praise for the Queens

It’s always nice to be liked:

“A smart, sassy overview of the ‘dark side’ of the crown and scepter. It
makes a girl glad she was born a commoner.”
–Robin Maxwell, bestselling author of Mademoiselle Boleyn

“A fascinating journey through thousands of years of the world’s most
dangerous job — being queen!”
–Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with the Queen

These arrived just in time, since I’ll soon be launching the next phase of the Doomed Queens website.

• Filed under queens | 2 Responses

the queen is dead, long live the queen….

As of yesterday, ArtandWords.com is now incorporated into KrisWaldherr.com. Though I’ve still a few last bugs to iron out, my old site is now history. Eventually I will add some redirects from old pages, so any bookmarks you might have will still work. But basically that’s it.

Though I know I mentioned this some time ago, but it’s still strange. I’ve been primarily identified on the web as ArtandWords.com for over a decade — and now it’s just little ol’ moi. To be honest, I feel a bit (for lack of a better term) exposed. But maybe these conflicted emotions signify that I’ve been hiding behind my old url in some strange way?

On the work front, I’m getting ready to take a small hiatus for a few days.My dear friend Lisa Hunt is coming to visit me this week! I’m very excited to have her as a houseguest. BTW, if you haven’t checked it out yet, Lisa’s new Fairy Tale Tarot journal is wonderful. I’m mentioned in a few of the posts too — I posed for her Goose Girl card. Go check me out in my costumed glory.

On a related note, Lisa posed for my Boudicca drawing for Doomed Queens. She brought much of her martial arts intensity to her task.* But that’s a subject for a separate post.

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*Did you know Lisa is about to test for her black belt? Amazing but true! I’m in awe of the woman.

• Filed under art and words, friends and colleagues | No Comments

moving onto part deux

Right now, I’m betwixt and between things. Doomed Queens has finally gone on press as of last week (so I’ve heard). Aside from strong pre-sales (so I’ve been told), it was also picked up by Costco and the QPB Club.

I’ve just received the final cover proof. (Doomed Queens has french flaps and endpapers though it’s a paperback. Broadway is planning a beautiful production job!) This is also probably on press right now too. After more than a year of solid labor, it’s a strange feeling to not have anything more to do on the book itself.

So where does this leave me? Do I simply more onto the next publication? Well not exactly, though I do have a few backburnered projects that I can now turn back to. Publishing a book is a bit more complicated than that. After all, writing, designing and illustrating is only part one of bringing a book to life. Part two is assuring that the book actually finds its way in the world — that it sells well, wins appropriate attention, and gets well reviewed. All this is a job onto itself.

So here’s my “to-do” list for Doomed Queens, part deux:

1. Finish finetuning my kriswaldherr.com website. I’ve still lots of Doomed Queens content to roll out as publication date approaches. Publication is set for October 28th.

2. Need to finish my press kit Q&A. I’m taking this quite seriously since it’s a very important tool for the media to learn about my book. Am doing my best to be pithy, witty, and wise.

3. Prepare for the launch party. There will be two, one at a private club and one at my gallery, which will include an exhibition of the original art from Doomed Queens.

4. Confer with marketing at my publisher. We have lots of ideas for publicizing the book. Now we need to decide on how to proceed. For example, there’s been talk of a Youtube video, which I think is a fantastic idea. I’d also like to design a Facebook application.

5. And so much more. What I’ve listed here just scratches the surface and doesn’t even include all the labors of the good people at Broadway Books. For example, I know they’ve already sent out galleys for reviews. Once the book is published, there will probably be a big mouth mailing, to stir up support from halo’ed quarters.

As for myself, well, I just feel tired. I’m glad to have finished part one of my labors. I’d love to take a break, a mental margarita if you will. But I know I have many miles to go before I sleep. And now is not the time to lose my focus.

• Filed under queens, recent publications | 2 Responses

Why does this blog look different? *

It’s all part of my site redesign, which has gone “live” as of last night. There’s still a few bugs to be ironed out — but when isn’t there? All of those bugs should be banished within the next week or so. The main thing I need to attend to is optimizing the home page for earlier versions of Explorer — it’s displaying perfectly in Firefox, Safari and Netscape. (No offense to Explorer lovers everywhere, but it’s hard on html.) Oh, and updating my cgi scripts for the oracles and online catalog. That sort of stuff.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this site redesign is that my url has migrated over to www.kriswaldherr.com, instead of artandwords.com. So please reset your bookmarks! Though the site at artandwords.com will still be operational for a little while (at least until the bugs on the new site are ironed out), eventually it will forward to kriswaldherr.com. In other words, artandwords.com will still be around, just not as it was.

Why have I done this, after over a decade of identifying myself so closely with artandwords.com/aka Art and Words? Believe me, it wasn’t an easy decision. When I initially chose artandwords.com as my author url, I did so because my name isn’t simple to spell or pronounce. I thought it would make it easier for people to remember my work, to find my site. And in some ways, it has.

