your work.

Don't:
Send the only existing copies of your slides or prints!

Do:
Feel free to nominate yourself—we won't think you're conceited!

Don't:
Have all your friends, relatives and neighbors e-mail us nominating you. This isn't a popularity contest—we only need your name once for you to be in the running.

Do:
Make sure to read the March 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine to see who makes the cut!

Van Gogh did all three, according to a researcher quoted in the Guardian. In the last year before his death, the artist worked at breakneck pace, often running out of canvas. Some of the cloth he painted on is believed to be tablecloth or tea towels, possibly from the mental hospital where he stayed in 1889. (Red accents in the cloth are visible where the paint is thin.)

And last month, an X-ray revealed a lost work, Wild Vegetation, under The Ravine, which was painted four months later while he was in the asylum. It impresses me that Van Gogh was so driven to paint that he didn't let a lack of supplies—or sales—stop him.

Now the rescue effort is going in an artistic direction. Local and national illustrators, animators and artists have taken up the cause by painting portraits of the animals. This Web site is the virtual gallery for the project. (I'm an especially big fan of this portrait. Meredith Smith, like the other artists, chose to not hide the cats' injuries, like little Tortellini’s damaged eye.)

Prints and originals will soon be for sale, with all proceeds going to the forclosure cat rescue groups. (And how cool is this—people who adopt a cat will receive a print of its portrait.) A show is in the works, and I know I'll be there.