The two paintings up above hang over my sofa. They were painted by my son's college dorm roommate several years ago. When I went to pick them up, he unrolled them for me to see. I looked at the one on the right side as you face them and said, "I love both of them. Let me know when you're finished with the second one." He said, "I'm finished with it now." I immediately gave him the hundred dollars we had agreed on. My husband framed them when we got home and they have been on the wall ever since, and I truly love them.
Meanwhile, when my brother-in-law saw me shelling out $100. he was flabbergasted. He thought I'd been shim-shammed because the second one is so unfinished. I tried to explain that Ken was an artist and if that's the way he wanted his work to be, then that was the way I wanted it. And since then, I have grown a very warm spot in my heart for that second painting and the untold story his spare brush strokes didn't explain. In fact, it's my favorite.
My point? Art is in the eye of the beholder? I'm not sure except this then eighteen year old man knew what he wanted and how he felt about his creativity and that's pretty cool.
Meanwhile, how's your week coming? I got a new twist last evening and am hoping to it will pay off, so it's back to research today and hopefully, tomorrow, some real meat on the bone. I wrote a short prologue yesterday that appears promising except I don't like either woman's name. Do tell now, how are you doing?
8 comments:
Gosh, Alice, both of the paintings look good to me. I can't tell the difference in the brush strokes. Obviously, don't ask me to critique paintings. LOL!
Hooray on your epilogue and new twist! Sounds like you are rolling!
As I mentioned yesterday, I wrapped up the not-as-detailed-as-I-had-hoped outline on my nine-book series earlier in the week. But I'm very pleased with the development of each of the stories. They are all different, yet connected by an overarching theme. Though I'll continue to gather info and jot down notes on each of them, they will set and gel for a couple months while I focus on other things. I have a publisher who is interested in the series, so I'm really excited about that.
I was also invited to be part of an anthology for Valentine's Day 2010. My story will be a contemporary, humorous romance -- a different tone than my three books currently contracted. We already have some promotion planned and I'll get to design the cover, so that will be another fun project!
Next week I dig into edits and finishing the cover for my late February 2009 release. It's so nice to see progress!
And promotion continues for my current book, SONGS OF THE HEART, with a new contest drawing coming up on August 4. I'm scheduling some booksignings with other authors -- not brave enough to go solo with those yet. :) I also need to finish the video trailer for that book.
Did I mention earlier in the week that I had received the print version of SONGS? Another milepost in this publication journey!
So I've seen progress on several writing fronts. Now I need to clear some other projects off my "to do" list.
Hope everyone is having a productive week!
Quiet on the blogging front today. Everyone must be recovering from last night. I know I got off to a slow start this morning.
I'm working on a query letter, a synopsis, and a pitch for Nationals. My revisions are finally freaking done. For now.
I like the paintings Alice! $100 was a bargain!
I'm editing the WIP that I finished . . . Oh golly gee, has it really been a year? Yes. It has. Anyway, I finally figured out HOW to fix it several months ago, and now I'm slowly, slowly, slowly making the changes.
I'm also continuing to plot on my WIP.
I can't wait to hear where Paty is on her goal!
I hope your twist continues to pay off.
I have the hugest baby name book ever, and it has all sorts of lists including "If you like X, you might like Y,Z, and W" lists. I'd be happy to look at names for you, Alice :P
Genene, who's the publisher interested in the nine book series? Man, talk about job security! Way to go.
Kendra,who are you pitching to at Nationals? Congrats on the revisions.
Wavy, I went on the Internet yesterday and looked at names. I chose two names that are popular now and plugged them into my WIP and when I went back to read it, it sounded a lot better -- just from changing the names. Now I'll rewrite the whole thing a hundred more times.
Your book sounds like a great tool. And please keep in mind, it's not as though you've been sitting around for the past year twiddling your thumbs. Tavy, who is no doubt within sight or sound of you at this very moment, is living proof of where your time went. Talk about creative effort!
Wavy, I managed 17,000+ words this past week and am shooting for 20,000 this week. Along with tweaking my pitches so I don't sound awful at this month's meeting!
Paty, who is back home, sunburnt and tired!
Oh and Alice- I love "raw" paintings! But I'm not as enamored of "raw" statues. My brother patina's bronzes for artists and some of the ones who think less is more leaving rough spots and not completely finished areas make me crazy. To me it's like they just decided I'm sick of working on it or I can't make it look right so I'll leave it rough and call it art. While paintings with less detail are magical and dream like.
Paty--You're going to have your own personal NaNoWriMo!! My word! You should try November just for kicks after this! Keep going! I'm sending you vibes that the words keep flowing.
Alice--You're right. And hey, while my book might not be making fast progress, my baby now knows what a book is! She had a fit earlier, and as soon as we handed her a book, she quieted down. Later when she got fussy again, K asked her if she wanted a book, and she got all excited. :) :) There. That's my cute baby story of the week, now I can blog about non-baby related things on Weds. :)
I hope everyone keeps churning away!
I adore both paintings, Alice! I appreciate watercolor a lot. They're incredibly hard to do because once that brush stroke is on the paper, that's it. You can't go back and change anything. And what's really fascinating about watercolor is that you can't plan very well how it will turn out. The paint sort of has a mind of its own, and you just direct which part of the drawing it's going to cover. How it covers it is a mystery until it happens. It's like writing with a typewriter.
I should have accomplished more this weekend, but I spent a lot of time helping dh rewrite his resume. He's hoping to get a new job at a company that sells and cares for houseplants in residences and businesses. Plants are Jim's passion and it would be a perfect job for him, though we're pretty sure it doesn't pay well. The job he has now pays well, but he's abused by the owner on a daily basis and it's time to put a stop to it.
I made a mild dent in my new set of revisions to KC, so I'll hopefully have those done today.
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