However, over the years, it has created confusion. People think that Art and Words is the parent company, where I play only a small part — as if I’m a subsidiary working for a corporation, instead of the founding mama who created this site and my books. This has made it more difficult for me to take credit for what’s mine on this website, to claim authorship of my publications. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I’ve received addressed to “Art and Words”, rather than Kris Waldherr. After all, it’s Kris Waldherr who creates the art and words, not the other way around.

Anyway, I think my new logo clarifies this:

So welcome to KrisWaldherr.com. I’ve got a new logo. New url. New website. New content, including new pages for Doomed Queens. And (hopefully) new and easier navigation throughout.

It’s all good.

——–

*Now you can see why I haven’t been updating this blog so much. Site redesign is a lot of work!

• Filed under art and words, new projects | No Comments

32 short updates about my life

Hey, hello there! Long time, no blog. You might be wondering what is going on here.

1. I finished Doomed Queens.

2. Though I finished Doomed Queens, I’m still dealing with some last production-oriented details. So finished editorially, not finished design-wise.

3. Doomed Queens needs a website.

4. Yes, I’ve designed a teaser page, but it really needs a website.

5. My whole website needs to be redesigned. I know it’s a sad mess since I got hacked into several months ago and had to change ISPs.

6. Guess what I’ve been doing the past two weeks? Yes, I’m knee-deep in html and css and so on. I’m still not finished with the site, but getting close. Tentative launch date: August 7, 2008.

7. But there’s been good news for Doomed Queens.

8. Costco picked it up! “Attention, shoppers….”

9. There will be a point-of-purchase display for participating independent bookstores.

10. I want one for my gallery. I’m an independent bookstore. (Kind of. I do sell books in my studio-gallery.)

11. There will be an exhibition of Doomed Queens‘ art at my studio-gallery this winter.

12. The exhibition will be called “Royally Screwed: Doomed Queens through the Ages.” The opening will probably be Friday, October 29 — in time for Hallowe’en.

13. I’m going to create a window display for it at my studio-gallery. Maybe I’ll even include a faux guillotine to set the mood.

14. Actually, I’m thinking a lot about window display these days.

15. I want my gallery window to look like a Joseph Cornell box.

16. I wish I had more time to dive into it — maybe this autumn.

17. Also, on the gallery front: I’m planning to paint the area above my window cobalt blue with gold ornaments.

18. It will look like a medieval illumination. I hope.

19. I also plan to paint a large art deco-inspired tree on two walls. But in very subtle paint, almost like a paper watermark. (If walls can have watermarks.)

20. My friend Lisa Hunt just started a blog about her upcoming Fairy Tale Tarot. It’s very good!

21. She’s coming up north to visit me later this summer. I can’t wait!

22. Also on the social front: Two friends moved to my neighborhood, one into the apartment above my studio. My life feels like a sitcom.

23. I’m enjoying lots of café society this summer.

24. On the family front: Thea is potty trained. Hip, hip, hooray!

25. Tom is going away for three weeks to curate an exhibition in Germany. Yay for him, boo for us.

26. My father-in-law had a book published.

27. I designed the cover for it.

28. We all went away to Idaho for our vacation, right after my last blog post.

29. It was beautiful, but we lost electricity for three days after a giant tree fell in a windstorm.

30. Thea liked swimming in the lake. I liked reading lots of books.

31. We had a stop over in Colorado. They had lots of great book stores. We had to check an extra bag on our flight home.

32. Since our return to Brooklyn, I’ve been dealing with items # 1-19. I’ve also started opening up my gallery to the public Saturdays from 12 - 4.

And that’s the latest here! How was your July?

• Filed under art and words, be-mused, friends and colleagues, the world around me, travels | One Response

And then there were none….

Queens, that is. Yup, I’ve finished illustrating all of the queens in my book — which means that the book is done!

Two nights ago, I sent off all the files for Doomed Queens to Broadway Books. And I do mean all of the files: art, fonts, manuscript, even the endpaper design (which includes a little surprise for those inquisitive enough to look underneath the flaps).

After over a year of hard work, it’s hard for me to believe that I’m really finished. I mean, I’m sure there may be some last minute edits — there always are. But the reality is that the book can be published. All of the pieces exist.

And what’s next for me? Well, now that the book is done, it’s time for me to shift into book promotion mode, so Doomed Queens sells as well as hoped. Creating this book is only the first part of the story. Now it needs to get out into the world!

I know that my publisher has already begun their efforts. For example, they’ve just sent out book galleys to numerous luminaries, in the hopes that of gaining cover quotes. I also know that they’re planning to design a youtube video, which will be released sometime this summer. I’ve also caught wind that they may be designing a point-of-purchase display for my book — a generous investment toward Doomed Queens’ success. Amazingly enough, people have already started to preorder Doomed Queens, though the pub date isn’t until the end of October. (At least that’s how it seems, according to my Amazon.com rankings.)

On my end, I’ve started planning a book launch party and an art exhibition at my gallery. But my biggest amount of labor will go into redesigning my website to feature the queens. That’s what I’ll be diving into next at the studio — once I have a chance to catch my breath!

BTW, the Doomed Queens art above is of Empress Wang. She was modeled for by my literary agent, the elegant Theresa Park.

