It’s almost Christmas! Time to slow down, make something nice to drink, and take a break from social media with some really good books. Whether you’re an artist or an art enthusiast, these books are bound to get you excited for the coming year!

This book is a stunning volume of more than 100 award-winning abstract works showcasing the colorful and expressive nature of contemporary abstract art. Pieces have been hand-selected from the Pastel Journal's Pastel 100 competitions and The Artist's Magazine's annual competitions, hard-bound to provide years of beauty and enjoyment.

Walk into any museum, or open any art book, and you'll probably be left wondering: where are all the women artists? Krysa offers an exciting alternative to this male-dominated art world, showcasing the work of dozens of contemporary women artists alongside creative prompts that will bring out the artist in anyone.

Danielle Krysa is the founder of The Jealous Curator: http://www.thejealouscurator.com/blog/

You may need to pace yourself to get the most from 900+ pages of meticulously researched and beautifully written material. Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, always exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of twentieth-century abstract painting -- not as muses but as artists. From their cold-water lofts, where they worked, drank, fought, and loved, these pioneers burst open the door to the art world for themselves and countless others to come.

While Rothko did not set out to explore how colours interact against each other (he was more interested in using colour to express the range of human emotion), that is exactly how I love to use this book.

Mark Rothko pioneered new forms of painting, forever changing the landscape of Abstract Expressionism and modern art. This collection of 50 paintings from his colour-field period are presented with essays by his son, Christopher Rothko, and SFMOMA’s curator Janet Bishop.

Written in 219 small, digestible entries, read it at one go or read a few pages daily with your morning coffee. Want to read more from Seth? Check out his award-winning blog: https://seths.blog

That’s it for 2020! Enjoy some well-deserved book time over the holidays - and see you in 2021!