Welcome to Nita Leland's Exploring Color & Creativity Web Site The Ohio summer has been unusual this year. Early heat, then a long, lovely cool spell. Delightful, if you don't have kids taking swimming lessons. I remember the days. The heavy rains have turned the woods into an emerald forest. If you haven't already visited my woodland project, start here. Next up, on Tuesday, July 28, at 1:00 p.m., is my live Creativity Webinar from ArtistsNetwork Online Seminars. Click on the link to read about the Webinars and to register. I've been having fun putting together this program, titled "Develop Your Natural Creativity and Grow As an Artist." In addition to the PowerPoint presentation, there will be a live Q&A session following the program. I'll be doing it direct from F+W in Cincinnati. Another excellent adventure! Yay! My new book, Confident Color, published by North Light Books, is 160 pages with 85 Try-it Activities in a spiral-bound hardcover format that stays flat for studio work. I've selected the work of 52 contemporary artists in a variety of media: acrylics, colored pencils, oils, pastels, watercolors, collage, mixed media and fibers to illustrate important color principles of harmony, contrast and unity through color schemes. Seven artists contributed detailed step-by-step demos of their color processes, including using a computer or a sketchbook for preliminary studies and mingling colors to select the best palette for a painting. See pages inside the book. Read a review from Artbookreview.net. Confident Color is available from amazon.com and now at my publisher's new online North Light Shop. You can also purchase signed copies of all my books from this Web site using PayPal. Click on the book icons for more information on the books. Please check out my two new DVDs: Creating Confident Color and Paper Collage Techniques. For previews, go to ArtistsNetwork.tv FWMedia and North Light Books have distributors in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, so my books can be ordered around the world. For international orders, please email me before placing an order to check on shipping rates to your country. Jenna is six-and-half and can hardly wait to start first grade. She's a good little reader, which makes her Grammy very happy. Daniel will be two in August. He's a handful, but very funny. He's constantly on the move and usually has a car or truck in each hand. Favorite words: NO! (loudly) or "Nope" or "Unh-unh," frequently uttered with an impish smile. The Terrible Twos are upon us. Photoshopping with The New Creative Artist--Check out this recent entry on my blog, then view a few pages from the book. Enjoy this mosaic of colorful artwork that my watercolor class did last spring. We explored some of the concepts in my new book, Confident Color. Their response to this exercise was awesome. On Nov. 10 the Hithergreen class hosted the opening of their third exhibit, "Exploring Watercolor.". Around 80 visitors enjoyed the show and commented on the remarkable progress of the artists. Visit my blog starting here to see their wonderful self portraits over the past few weeks. Please visit my art blog and let me hear from you. Subscribe to my Blog with Bloglines, a newsreader that shows when the blog is updated. Bookmark this page and come back to see what's new.

Art Quote One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. Leonardo da Vinci

Here & There on the Web Here's an interview by Susan Perry on Psychology Today blog: "Inspire Your Creative Brain Via the Visual Arts". Susan was inspired by my book, The New Creative Artist. Add her to your blog links for some good reads on creativity. Art to Art Palette online magazine is now available in its annual print edition. The magazine is an amazing collection of resources for galleries, museums, art and performance venues focused on the midwest-eastern states--Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Pennsylvania--and well beyond. Besides the resources, there are artist profiles that are fascinating to read (never mind the one about me and my mountain-climbing days). Contact Ben Rayman to order. Daily Painters Art Gallery is a juried site with some awesome art on it. I certainly admire artists who have the dedication to do a new painting every single day. Art Festival Guide is a good resource for equipment and listings of art fairs and exhibitions. I love this blog: History of the Color Wheel. I wonder why? Please bookmark this site: snopes.com and check it before forwarding messages circulating on the Internet. The site researches urban legends, virus threats, and political chicanery. You might save yourself some embarrassment if you investigate before you forward false messages. Inflation calclulator is an eyeopener, for sure. The Learnlist is a simple resource for graphic designers, illustrators, web designers, developers, basically anyone creative! It lists the best websites and books available to help you learn something new, along with rankings. 411us.info is a comprehensive search site for up-to-date information all over the Web. Key in your zipcode and you can search for news, weather, TV programming and much more. artquotes.net is another good resource for inspirational quotations. Active Music Therapy for Parkinson's Patients interests me because of two family members who have Parkinson's. Another program that intrigues me is Nia, a beautiful movement fitness program involving graceful dance and music that I experienced with my friends in Canada recently. Catherine Whipple's Self-help healing arts journal is packed with inspiration and creative ideas.

Browse my Shopping Mall for booksellers, art, craft and office supplies.

This Web site is a DickBlick.com affiliate.

Art Product News Aquabord Claybord (Textured) looks like an interesting product for watermedia artists. Reportedly, it has a sort of Yupo working quality, with a subtle texture. American Science and Surplus has a funky catalog that has unusual items and art and craft supplies. Browsing the online catalog is fun. Now that full-spectrum fluorescent lighting has become all the rage, there are many sources for the bulbs. I've been replacing my Vita-Lites with General Electric Sunshine F40. The bulbs are 5000K, not the 5500K of the Vitalites, but with a CRI of 90, they seem to do the job as well. The manufacturer claims 9 years of life for these bulbs. If you hate cutting mats, here's a source for pre-cut and custom mats: Matcutter.com. MAToMATic allows you to upload your photos or art images and select mat colors, mat liners and frames--even see how the finished picture will look on your colored walls. The home site for MAToMATic is Matshop.com.

Amazon.com Kindle reader

Online Special
Exploring Color & Exploring Color Coloring Book
both for only $50!

Artists Read... "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. " Jorge Luis Borges The Watercolour Gazette published by Eileen Korponay of Manitoba has reviewed Confident Color. Other articles include artist features, brush tips, online tips and essays. There are also listings of shows and workshops. Watercolour Gazette is an amazing little magazine. Create Better Paintings is a quality e-zine for artists that has two components. One section is free, offering tutorials and articles and the other is by subscription, with more in-depth content and art. Editor Jennifer King has produced a quality magazine, worth checking out. A complete list of recommended books is on my Awesome Book List. I've read all of these books and have found something useful in all of them, some more than others. If a book isn't on the list, then I haven't read it or didn't think it very useful. Go to Books Online to download free books. LibraryThing is a neat site where you can catalog online to keep track of the books you read or own. What a useful tool! I hate it when I pick up a book to read and realize after the first few pages that I've already read it. New reviews of The New Creative Artist: A Guide for Developing Your Creative Spirit, are appearing here and there. Read these reviews to see how people are using the book for inspiration, motivation and just plain fun. I'm moving my art book reviews to my blog, where it will be easier to post them as I read them rather than setting up a section with several on my web site. Here's a blog entry with three reviews on books about pouring watercolors. Past reviews are archived at Mini Book Reviews. Best Book Buys compares prices on books throughout the Web. Here's my list of 25 favorite art books on Amazon.com's Listmania. Use Book Sale Finder to locate events in your area. Here's a great list of books on creativity. Browse the following book-launch events from fall, 2008. The Artists' Showplace reception in Dallas The Confident Color Show, Dallas. Books & Co. at The Greene Town Center in Dayton. book signing Exhibit at Town and Country Fine Art Center's "Art in Motion" Amazon Canada

Mini Book Reviews

Art business books
Art Office
Licensing Art 101
Selling Art 101
Power Up with PR
Mailing Lists

Nita's Art Blog Subscribe to this Blog

	Web www.nitaleland.com nitaleland.blogspot.com