• Filed under new projects, publishing, queens | One Response

heading toward the finish line

I’m about ten days away from finishing up Doomed Queens — actually maybe even less than that, if I keep up this pace. At this stage, I’m aiming to finish up a drawing every two days. This probably sounds like an unrealistic pace, but it helps that all but one of the remaining three drawings are laid out and transferred onto paper. After I finish the drawings, I have a last go ’round on the page proofs. I also have to finalize my acknowledgments and index pages.

And then, the finish line — though I’m sure there will be some last things to attend to. Publishing is just that way.

With so many loose threads waiting to be tucked away, it’s been hard for me to blog here these days. Yet I still have an urge to track my progress. To do so, I’ve started using Twitter and have been microblogging several times a day. (Maybe you’ve already noticed the Twitter sidebar?)

Anyway, if you want to “follow” my progress as I finish up Doomed Queens, click here.

ps: The drawing above is of Blanche of Bourbon, one of the more tragic of my doomed queens. Blanche had the misfortune to be married off to the aptly named Pedro the Cruel - need I write more? The model for Blanche was the lovely Stephanie Bowen, an editorial assistant at Random House.

• Filed under be-mused, new projects, publishing, queens | 4 Responses

the accidental retailer

Since my open studio (see previous post), I’ve thrown myself back into finishing up Doomed Queens. Though my deadline is July 15th, I need to finish everything by July 7th — a vacation with nonrefundable plane tickets awaits.

On the art end, I’ve six more full page drawings to go, out of fifteen. Most of the spot drawings are finished or can be filled out with old drawings and woodcuts. (Did I mention that I’ve included period art in Doomed Queens? These pieces range from medieval manuscript paintings to Victorian etchings. I think they give the book a rich playfulness.) Of these last six drawings, five of them are started (ie: sketched and transferred onto watercolor paper); one awaits a last piece of photo reference before I can start on it.

On the text end, my editor just sent me second page proofs. These mainly consist of moving a comma here, a sentence break there. In other words, we’re very close to the end and are just burnishing the manuscript to a sheen.

And what of the open studio for Kris Waldherr Art and Words, my little storefront studio-gallery? Well, it’s apparently engendered a lot of buzz in the ‘hood. Those who attended the open studio seemed stunned by what they discovered here and lingered a while to drink in the atmosphere. I guess Arts and Crafts-style ataliers aren’t run of the mill, even here in hipster Brooklyn. A typical comment: “I would have never expected to find this here. But then I would have never expected to find this anywhere. It’s so beautiful.” Based on others’ recommendations, people have been knocking on my door to view art, to buy books, ask questions about my work, solicit advice about publishing, and more.

This has forced me to consider what I intend for my studio-gallery. Do I want to be in retail? Not in the traditional sense — I don’t want to be a storekeeper or gallerina. But I do love the idea of creating an environment to share my work with the public, where the art and books on display just happen to be for sale. I also love the idea of hosting events where I can create experiences that offer beauty, wit and wisdom, especially if they inspire others to go forth and do good in the world.

In a much smaller, rudimentary way, Kris Waldherr Art and Words (the storefront) is my Red House. I intended it as a physical place where I could explore ideas about beauty and environment. The reason I chose to rent a storefront, instead of a private studio, was because it offered more opportunities for sharing with the community.

So toward that end, Kris Waldherr Art and Words will be officially open to the public Saturdays 12 to 4pm. In the autumn, we’ll start presenting events such as readings, a film series, even a tarot night or two. Click here for more information and a small preview of what we’re planning.

• Filed under art and words, be-mused, events, studio and gallery, the art world, the world around me | No Comments

grand opening! and a tour inside Kris Waldherr Art and Words

The opening of my storefront studio-gallery during the Flatbush Artists Studio Tour attracted over two hundred people! Here are a few photos from the event.

The entrance to Kris Waldherr Art and Words.

Art on display. Some of my children’s book paintings were hung at kid height, to be better appreciated by those under four feet tall.

The reading nook. Notice the artistic contribution by Thea.

More art on display. Many of the pieces are the small paintings from The Book of Goddesses and The Lover’s Path.

More work on display, including my Cupid and Psyche violin.

The kids really enjoyed looking at art. Here a few of them are discussing whether the pegasus is a cow or a horse or a bird. No consensus was reached.

Right now, I’m back to working on Doomed Queens. The end is in sight, which is a good thing — everything is due by July 7th (which is less than a month away. Yikes.).

• Filed under art and words, friends and colleagues, studio and gallery, the world around me | 2 Responses

art is underway

Right now, I’m about halfway through the art for Doomed Queens — and I’ve just over six weeks to go until my final deadline. As an amuse bouche, here is my drawing of Catherine of Aragon, which was gamely posed for by my friend Diane Saarinen. Yes, I’m designing each drawing as sort of a royal danse macabre through queenly history.

Quick trivia question: Can you name the other wives of Henry VIII surrounding her? To jog your memory, here’s that old rhyme:

Divorced, beheaded, died;
Divorced, beheaded, survived.

• Filed under be-mused, friends and colleagues, new projects, publishing, queens, the art world | 2 Responses