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.

This week on our Twitter feed (@pasteljournal) we're rolling out a spiffy new PastelPerks program. Here's how it works: We tweet about a PastelPerk, you retweet the news in your Twitter feed, we automatically enter you in a drawing for a free pastel prize. It's quick, it's easy and boy is it fun giving away free stuff! (Hint: If you head over to @pasteljournal now, you might find some interesting tweets regarding our new "Eight Greats" interview series.)

Just today on the Pastel Pointers blog, artist Richard McKinley talked about those images that are almost too dazzling to work as a painting. Fall foliage was one example, and sunsets another. "These spectacular subjects, unless finessed properly, become a postcard," McKinley writes. "To make them work, we need to step back from the high drama of the moment and allow the viewer a little more to anticipate, engaging their imagination in how beautiful the subject matter might become."

It was funny that, minutes after reading this, I came upon this new video demonstration on the PanPastel website with pastel artist (and Pastel Journal contributing writer) Deborah Secor, in which she walks viewers step by step through the painting of a dramatic sunset sky. Not only will you see how Secor uses the pan-format pastels and applicators, but you'll also see a good example of a sunset painting that does work—for exactly the reasons described by McKinley. Secor avoids the danger of an overdone result by carefully composing the painting to offer just a hint of the spectacular color—and leaving some of the drama to our own memories of blazing skies.

There's really no better time of year to turn to the macabre and mystery of Edgar Allan Poe—and even better, some master art works to go along with it.

For those oil pastelists among us who might be looking for a way to earn recognition (and cash!) for their work, check out the All-Media Online Competition, sponsored by our sister title, The Artist's Magazine. Here are the pertinent specs:

PRIZES:
Grand Prize Award: $500
7 First Place Awards: $100 each
The Grand Prize winner and all 7 First Place Winners will receive complimentary subscriptions to The Artist's Magazine and $100 worth of North Light Books.
Honorable Mentions receive complimentary subscriptions to The Artist's Magazine and $50 worth of North Light Books.
Winners will be featured on The Artist's Magazine website along with a list of Honorable Mentions.
All Winners and Honorable Mentions will receive a certificate suitable for framing.

7 CATEGORIES:
Acrylic, Digital Art, Graphite/Charcoal/Colored Pencil, Mixed Media/Collage, Oil/Oil Pastel, Pastel, Watercolor.

DEADLINE:
All entries must be postmarked no later than November 2, 2009.

Find out how you can enter your work by clicking here.

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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 & receive free fine art tips & demos

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.

"Many artists put the cart before the horse and they apply technique with such rigidity that it suffocates the art. Technique has to come out of the search for the art."
                                                                            — Jimmy Wright