We're pleased to announce that Carol E. Hatch of San Antonio, TX is the winner of our $100 gift certificate to Jerry's Artarama, with her painting, Rose Window, Mission San Jose (pictured left). Our runners up include Erma Pierce of Westerville, Ohio; Graham Lock of the UK; Nancy Blatz of Monroe, Maine; and Robert P. Hedden of Wellesley Island, NY.

Congratulations to these remarkable watermedia artists and all those who sent us their paintings. Enjoy a gallery of the winning works and the stories behind the paintings by clicking here.

Don't forget to enter your work to win the next Creativity Workshop. The deadline for entry is February 20, 2009. Click here for the details.

While we were sad to hear the news of American painter Andrew Wyeth’s death today, we thought there’s no better time to celebrate his prolific painting career and beautiful life than the present.

Our staff was lucky enough to receive a guided tour of the exhibition, "Andrew Wyeth: Watercolors and Drawings," at the Cincinnati Art Museum in 2007 by none other than the artist’s granddaughter Victoria Wyeth. How fascinating it was to see in person exactly how the artist’s watercolors and drawings informed his finished temperas—evident especially in the 10 studies for Christina’s World—but perhaps more interesting was learning about the Wyeth legacy. Victoria explained what it meant to her once it sunk in that she was part of the tribe.

“To make the connection that the people sitting across the table and living next door to you are the people in the paintings—once that clicks, it’s the most amazing thing,” said Victoria. “He always says, ‘Vic, I’m painting my life.’ And he is painting his life, but he’s painting my life, too.”

Read more details from The New York Times and The Washington Post.

ArtistsNetwork.tv, our website that offers instructional (streaming) videos from today’s leading artists, has launched two new watermedia workshops featuring Bente Starcke King and Charles Harrington.

In Bente Starcke King’s workshop, "Beautiful Botanicals: Painting and Drawing Flowers and Plants," the artist works from fresh flowers and plants—using watercolor, colored pencil and ink—introducing techniques and principles involved in botanical painting. Click below to watch a preview.




In Charles Harrington’s workshop, "Acrylics: The Watercolor Alternative," the artist demonstrates how to use watercolor techniques to make the most of acrylics. He also demonstrates the use of additives to enhance the application of acrylic colors. Click below to watch a preview.





Find more details on purchasing these and other ANTV workshops at artistsnetwork.tv.

If you managed to slip through the last few weeks without anyone giving you a wall calendar, we've got a recommendation for you (see MFA Boston's offering below). The lovely watercolors inside make it a (mostly) guilt free post-holiday purchase.

Visit The New Yorker's site to see Peter Schjeldahl's picks for the ten best shows of 2008:

"It was a signal if not banner year in the art world, when a market boom that had reduced all value to price peaked and commenced crashing. Amid last-call shows and auctions of arrogantly expensive stuff, some events prefigured the sorts of things we will talk about once a dolorous but bracing silence of cash registers has let us hear ourselves think again."

Two Los Angeles artists devised a creative and simple plan for helping out the financially struggling L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA): They held a bake sale yesterday in front of the museum. But this wasn’t your typical fund-raiser; the artists added their own flair to the sweets by making them art-themed. The edibles were based on works from the museum's permanent collection—think Giacometti-style baguettes.

Most of the goodies were $1, except for the financier cookies, which had a price tag of $1 million each. According to the Los Angeles Times, sales totaled $320, so it doesn’t appear that any of them were sold. See the LAT coverage for some delectable photos.

If you love the Daily Candy watercolor illustrations by Sujean Rim, you’ll love the new seasonal DC e-cards on Someecards.com. Not for the faint of heart, these greetings boldly say what few people have dared (face-to-face, anyway), such as “May your shameful behavior at the office holiday party not follow you throughout the remainder of your career” (pictured below).

Happy early holidays!

For those among us who have pondered bringing elements of collage into our watercolor paintings, but have been at a loss for how to get things started, the February issue of Watercolor Artist (on newsstands 12/23/08) is a must-have. In our Special Report, we take you inside the creative minds of six of the most dynamic watermedia collage artists working today, who reveal everything from where to find the most beautiful collage papers, to how best to affix papers to your paintings. Get tips from collagist Joyce Gabiou on our website now by clicking here.