Saturday, May 30, 2009

Black and White to Color

I think I may have bit off more than I was ready to commit to with this one—it’s the first time I tried to translate a black and white photo to color. I do love the composition, though. It's hard to tell in this photograph, but the old woman is pulling those last bits of feathers from a chicken! What I like so far about this attempt is the old woman's arm—don't know why, but it makes me want to finish it!

Friday, May 29, 2009

A Stalled Portrait

I've always loved painting portraits, but I started this one and just couldn't get beyond, 'what if it doesn't look like her'...that's why I moved on to a still life—thought all the hard lines might feel less ominous, I mean, after all, a vase is a vase, right?

A Successfully Completed Still Life

This is one I completed a few years ago, so I know I have it in me...and yes, it is a watercolor. I know there's little left to the imagination, but I can't help myself!

Got Stuck on This




















I started this one but just lost interest...maybe it's a case of been there, done that.

Writing Instead of Painting

Over the past 2 years I've worked on 3 novels. My first 2 were, shall I say, verbose—the first at 150,000 words. I pitched it as Women’s Fiction only to learn it was Young Adult—150,000 words? No takers. So what. The sequel was only 123,000.

Story for a Shipwright is a modest 89,000 words of Commercial Fiction. I’m hoping to send out queries over the summer, and then move back toward painting, which used to be my primary creative outlet. These days, I find more satisfaction in writing. Maybe if I get the stories out of my head and onto paper, then I'll be able to go back to the drawing table, pick of one of my fine-point sable brushes, and it will behave for me. For now, perhaps I'll post a few of my watercolor works in progress—maybe that will motivate me...it's worth a try... Besides, I've learned that writers need to take a long break from a story before the final edit—as if I could stay away from it that long.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to break the record for the most posted query revisions on The Public Query Slushpile—I’m not really, but I seriously think my borderline OCD has just gone full-blown! How embarrassing, once you hit the ‘POST’ button and can’t take it back…