Painter of Romance - Edmund Blair Leighton

Edmund Blair Leighton

I'm not a huge fan of art. I never learned the true appreciation of it in High School, however there are a few artists that have captivated me. One of them is Edmund Blair Leighton. I'm sure you've seen these paintings around at one time or another, but if not, you're in for a treat today. Because his paintings are gorgeous. 

Leighton paints what is referred to as "historical genre scenes" with a very romantic feel. Typically, they are regency or medieval era. I'm including a few of my favorites with this post. :D

Edmund Blair Leighton was born in London, England on September 1, 1852. He attended college at both the University College School and the Royal Academy School. He began exhibiting his work in 1874 at the Royal Academy, and succeeded. Apparently, he did well enough as a professional painter to support his wife and two children. For Edmund's family, painting was a heritage. His father was a painter, which aided in Edmund's acceptance into Royal Academy, and interestingly enough, Edmund's son also followed in their footsteps and chose painting as a profession.

Accolade (1901)
Public Domain

Because I adore his art so much, it was shocking to me that Leighton was not considered among the ranks of truly great artists. In his obituary, which was printed in a magazine, Leighton was "a painter who, though he did not attain to the higher flights of art, yet played a distinguished part in aiding the public mind to an appreciation of the romance attaching to antiquity, and to a realisation of the fellowship of mankind throughout the ages."

Next Door Neighbor (1893)
Public Domain

Appreciation of the romance attached to antiquity. That must be why I like his work so much. :) To me, his work captures stories in still form. I could stare at them for a long time imagining what is happening in that scene. 

What do you think of his work? Who is your favorite painter?

 

Paint Yourself Into a Book With Special Guest Leeann Betts

Today we sit down with author and storyteller Leeann Betts as she brings us inside her house and writing projects. Welcome, Leeann! Take it away.

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Living in an old house provides lots of opportunity for devising plots, particularly when the task at hand is painting a room. As I slathered yet another coat of paint over the neon blue bedroom walls, I got to thinking about how painting and writing require similar processes.

Here is mine:

1. When painting a room, the first step is to visualize what color you want on the walls: choose the genre, then the characters and setting. If your book is a romance, you want to choose your hero and heroine and an antagonist who will try to keep them apart. For a mystery, you will choose the problem, who did it, and then create a sleuth to find the solution. Setting includes the time period as well as geographical location. Understand your characters’ goal, motivation, and conflict, and make the goal worthy of the journey.
2. The next step in painting a room is repairing the defects: come up with a plot line. Most often, you’ll find that the first thing you think of for a plot will be the easy point. To create a compelling story, you must think beyond that first idea, and ask more “And then what?” questions.  Fill in the holes in the plot. Don’t let your hero off the hook too easily.
3. Unless you want your entire room the same color, you’ll likely tape off areas: In writing, your outline, synopsis, and elevator pitch will keep you on track. For seat-of-the-pants writers, you don’t have to write a ten-page outline. Even an elevator pitch, fifty words or less, can keep you on track. And for those who love to outline, the joy still emerges when a character says or does something you weren’t expecting.
4. Finally, after all the preparation, now paint: Writing requires tools. Included in your toolkit will be something to write on; a notepad and pen; a space where you can write; some software, and patience. Set daily or weekly goals for your writing. Occasionally read over what you wrote the previous day and make a few changes. Keep your outline in front of you to keep you on track. Review your characters’ GMC to make sure your character is changing and moving toward their goals.

Sometimes I fool myself into thinking I can paint a room in a couple of hours, forgetting all the preparation and clean-up to make the job truly complete. Just as painting a room doesn’t begin and end with a single brush stroke, writing a book takes a lot of preparation, process, and finish. But it can be done. I am living proof of that. I’ve painted many rooms and written a number of books. You can too!

Readers, leave Leeann a comment to get your name in the drawing for this week's giveaway of a book by Crystal Barnes!

