Rats!! Deseret Books rejected my children's book

Well, the best laid plans.....Deseret rejected my children's book. The very nice rejection letter said that they are too busy with editorial duties to specify why it was rejected. The good news is that now I can share some of the color images from the non-existant book! Here is a two page spread of the temple at Temple Square in Salt Lake City during the Christmas season. The orange area on the lower left is for the location of the words. All the art for the book was done on Wallis Art Paper (like a sandpaper) with dry pastels. I used them because they give intense, vibrant colors and reproduce wonderfully....no glare! The colors seem to actually leap off the page at you. I also enjoy the roughness of it- the idea is to see the artist's hand in the work: strokes, blurring, and dabs of color. Sort of reminds me of a bullfighter dashing his cape around a bullfight. The down side is that they are very, very messy and fragile.

My story is about a mother who takes her small son and baby daughter to visit temple square for the first time and it just happens to be during the Christmas season with all the lights and Nativity. They visit several of the land marks there and learn more about Jesus Christ at each one. At the conclusion of the story, the boy learns that his feelings for Jesus Christ have grown and that he can take the wonderful feeling of temple square home with him by reading the scriptures. It was supposed to be a children's book and temple square souvenier book all rolled into one. Atleast my someday grandkids will have a book about Temple Square to read when they come to visit grandma.

Interior two page spread

This image is of the two main characters walking down a neighborhood street at Christmastime. The mother is taking her small son and infant daughter to Temple Square in Salt Lake City for the first time. The blank area on the right side is for the words in the book.

book dummy

OK the book dummy is finished and in the hands of the publisher. I'm waiting for the dreaded rejection notice...I can't really post the art work until then. sigh. Many thanks to Mel and Eli for posing for the art! It was great fun.

my son Steve and I at the art exhibit opening...and here it is at the show!

Contest Update

I am flabbergasted and amazed to report that this painting actually made it to the finals of the international art contest for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City. For a somewhat good photo of the painting, please scroll down to the posting for Oct 7th and double click on the image for a bit of a closer up view.
It will be on display in the Conference Center on Temple Square from March 20 - Oct 19, 2009.
If you get to visit Utah and take in the show, let me know if you can find it somewhere in the crowd! If not, it should be posted on the church's web site on line after March 20 at www.lds.org/museum

Int'l Contest Entry

Here I am with my painting about to be shipped to the LDS Church Art and History Museum. Sorry about the glare and the florescent lighting, the FedEx lady snapped the picture for me. Will I do this again? Probably yes, when the church has another competition again in 3 or 4 years. It was costly, however. $240 for profressional framing, about $45 in art supplies, $50 for professional photograph of the artwork for submission and $75 in shipping, packing and insurance. gulp. Not exactly the right time to be spending money! Makes me wish I lived in Utah so I could have just dropped it off. I learned a ton doing this, however, which is priceless. For one thing, I would not do a darkly lit subject in oils again. It is nearly impossible to photograph well and shows every imperfection in the canvas imaginable. Oils need so long to cure before final varnish, it is really problematic unless I use a new fangled medium and varnish. I wanted to do a heavier layer of paint on the figure and torch, but it would have taken much too long to dry for shipping. All this needs to be considered at the idea stage. I am really thrilled to have made it so far in the competition, as I never expected to make it to the first round of cuts. It has encouraged me to keep pursuing my dreams. Compared to perfecting a piano performance, college studies in geology or childbirth, this art thing is just really, really difficult! Worth it, but very hard to do well. I push my abilities to the limit with each painting, as that is the only way to progress. Frustrating, maddening, disheartening, humbling, exciting, thrilling and satifying. What a rocky road I am choosing to drive on!

Next up I am creating a children's picture book for the lds market that I hope to get published someday. The 'dummy' (a true scale mock up of the book done in pencil and a couple pages of colored paintings) will take up all my time for the next two months. Sorry I can't share it with you: gotta protect my art/idea for copyright issues. Its a big bad world out there. In the meantime, I will start working on the oil portrait of the little girl. And no, it will not be a dark background.lol

Child portrait

Ok, I have revisited a portrait of an eight year old that I started and never finished from several years back. I think my skills have improved enough to tackle it again. So here is the preliminary sketch. Now I need to get to the store before I can apply oils, and we are having an ice/snow storm all over the state, so this puppy will have to wait for a week or so before I can start the paint process. So, all you folks who know this beautiful girl: does this look like her?

By the way, I heard from the art competition, and I made it through to the first round of cuts! Now I have to frame and ship Modern Day Mother in Zion to the church's museum of Art and History by January 24th for the next round of judging and eliminations. Wish me luck!