OK, let's dive right into the next 10 web sites:

Manila born, classically trained artist Donna Elleine Basa

Marvin Steel's Flamenco Blog, featuring Flamenco paintings, drawings and colored sketches.

The exciting urban landscapes of Portland painter Phil Fake.

Rose Hohenberger paints people, landscapes, and scenes around the Texas Hill country.

Bill Brody goes into the Alaska wilderness with large canvases to capture the mountain scenes.

Florida native Libby Cagle paints paintings that just make you feel good.

Alexandria, Virginia artist Wynn Creasey is winner of the 2006 Artist of the Year Award by Empowered Women International.

The bright, colorful abstractions of Tory Cowles.

Denver (yea!) artist Amy Evans paints light filled landscapes.

Virginia artist Darlene Kaplan and her Chinese Brush paintings and oils.

Last month I asked you to respond to the question of what an artist is trying or not trying to say. I received some great responses and am linking to them here. I'd like to add one more thing. There are artists who feel that they have a special mission to 'get people to think'. Whenever I read that it makes my blood boil, not literally of course. My first response is: "how rude presumptuous of you to feel that I NEED your help in thinking!" I can handle thinking just fine thank you. But maybe that's just me.

Here are a couple of more quotes from famous or infamous artists through the years:

I like this one by Chuck Close: "I always thought that one of the reasons why a painter likes especially to have other painters look at his or her work is the shared experience of having pushed paint around."

And this one too, from Delacroix: "What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough."

And last, Edvard Munch: "No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love."

I ran into an interesting article about the healing powers of the arts in a magazine called RemedyMD: When people who are ill are surrounded by the healing arts, such as music, painting, architecture and theater, they feel less pain and recover more quickly. Although there was always anecdotal evidence from doctors and patients about these benefits, recently the effects of exposure to art have been more carefully studied. Harry Jacobsen, vice chancellor for health affairs at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center, says "There's very good evidence that engaging patients in art and music is one way to make the burden of illness and periods of care more tolerable". Good to know.

This is one of those years when all of my workshops are filled. Of course that doesn't always happen as you might suspect. Even after 15 years of doing this I have yet to figure out the formula that works. Except that there is no formula. I can find the most popular instructor and one year he/she will fill the class and the next year - no one signs up. It's the nature of the business. But I must say that I function pretty well swimming in the ocean of uncertainty. For me it beats the heck out of getting a regular paycheck!

Speaking of workshops, the one that is not yet filled is Ken Auster teaching right here smack in the middle of NYC http://www.paintingfrance.com/Auster.htm and this one I'm pretty sure will fill soon enough.

I want to thank Sara for sending me a link to an article that you just have to read by Joyce Walder: It's called the Terrible Toll of Art Anxiety and talks about how would-be art buyers are intimidated by galleries, worried about making unfashionable choices or otherwise unable to commit to a purchase. Heck, I'm going to reread it myself!

Audrey asked me to pass this along to you: Art on Groton Bank A Continuing Festival of Art in Groton City. Artists and Fine Arts Craftsmen are invited to this beautiful outdoor artists' space. SEE, BUY, MAKE, SELL ART. For prospectus and application: www.artongrotonbank.org or call 860.449.0825 Dates: June 21, July 19, August 16

Hey folks..I'm planning a trip to Buenos Aires next winter. Let me know if you'd be interested in keeping current as the details are solidified and I'll keep your name and e-mail address in the Argentina folder.

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