Katherine Keenum

Mary Hamilton Frye’s illustrations for “Children and the Theatre,” which were mentioned in my last post, came to mind today when I read Kathleen Jennings’ blog post on Skimmings, with its gif compilation her own recent paper cut-out illustrations for a musical composition. Silhouettes have  Read More 

Lisbeth Zwerger is one of my favorite living illustrators, and I couldn’t resist pairing a sample of her work with a picture from the Golden Age by Mary Hamilton Frye (1890–1951). Is it just my imagination,  Read More 

The conceptual artist Catherine Chaloux tickles my fancy. Although fantasy fiction is a part of my reading and writing life, I have not reacted to her witty, luscious work as a source of stories so much as illustrations of my imaginary self. This picture combines  Read More 

Website tip: Wheeeee! For a 360° panorama of Paris in high resolution, click here.

Some of my favorite novels are fantasies. For a holiday treat, I read Patricia McKillip’s Od Magic. It is a lovely, lively story and I was specially interested in how McKillip interwove four plot lines. It allowed her to jump over the  Read More 

Blog tip: Yesterday’s Gurney Journey post lets you read what J. C. Leyendecker, a Golden Age illustrator, had to say about the Académie Julian. For an interesting article on Leyendecker as a gay artist who defined images of the American male, click here. Read More 

Although those of us who write historical fiction do a lot of directed research, sometimes it is serendipity that turns up the most gorgeous details. In life, chance meetings are even better. I was taking my daily walk this afternoon and ran into Linda Baker-Cimini, whom I  Read More 

What is the difference between a slogan, a good opening line, and a flash fiction? Hard to tell these days, especially if an illustration is allowed to amplify meaning as in James Gurney’s Six Word Story Challenge. It’s a topic worth pondering seriously but for this morning, only a game: Here’s the picture, what’s the story—in six words, sixty, or six hundred? Read More 

As we sail toward a new year, I have just hit this gorgeous illumination in a medieval manuscript, Egerton 10 f 33, at the British Library. Won’t someone please tell me a story to go with it?!? Best wishes to all for an imaginative new year. Read More 

Blog tip: I have just read this post on Jeannine Atkins’ new novel Little Woman in Blue: The Story of May Alcott Nieriker with great interest. And, of course, I love it that Where the Light Falls is included in the recommended reading list at the end! Read More