Have you noticed what's going on over at the Pastel Pointer's blog? Our friend Richard McKinley is stirring up quite a debate with his Name Your Tune post. Visitors are encouraged to share their favorite painting songs.

Lately, our household is partial to Andrew Bird's new album Noble Beast. It's complex but it doesn't intrude upon our work. Plus, it's beautiful, rich songwriting.

What's in your playlist?

Our interactive column Creative Spark was developed for all those times when we find ourselves settled into creative inertia. In each issue, an artist shares a few thoughts on art-making that serve to fire up ideas and solutions. And then, there's an assignment, a creative prompt or a creative kick-in-the-pants, if you will, to inspire us to head back to the easel and get to work. Also motivating is the fact that everyone who responds to the assignment has a chance to win valuable pastel materials!

We've recently created a Creative Spark "hub" on our website. Visit the hub to see all the current and past winners, or to find out details of the latest Creative Spark challenge , which this month is offered by artist Cheri Dunnigan, whose pastel Carpineto (left; 14x11) speaks to her experience "grappling with grays."

From Obit, a side of the impressionist master you may not have read very much about:

"Impressionist Claude Monet was distraught. Despite a few adulatory press notices and the sale of some paintings and works on paper, the 38-year-old artist could not support his small family. Constantly broke, Monet approached collectors as well as friends and colleagues such as Frederic Bazille, Gustave Courbet, and Edouard Manet for loans and handouts. He could hardly afford art supplies. And now his wife, Camille Doncieux, the mother of his two young sons, was on her deathbed. She was 32.

"Though he would live for 47 more years, enjoying love and fame, Monet carried Camille always in his heart. His tender depiction of her was hanging in his bedroom when he died at the age of 86 in 1926. After the oil entered the collection of Michel Monet, the executor of his father’s estate, the work remained unknown for 38 years. Today, it belongs to the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and is often on view."

Click here to read Phyllis Tuchman's full treatment of the enduring love story.