This Issue's Opinion From all of us at Cowboy Photographers and Artists International and cowboyartshow.com, our best wishes to all our readers and visitors for a brilliant 2006. All Art Affects us, But Why? The issue of Time magazine which came out when I began writing this newsletter, features the "best photos of the year". With the continuing growth of interest in photography as an important segment of the cowboy art genre, I think it is important to read this excerpt from the story's lead article written by Richard Lacayo: Scientists tell us that eyesight works this way: light enters the eye through the retina, then transmitted to the visual cortex, where it's somehow translated in our minds into an image. What no one has entirely explain is how these weightless images - the things we see - can affect us so deeply. All we know for sure is that they defy the law of physics. No matter how big you are, they can move you. ...Photos condense our already considerable powers of perception within a confined space and a frozen moment of time. In which case, is it any wonder that they set feelings in motion so effectively?... As I've written here many times, "content is king". This applies not only to web sites, but to art as well. For what is art but a story telling device? Even the illiterate can understand the story told through images. And like the written word, image stories can bore you or excite you - it's the action contained within, or the capture of a moment or scenario which gives us, as individuals, that feeling of recognition, the capture of a longing or the memory of times past. The first look should provide some interest, but each subsequent viewing of the image should enhance the image's interest, so that as it is seen on a daily basis, we can say to ourselves "that's really a good/interesting/masterpiece picture". An example of this is Mel(inda) Dickson's painting "Team Roping" shown below - not as good as the real thing - but a good example. This was one of the paintings Mel exhibited in our recent Cowboy Art Show at Art Encounter in Las Vegas (see gallery images). I found that the more you looked at the painting, the more alive it became, and there are a number of interest points within the work to keep you coming back to look at the work. That's what makes a painting or photograph great. Joe Chernicoff, CAPA Exec. Director

What's New and Continuing Continuing Cholla the Artist: Renee Chambers, the owner of Cholla, the Reno, NV painting horse, is the subject of an essay consistently rated as one of the best by a panel of volunteer readers from nearly 1,000 stories received for publication in Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover’s Soul II. Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover’s Soul II will be available for sale on March 7, 2006 at retailers, your favorite bookstore and online merchant. Leigh Walker: The folk and contemporary artist's original paintings, collages, clay sculptures, and limited edition gicleé prints and sculpture reproductions are now on exhibit. Sculpture thumbnail preview links point to exhibit and sales pages. New Cowboy Photographers and Artists International reports three new members this month, whose biographies and photos , as well as a sample of their, appears on the follwng pages: Julie Woods Laurie Hueckman Recent artists studio additions CPAI member Julie Woods was recently at the Iditarod in Alaska, photographing some of the dogs for a possible commission painting. She has also let us know that the "pastel of Roany & another Pastel called Turned Out got juried into the "Spirit of the West" art show in Cheyenne Wyoming at the Old West Museum." An offer for our subscribers Two CDs are available for you at no cost: a screen saver of the artists exhibiting at the Art Encounter/CPAI/cowboyartshow.com show in December, and a CD movie showing Cholla, "the artists is a horse", painting at his easel - this one you have to see! Just send your request with CDs in the subject line, and include your street or PO Box mailing address, and the two CDs will be sent to you at no charge. For general art interest, AbsoluteArts.com is a good source of information about artists, galleries, and exhibits. Your News in important to us! Send your local cowboy art news, rodeo schedules, personalities facts - all information we may be able to use here. Use this form.

From the Art Blog of of Hyacinthe Baron THE GAME OF ART FOR 2006 by Hyacinthe Baron It is the Holiday Season again and "The times they are a changing", Bob Dylan said it quite appropriately. Art has become a game and the players are bigger than ever. An Art Elite definitely exists. Entrepreneurs and business men like the Rizzos of Barnes and Noble have inherited the boards of institutions from the old wealthy who played the art game for tax breaks and to become Art Patrons to those few artistes who knew how to play the game.

New actions are required for an artist to make it today. The number of artists has grown by leaps and bounds. Artists who do not understand their craft find it difficult to discern what is good art and what is not because they are not being taught reverence for art and craft as the old masters did. They do not apprentice in the studios of master artists or seek the right teachers. They put raw pencil to paper and think that is enough. And why not? They are being told that a childlike drawing by a drugged out Basqiuat has great value. Talent is not a necessary to be a successful artist in the world today.