of galleries and queens and Sarah Palin

I’m about to send out the autumn edition of Art and Words Extra, my newsletter. If you haven’t already signed up for it, I hope you’ll do so! Plus when you subscribe, you’ll also be automatically entered into a giveaway to win one of five copies of Doomed Queens when it’s published.

I’ve been hard at work on this new issue for the past few days — and I think it’s going to be one of my best yet. Inspired by the spirit of Doomed Queens past, I’ve written a piece about five ways Sarah Palin may yet be a Doomed Queen. There’s also an exclusive-only-for-subscribers raffle to win an autographed archival print ($90 value) of a drawing from the book.

For those of you in the New York area, I’ve included an events schedule for my Brooklyn gallery, Kris Waldherr Art and Words. It includes information about the upcoming Doomed Queens book launch and art exhibition, which (appropriately enough) will be a Hallowe’en celebration. Fun!

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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.

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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.

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

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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?

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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.

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