Commercial and comic artist John Watkiss has created some wonderfully eerie black light paintings (acrylic on plastic) just in time for Halloween.

Small Print presents ABSOLUT Creative Edge. A fun creative experience for the artists and viewers and a cool 3 sided canvas with each side composed of a collaborative work of art by 3 artists!

Some Illustrators Ireland members will be taking part on the event. Check the line up below

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The NY Times writes on the Chewing Gum Art of Ben Wilson. He developed a technique in which he softens the gum with a blowtorch, sprays it with lacquer and then applies three coats of acrylic enamel. He uses tiny brushes, quick-drying his work with a lighter as he goes along, and then seals it with clear lacquer. Each painting takes between a few hours and a few days, and can last several years if the conditions are right. More images on Flickr here.

Paper cut works from four Henri Matisse illustrated art books are currently on show in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, until 25th September.

Time lapse video of artist Mark Ryden painting “Incarnation“  last year.

Monster Truck Gallery in Temple Bar have issued an open invitation for illustrators and designers to submit proposals for future shows. Its a great space with really huge footfall.

Here are the details:

Monster Truck is a contemporary art space engaged with artists and creatives working in a variety of mediums. We are currently accepting proposals from artists and curators for consideration within the programming of our gallery at 4 Temple Bar.  These submissions will be considered to be ‘Independent Projects’ and together with our Curated Exhibitions will form our 2011 Monster Truck Programme.

We are particularly interested in artists/curators/groups including Illustrators and Designers that want to challenge their work in a gallery context and understand the gallery model as outlined in the link below.

Exhibitions will be subsidised and supported by Monster Truck but a rental fee will be required from the artists/group to help cover the costs of the gallery. For more detail on this model please see link. MT would also like to encourage groups or funded individuals to make proposals in order to manage your costs (please apply for project based grants from the City and Arts Councils).

To submit your work or project, please send submissions:
1) CV
2) Artists Biography,
3) Exhibition statement of intent
4)5/6 (jpegs, PDFs, etc.) good quality images/examples and/or Quicktime files of your work (on CD). With group proposals please submit an adequate number to represent the work of each individual artist.

Send by post to Submissions, Monster Truck Gallery, 4 Temple Bar, Dublin 2, Ireland?
Deadline for submissions was Tuesday 16th of November but I’m sure you could squeeze it under their door with an apologetic wink if you go down quick!

The Guardian features a talking slideshow thinga-mi-jigger with author Micahel Morpurgo reading a short story about Cézanne.

Are you tired? Can you still smell Weiss on your breath? Do you have aching legs from the over use of cushioned theatre chairs? Have you an unexplainable urge to create?

You may be suffering from POS (Post Offset Syndrome).

Dr Gary Baseman of the Toby Institute has developed a backward step program to help you get over the symptoms of POS:

(I met Gary Baseman walking backwards through Dublin yesterday with some DIT students. Kudos to Gary for being so generous with time, sketchbooks, suggestions and answering questions as he tried not to fall over people on his reversed stroll. Pics by  Steven Maybury)

Brooklyn artist David Jon Kassan shames millions of school children worldwide with this impressive display of finger painting on the ipad.

Robert Hughes has long been one of the only art critics I can stomach without throwing the magazine/book/TV out the window (apart from a brief flirtation with Clement Greenberg when I was in college, but I was young!). His landmark book “Shock of the New” is one of the best appraisals of modern art while his “Culture for Complaint” is essential reading if you want to understand the Red/Blue divide in US politics and how the 80′s art world became the battleground for the culture wars that still rage today. He has just completed a new documentary on the deconstruction and destruction of art in our commercially driven age. It’s scathing, it’s depressing, and it’s undeniably true. It’s the best two hours of television on the subject of art that I’ve ever seen. Here is the complete program in 12 parts.