Almost a year ago, I pitched several manuscripts through PBpitch, and although my overall success was minimal that day, I landed a once-in-a-lifetime contract offer from Doubleday for Young Readers, which is a division of Penguin Random House, and it was for a manuscript that I almost didn’t pitch at all. I knew that the…
Month: January 2021
How Many Hours Does It Take to Create A 1-Hour Painting and Why?
Yesterday, I posted images of my 1-Hour painting Lilies, and within minutes someone asked me how much that this painting would cost. Lilies – Jacki Kellum Acrylic Painting Created in 1 Hour I came back with the price of $300, and I could almost hear jaws drop. “What? $300 for 1 hour of work?” Well,…
A Peek into Jacki Kellum’s Studio in the Ozark Mountains.
Roses in a Striped Mug – Jacki Kellum Acrylic Painting January 21, 2021 Today, I was painting, and before my still life fell apart, I decided to snap a shot of my setup–in the spot where I actually paint. I live in a house that is about 125 years old, and I paint in a…
Sunflowers and Roses – Jacki Kellum Acrylic Painting Created with Only 25 Strokes
Sunflowers and Roses – Jacki Kellum Acrylic Painting Created with Only 25 Strokes This is Day 4 of My Commitment to Paint Every Day for at least 100 days. Although I painted in oil years ago, I have been painting in watercolor for the past several years. To help get myself into a more painterly…
To Help Control Your Perfectionism, Try Completing a Painting in Only 30 Minutes
This week, I have returned to one of my older passions–painting boldly and expressively. I have discovered that even though my 30-minute paintings are not loaded with the “real,” many people still like them because they are free.7 A Jar of Sunflowers – Jacki Kellum Acrylic Painting Completed in 30 Minutes Sunflowers in a Blue…
How I Create 20-Stroke Paintings to Train My Artist’s Intuition & to Help Improve My Paintings
At least once a week, I argue with one person or another, telling them that painting is not magic. It is a learnable skill. The would-be painter needs to learn some drawing basics, and again, that is no more mysterious than learning how to type. Mere drawing and painting are technical skills, like typing or riding…
Lillian Gish – Actress from the Era of Silent Movies and again in 1955, in the Movie Night of the Hunter
Tonight I watched the old black and white movie Night of the Hunter, which was released in 1955. I cannot say that it was one of my favorite movies, but I was interested in the fact that Lillian Gish played a cameo part at the beginning of the movie, and when the movie was half…
A Close Look at the Watercolors of John Singer Sargent-The Master of Light
For many years, I have loved the oil paintings of John Singer Sargent, but I did not fully appreciate his watercolors until May of 2017. That was when I was brought to tears by his work in the exhibition American Watercolor at the Time of Homer and Sargent at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The…
How to Create a Text Dummy for a Picture Book in Microsoft Word
In my opinion, creating a text dummy in Microsoft Word is crucial for the writing stage of creating a picture book, and the great news is that the process is quick and simple. In this post, I’ll show you how to create a text dummy for the standard, 32-page picture book. Keep in mind that…
Let’s Take a Look at Mary Cassatt’s Painting Child in a Straw Hat: A Tour of the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art
When I lived close enough to do so, I loved to go to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and although that museum has a vast collection, I rarely moved beyond the rooms that housed Impressionism. The rooms might have moved around a bit since then, but at the time that I last…