Some readers have been kind enough to ask whether there will be a sequel to Where the Light Falls. So far, my answer is “I don’t know. I don’t have a story yet, but I do know that Jeanette becomes an illustrator.” Partly with her future career in mind and Read More
Picturing a World
Female magazine illustrators
December 8, 2014
Some readers have been kind enough to ask whether there will be a sequel to Where the Light Falls. So far, my answer is “I don’t know. I don’t have a story yet, but I do know that Jeanette becomes an illustrator.” Partly with her future career in mind and Read More
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Ellen Day Hale
December 1, 2014
Ellen Day Hale's 1910 picture of a reclining woman with a guitar (taken here from a post at It’s About Time) can help me with the atmosphere of ANONYMITY in a way that photographs cannot. There’s something fresh and vivid Read More
Another record sale
November 21, 2014
Breaking news: A Georgia O'Keefe painting has sold for a record price for a painting by a woman. I suppose this just upped the price (not the value!) of all her other work, but why does my heart sink that dollars dictate the discussion? Read More
Windling and King
November 19, 2014
Blog tip: Any of you who read fantasy fiction know Terri Windling as a writer or editor. I have just stumbled across her blog Myth and Moor while researching Glasgow women artists (I think Amy Richardson may wind up in Glasgow). A visit to her page is a two-fer, Windling herself and Jessie M. King. Read More
Clay maquette
October 20, 2014
Swedish artist Eva Bonnier accompanied Hanna Hirsch to Paris in 1883.* Bonnier was primarily a painter; but like my characters, Amy Richardson and Sonja Borealska, she practiced sculpture in clay. Read More
Breakfast tables
September 11, 2014
Here in New England, mornings are getting too cool to eat breakfast on the porch; but before summer fades entirely, I was pleased to run across this painting at the always interesting Lines and Colors blog. It is an example of blogger Charley Parker’s feature, “Eye Candy for Today,” which demonstrates the value of looking at an art work bit by bit instead of always as an integrated whole. My interest in garden history has led me to peek into backgrounds of portraits and biblical paintings to catch glimpses of gardens in the past. For writers, realistic details spring out, e.g., the single blossom in a wine glass on the table in this picture. Read More
Girl with a dog
September 10, 2014
This morning's post on girls with dogs in the blog It's About Time ties in nicely with a question I had for myself last night. I have just finished a short story set on a farm about a family who would surely have had a dog. Should I have given them one? I didn't because dogs have such personalities it would have to become a character with a role in the plot. Writers, have you found yourself making similar decisions? Readers, if there is a dog in a story or novel, how much do you expect it to contribute to the action or the emotions? What about a cat? Read More
Guns of August
August 5, 2014
Website tip: In this centenary of the start of World War I, the Imperial War Museum in London has mounted a page devoted to 6 Stunning First World War Artworks by Women War Artists.
Martha Walter
August 1, 2014
Blog tip: A post on Martha Walter introduced me to this American artist who studied in Paris. She spent time in Chattanooga, Tenn., at a time when the real Jeanette lived there. If anybody has an idea how to learn more about Walter's connection to Chattanooga, please let me know! Read More
Marie Bracquemond at her easel
July 28, 2014
I only recently found Dammouse’s pastel of Marie Braqemond at the Galerie Ary Jan in Paris (where it sold). The picture feels like reentering Jeanette’s world, and so it’s a good place to begin running through Where the Light Falls again, more or less chronologically.
My first ever post showed three women artists in a studio. Because I love novels in which I share friendships vicariously, Jeanette’s time with Amy, Emily, and Sonja was always a major theme for me. Another was the seriousness with which women artists worked in the 19th C—a dedication that seems evident in this image. Read More
My first ever post showed three women artists in a studio. Because I love novels in which I share friendships vicariously, Jeanette’s time with Amy, Emily, and Sonja was always a major theme for me. Another was the seriousness with which women artists worked in the 19th C—a dedication that seems evident in this image. Read More
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