The new book Art Journey New Mexico: 104 Painters’ Perspectives (North Light Books, 2009), from the editors of The Collector's Guide, is a beautiful, hardcover collection of contemporary art of the Southwest. And it's one of those gorgeous books that feels good to hold (it's 224 pages!) and is a joy to peruse. When I first saw one of the early copies, I got so excited about it that I asked my friend, Kevin Paul, one of the editors, to share the story behind the book:

Art Journey New Mexico: Painters’ Perspectives, as the title suggests, focuses on living artists, actively working in New Mexico today. There’s no denying that something about the place is a tremendous draw for artists. The Collector’s Guide, our annual guide to art in New Mexico, features an index of roughly 7,000 working artists showing in some 350 galleries. 

To produce this book, we had the mixed blessing of choosing merely 104 of them. And in three days! Our editorial team of three brainstormed a preliminary list of 500 and from there we whittled it down to the requisite number. These 104 artists then had to give us three representative images, from which we chose the final image for the book.  Each artist also answered a series of questions designed to give readers an insightful look at their inspirations and working processes.  

This is the first in a series of books that will focus on the artists of New Mexico. Future themes include sculpture, photography, fine art craft and multi-media works.


Take a look inside the pages of Art Journey New Mexico at northlightshop.com. And if you're interested in a copy, it's on sale now for $32.99 (a $12 savings off the regular retail price).

You'll also fine in the shop 10 exciting art-related downloads from The Collector's Guide.

If you're a fan of F+W's fine art magazines and books (and I know, already, you're a fan of The Pastel Journal, of course), you're going to want to hear about a new program that just launched. The Very Important Painter (VIP) program is a new membership program that supplies—for an annual fee—access to free content and gifts, as well as regular savings on all the art-inspiring books, magazines and digital materials you might need to support your passion. Here's how it works:

With a one-year paid membership of $49.99, you get your choice of either a one-year subscription to The Artist's Magazine (a newsstand value of $51.90) or any one pick of a North Light art book (a retail value of $32.99)! You'll also receive three months of unlimited access to all the online workshops at artistsnetwork.tv. Finally, as a VIP member, you'll receive 10% off every purchase you make at www.northlightshop.com. This is the online store where you can find, among other things, The Pastel Journal's back issues, annual issue CDs and digital downloads; 144-page books by pastel artists such as Maggie Price, Margot Schulzke and Bob Rohm; and DVDs with pastel artists Deborah Secor and M. Katherine Hurley.

Click here to see the complete program details.