An Unsupervised Blog

I know it appears as though I have abandoned this blog—I haven’t, not really. Okay, well, maybe I’ve neglected it a bit. The truth is, I haven’t done a whole lot of painting these days, but I have been working on art projects. I simply haven’t had the time drive to post about it. So rather than leave my poor blog completely unsupervised, I thought I’d post a little about what I have done.

As you may know, I also do some writing. In fact, I plan to publish my second novel sometime this spring. Because I am self-publishing this one, I have a whole lot more liberty regarding the interior content, that is, interior art. While hoping I don’t push the boundaries of adult fiction into the juvenile, I can’t resist adding some black and white line-art. To facilitate this—and because I love gadgets—I bought a Wacom Bamboo tablet and stylus to supplement my art supplies. I haven’t really gotten the knack of anything elaborate yet, but black and white line art seems a good way to learn how to use the device. Here are a few samples of what may turn up in Spilled Coffee, a novel about coming of age...again...

A New Painting for My Website Header

Well, I decided it's time to update my watercolor Website, J.B.Chicoine.com, to accommodate my upcoming novel. Uncharted won't be released until October, but it will probably take me that long to relearn my Web design software. In addition to that novel, I have others I plan to publish, so I may as well take advantage of having a Website with my name and combine my "artistic" endeavors.  Anyway, I'm going to incorporate the header I made for my writing blog (which I painted here a while back). 

I'll use the above painting for the Author half the page header... and start a new one for the Watercolorist half--something along the lines of the watercoloring arrangement to the right. But I like the oak and post setting of the Reading and Writing scene. So, below is the drawing I've come up with. I took a photo of a new arrangement, flipped it horizontally with my graphics program and messed with the perspective a little. I'll keep the background light and abut the two paintings, end-to-end; the dark contrasting with the light.

That's the plan, anyway. 

Peeling Paint & Collecting Water

I've been itching to paint lately--just looking for the right subject. I've had a nautical theme in mind. Something coastal--something one might see if they were to visit Wesleyville, Maine (if in fact that provincial little town existed outside of my imagination!). In my novel UNCHARTED, there's a dilapidated old pram, disintegrating into a heap of old lobster traps and buoys. This isn't the exact scene, but it puts me in that same place. It's such a sad sight, in a way. This little skiff used to have a mast and likely provided hours of leisurely sailing...now it's just peeling paint and collecting water


Thanks to Liza Carens Salerno for providing me an inspiring image (to be posted later). Many of you know her from her Middle Passages, her writing blog, where she has links to some of her other beautiful photography. She also has a professional copywriter Website, LCS Writes.

No, I Haven't Forgotten How to Paint!

I know, we all thought I'd given up on painting! I haven't--I've just been preoccupied with editing my novel (yay, UNCHARTED is going to be published in October 2012). Anyway, I've been looking at a painting* I found online of a young woman who looks exactly the way I imagine Marlena from the story. As you all know, I need an image to work from and so I thought I'd try my hand at a watercolor interpretation of Pascal Gentil's painting* that portrays my Marlena so well. Normally, I post my progress as I go, but this time I was feeling rather insecure about pulling it off, so I finished it first. I'm still going to post it incrementally, but if you can't stand waiting a few days, you can get a sneak preview over at my writing blog. Next week, I'll post Gentil's oil painting.*
For now, here's the  wash. (I would have included the sketch as usual, but it turned out too light.)


* Edited to say that I just found Pascal Gentil's Photography Website only to discover his "painting" is in fact a digitally enhanced photograph, which takes a great deal of talent and in no way diminishes my esteem of his work. Oh my, how I'd love to paint many of his subjects! And in a way, it makes me feel all the better about my work.

My Last Big Completed Project—More Than Just Painting

When I thought I had finished my first novel, Girl Running, I couldn't wait to see it in print. I worked on some cover art, and went all out with my graphics software, and at the same time came across http://nomediakings.org/doityourself/doityourself_book_press.html. That was all the inspiration I needed. (Hamish MacDonald also has a nifty website, http://www.hamishmacdonald.com/)
Here are some snippets of the art that went into the project…
I know, it looks like she's wearing a bra—I actually thought white was compositionally appropriate, but polkadots or stripes might have been a better choice.
I got out some of my art supplies, and painted them. Then did the same with an old photo of a piano keyboard that I warped in my graphics software, and came up with these two elements...

You may be wondering, 'Why paint brushes and a keyboard?" My protagonist, Leila, is impossibly talented— that's why.

Next, some interior accents—Chapter Headers and the fist letter of each chapter, sort of like illumination, but not so elaborate.

...and some of those little 'thingies' placed between sections of a book...

I put all that together, printed my signatures, sewed them together, and trimmed them (Okay, my husband did the trimming—he won't let me use sharp implements for reasons that don't require much imagination). Then I put them in the cover, and this is what I came up with...

Notice the neat little jacket sewn into the back, for the soundtrack—and yes, I know I can't distribute it without copyright permissions...

Whether or not I find a publisher for Story for a Shipwright, I plan to do the same with it, but this time I hope the manuscript will be all polished and complete before I bind it…

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…