Gallery & Goats

Good news from a budding artist-entrepreneur: I’ve just been approved to sell work on Artfinder.com. Artfinder is a gallery/sales hub that links fine artists with international customers including businesses and collectors. I think it will be a good venue for dispersing the nudes I’ve amassed from years of figure studies. Eventually I hope to design a sales gallery directly on Draws the Eventide, too.

Here is the link to my AF shop (also listed on my contact page):

http://www.artfinder.com/genevieve-bergeson (2023 update: I deleted my Artfinder account a few years ago due to lack of activity & sales. Link will no longer work.)

It also delights me to announce that the illustrations for Do You Have a Pebble in Your Pocket? have been digitized and therefore are truly finally complete. The author does not have set publishing plans, but meanwhile, enjoy this preview. (The left piece has now appeared in three main stages in this log: sketch, wash, and final painting.)

Moments of Gratitude

As it is the back end of August and the summer, I’ve been reflecting on my progress. Some projects did not move as quickly or as easily as I would have liked, and it was tempting to get frustrated. But the other day, before working on anything, I sat down and wrote a list of things I had accomplished and was grateful for this summer. No matter whether it was something only started or an event unrelated to my projects, it  went on the list. Acknowledging the good, the building blocks, the stepping stones–it truly lightens loads, kindles inspiration, and revives desire. That in turn hastens progress and fruition.

I am grateful to say that the illustrations for Do You Have a Pebble in Your Pocket will be completed this week! My concurrent book projects are moving along, too, from thumbnails to full-sized rough drafts; when Pebble wraps up, they’ll pick up the pace. Additionally, I am grateful that one of my haiku was accepted for publication! I am also glad for some short, quick projects (comparatively speaking) requested of me now and for the future, including a little graphic design job I launched into this very afternoon.

Now I invite you to your own private moments of gratitude.

Pand-update

I think we’re due for an update.

In a prior post, I mentioned my panda project but little more than that. Let’s change that. Pandagrams is a series of small ink images featuring–that’s right–pandas in various situations, many of which involve puns (beyond “panda-monium”).

Here’s a sneak peek (test sketches) for Pandaikon. Both hearken somewhat to Japanese sumi-e (ink painting). Daikon is a large, white Japanese radish.

pandag-1a pandag-1b

This past week, I wrote and revised a short story for submission to a youth fiction contest. From start to finish, the events, characters, and scenes came to me very quickly. Sometimes we must write to discover the next thing, but I must say it was quite nice to know exactly where I was going the whole time.

I’m also plugging away on illustration commissions. I’m aiming to have the paintings for Do You Have a Pebble in Your Pocket? (the goat book) finished by the end of the month. As for my latest commission, The Littlest Sheep, I’ve completed several thumbnail sketches of the story spreads and will soon correspond with the author about them.

August Advancements

And very distinguished ones, too.

Alice Moran:

She’s finished! No photo this time–I’ll wait until she’s framed.

Illustration:

Do You Have a Pebble in Your Pocket? (the goat book) is coming along slowly but surely. All the spreads are beyond the base layers of paint and, for the most part, unified in their color and value (light & dark) schemes. There are a few stowaways that I’ll bring into harmony with the rest. (What is that sea foam green doing in the middle of a tree?) Then I can think more about details as I brush up my rendering skills.

And because I’m sure you’re all curious about what the duodecimo happens at a haiku conference…

Haiku-coo for Cocoa Puffs:

First, let me say that last weekend was surprisingly successful! Hard to believe it was already a week ago. Made some contacts, sold a few books, wrote lots of haiku, discovered figgyhobbin… (We’ll see how many comments that garners.)

Friday was casual–registration, reception, a group reading of haiku by three poet-scholars they were honoring at the festival, followed by an open reading (for anyone to share). Let me say that when I stood up to share two poems I had penned that very evening, I did not expect 1) enthusiastic applause, 2) that I’d end up the rising star of the conference. I mean that in a very humble way. Throughout the weekend, several attendants (including some top-tier people) shared how much they enjoyed my haiku and that I had a very natural, intuitive sense. In fact, Sunday before I left, two ladies of the Haiku Society of American (HSA) conferred and said that to keep me writing, they would see about using the HSA scholarship fund to gift me a membership (and some HSA haiku journals) through 2015. This has been confirmed with the president of the HSA. I’m quite honored.

Back to the schedule. Saturday consisted of several workshops on different genres incorporating haiku (eg., haibun, which is short prose followed by haiku, and haiga, which pairs art and haiku), talks on the development and status of haiku, and more reading. Sunday, the group took a ginko (not to be confused with the Chinese ginkgo tree), which is a walk to gather inspiration for haiku, had lunch, and held a final reading.

Now that I’ve learned a few more things about haiku, I’ll expand upon my syllabic comments from last time (for your edification and enjoyment, if not my duty as a new HSA member). Haiku is, of course, brief, and it juxtaposes images, traditionally two concrete images, at least one of which pertains to nature or the seasons. Modern haiku and senryu often incorporate abstract or subjective images or ideas, too, such as an emotion. Both forms include incomplete grammar or syntax and a kire (“cut”), simply a pause or caesura, which aids juxtaposition (and may create an “aha!” moment).

Animal Art:

Since this post is getting quite long, I’ll keep this short. My panda project, Pandagrams, is well underway. Stay tuned to learn just what that includes. I also completed a portrait of a Norfolk terrier I dogsat about two weeks ago; scoot over to the Animal Art portfolio to see it.

4th (update) of July

What an occasion–my fourth post this month! (Normally I update 3 times a month).This weekend I’ll attend a little haiku conference/festival and hopefully sell a few books & network with writers and publishers (not exclusively haikuists).

“Haiku?” you say, “I thought you wrote children’s books!” Yes, those, and many other things. I dabble in crafting haiku, senryu, and other short poetry. Haiku and senryu, as you may know, are genres of Japanese poetry. Subject-wise, haiku generally deal with nature and senryu with people. Both are comprised of 17 syllables (3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables in English, although Japanese poets generally write each poem in a single vertical line). There are freer forms that do not hold to the 17 syllables, such as this cheesy little one by me:

rule of law

parallel parking

before the courthouse

As for ongoing projects, the little farm boy and his goats are coming along–met with the author yesterday to deliver a progress report. I am pleased to say she’s pleased with the illustrations. Finishing Alice is on hold ’til I return next week. Thumbnails for Cartage are in the works, John Churchmouse methinks will soon resume, and some new ideas beg for attention.

Matane! (That’s a Japanese equivalent to “See you later!”)