OK, let's dive right into the next 10 web sites (Actually 12 due to the number of submissions from you!) : If you haven't shared your web site with the rest of us send it to me for a future newsletter. Every time I ask for web sites I get tons, so it's going to take a couple of months to get some of yours into a newsletter.

1) I'll start off with Eric Wiegardt's watercolors - I've been a fan of his work for years.

2) Fascinating trees in Paula Smith's oil paintings.

3) Prolific Tucson and Colorado artist Betty Bloom: people, landscapes, abstracts, the still life and animals.

4) Kay Smith's gorgeous transparent watercolors.

5) Like thick rich color? So does Elizabeth Gorcey.

6) Cindy Briggs co-authored a book with Theresa Goesling titled "Make Every Day A Painting"

7) Oregon plein air painter Pam Flanders with her florals, landscapes and more.

8) Jon Rader Jarvis was selected for an Artist's Magazine article about artists over 60. It will come out in March 2008.

9) Kim Fancher Lordier paints pastel landscapes in California.

10) Washington artist Ned Mueller's wonderful figures and landscapes.

11) Midwest artist Nancy Fortunato paints luminous watercolors.

12) Ellen White of Atlanta, Georgia works in oils doing portraits, figure and landscapes.

A story about the re-emerging interest in the figure in the October issue of Smithsonian Magazine

To follow up with Picasso, Marilyn sent me an incredible quote attributed to him about his own art. Click here to read it.

Here's another quote; this one from Diebenkorn: "In a successful painting everything is integral.. all the parts belong to the whole. If you remove an aspect or element you are removing its wholeness".

A most interesting article appeared in a local paper: "New York in Danger of Losing Its Artists" The basic point was that due to rising costs of ownership and/or renting, many of our artists just can't afford to live here anymore and are moving to other cities. But the real staggering statistic to me is that for artists aged 62 - 97 income from the sale of art works is only 6% of their total salaries!

Ellie has a 1100 square foot guest house in Santa Fe for rent from mid January through mid March (dates are flexible). She's leaving for an extended trip to Mexico. The house has excellent light for artists, as she is one herself. There are sixteen windows and three skylights. The painting area of the great room has north light. They are in a very quiet area of Santa Fe up against the foothills and only a mile or so from Canyon Road, the art center of Santa Fe.....all walkable.....to Canyon Road.... to Garcia's Bookstore and Downtown Subscription, the coffee place where Renee Zellweger was recently spotted and Garcia's where Shirley Maclaine had her recent book signing. Interested folks can email Ellie and she will send photos of the house ellieart1@comcast.net

Long time newsletter reader Lori Landis had a painting posted on the home page of Manhattan Arts International - click on that link and see her painting on the left hand side. Congrats Lori! Anyone else winning something, not winning something - whatever it is: let me know and I'll share it with the rest of us.

Teresa Vito, who taught the Burgundy workshop for me this past fall had some great news: the Sangre de Cristo Art Center - the museum in Pueblo, Colorado, bought one of her paintings. They buy only one a year for their permanent collection and that collection includes works by the original Taos Artists - those great painters who came west a century ago to create and art colony. Heck of an honor for Vito!

Let's all do this: in our communities we can organize educational presentations by artists called "Investing in Art for Dummies"... I'm planning to do this here in NYC at the gallery I belong to. I'm building a list of young people who have little knowledge in art but who love and appreciate it. I'm talking about people in the financial services industries: stock brokers, day traders, etc. The panel will be held at our gallery and will first and foremost be FRIENDLY and down to earth. We'll have artists who paint in a variety of styles speaking intelligently (hopefully) and enthusiastically, about their painting process. This will be done in PLAIN ENGLISH and the audience will be encouraged to ask questions and engage the artists in conversation.

Too many panels are either designed for the collector who already has knowledge of art and artists, or is so disconnected from the average person that there is just no sense of, well... connection! Let's change that. Let's let these prospective art buyers into our heads and our secrets. Let's demystify the painting process for them so they don't feel stupid... These events are NOT planned to actually sell work. This is a way of giving something of value to them in the form of enlightened self-interest. After all, we want these folks to think about us when it's time to start buying art.

And here's a photo of yours truly at my recent Pleiades Gallery (Chelsea) group show opening.

Oh yeah.. I forgot: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Phil Levine Workshops, Inc.
69 bank Street #102. NY, NY 10014
phone: 212-414-8875 fax: 866-501-6873
e-mail: philiplevine@earthlink.net