Nonfiction Fest Begins in 2 Days, and in this post, I’ll show you how to use the free app OneNote to keep up with your lists and ideas. I like several things about OneNote. For one thing, my computer just crashed, and I lost several manuscripts. I am saving all of my short picture book…
Month: January 2021
The 100 Day Project and the February Flowers Challenges Are Only Days Away – Why I Participate in Writing & Painting Challenges
Today, I have completed my 10th consecutive day of painting flowers. I was practicing for two well-known painting challenges that are coming soon. On January 31, #the100dayproject begins, and on February 1, #februaryflowers begins. You can join both of these challenges on Instagram. I somewhat of a challenge junkie. I am also a writer, and…
6 Tips to Help You Get Ready for Your Picture Book Manuscript to Be Discovered on Twitter through PBPitch
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…
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 Before I began…
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…
Good Morning Starshine – Sunflower in Vase – Jacki Kellum Acrylic Painting
Good Morning Starshine – Jacki Kellum Acrylic Painting of a Sunflower Finally, after years of limiting my painting to watercolor only, I have finally begun painting in my old style again. I began my formal study of painting about 50 years ago, and my painting instructor was an abstract expressionist. Thus, my first paintings were…
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…