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Leeann Betts writes contemporary suspense, while her real-life persona, Donna Schlachter, pens historical suspense. She has released five titles in her cozy mystery series, By the Numbers, with Hidden Assets released the end of June. In addition, Leeann has written a devotional for accountants, bookkeepers, and financial folk, Counting the Days, and with her real-life persona, Donna Schlachter, has published a book on writing, Nuggets of Writing Gold, a compilation of essays, articles, and exercises on the craft. She publishes a free quarterly newsletter that includes a book review and articles on writing and books of interest to readers and writers. You can subscribe at www.LeeannBetts.com or follow Leeann at www.AllBettsAreOff.wordpress.com All books are available on Amazon.com in digital and print, and at Smashwords.com in digital format.

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Oil Paints in the 1800s

In AT LIBERTY TO LOVE, book seven of the Texas Romance series and my newest release, my hero Marcus Ford is an artist. This gave me cause to investigate the early history of oil painting.

It surprised me to discover that my Marcus couldn’t go and purchase tubes of color at the nearby general store. He couldn’t even order them through the catalogues. Instead, he purchase powered pigments and blended them with his own bases.


The first patent for a pigment with zinc and linseed oil—closet to what we know today as oil paints—came in 1865, the year Marcus met my heroine Rebecca Rusk. So he didn’t have access to it yet, but would in the years soon to come. However my story only covers 1865 and 1866, the years succeeding the Civil War, resulting in the necessity of him mixing his own colors with pigments and a solvent.

Up until that time, the colorings were ground into a fine powder by stone, and men used various vehicles such as linseed, coconut or soy oils to blend their tints into their oil-based paints. Later poppy seed oil became a popular base. Most mixtures also involved petroleum mineral spirits to get the desired consistency, which varied from artist to artist. The spirits were also used to clean the brushes.

The thick, greasy consistency of the paint caused it to dry slowly, allowing pigments to be blended, worked, and corrected right on the canvas. This simplified shading and modeling for the artiest.

In AT LIBERTY TO LOVE, Mary Rachel’s husband Jethro Risen commissions Marcus to paint a family portrait. He used a stretched canvas and painted on an easel from sketches of both the people and backgrounds. He also earned money to pay passage from painting landscapes and ceramics. Selling his early works, including portraits of his dead wife, caused him much regret.

I should think that would be hard for any artist. If I loved a work, I’d want to keep it…or give it away. I’m blessed as a novelist I get to keep it and share it! Same with my new songs the Lord gives to me.

Speaking of which, I hope you’ll visit my YouTube channel and hear a couple of them. Subscribe while you’re there so you won’t miss any of the new ones

BIO: Born in Long Beach, California, Caryl got to Texas at the too-young-to-remember-anything-else age of six months then celebrated her first birthday as a Texan. In Northwest Dallas, the Letot Elementary seventh grader wrote an essay on ‘What will you be doing in 2000?’ Looking into the future, the imaginative girl saw herself as an inter-galactically famous author, streaking from planet to planet to sign books. writers' c     She married her high school sweetheart Ron forty-eight years ago, and they enjoy four children and sixteen grandsugars.
     God directed her to the DFW Writers’ Workshop in ’93 where published authors took Caryl under their wings and mentored her. Six years later, her first non-fiction was published, and for the next nine years, attending weekly read and critique sessions, she averaged a title a year from four presses: two non-fiction, four novels, and three mid-grade chapter books.

     In March, 2008, she and Ron left Irving to follow God’s leading to Red River County in far North East Texas. They founded the Red River Writers’ Workshop, met Mary Sue Seymour--NY agent--at a writers' conference, then The Seymour Agency sold her historical romance VOW UNBROKEN to Howard Books, an division of Simon & Schuster. 

     She's dedicated to serving God through her writing and praise and worship—He frequently gives her new song. Caryl believes all good things are from Him and prays that her books will minister His love, mercy, and grace to all of her readers, young and old.  


Links:  All Books   At Liberty to Love   BookBub   Website   Newsletter   Facebook    Blog   GoodReads    Google+    LinkedIn    Twitter    Pinterest   YouTube Hear the new songs God gives Caryl!