It’s here: Goddess Tarot for Android app!

After months of work, here it is at last!

As you can see, we’ve kept the design of the Goddess Tarot android app as close as possible to the iPhone version but with one important upgrade: the Android app has been designed for both phone and tablet screens. So it’s two-for-one, so to speak. It’s also on sale at a special launch price of $1.99 at Android Market. (Eventually it will be available from Amazon’s App Store too.)

I hope you’ll go forth and download. Here are a few additional screen captures of it.

• Filed under goddesses, iPhone apps, new projects, tarot and oracles | No Comments

Creativity Friday: Closing reception, ON THE ROAD OF BONES

I’m so very close to finishing up this DOOMED QUEENS follow up princess proposal that it’s frustrating — hopefully today! It’s been an amazing amount of work, ut as soon as I think “that’s it!” I find another way to improve it. And I’m the sort of person who can’t let go of a project unless I feel that I’ve done everything I can on it. It’s a blessing and a curse.

In the midst of this, mucho activity is going on at the gallery. The big news is that our current exhibit, On the Road of Bones: Ghosts of the Siberian Gulag Along the Old Kolyma Highway is closing tomorrow. I hope you’ll join us for a last look at this stunning exhibit! The curator will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the coldest place on earth. We’ll also have refreshments. Here are the details:

Saturday, March 5th, 1 – 4 pm
CLOSING RECEPTION: ON THE ROAD OF BONES
Children welcome. Free admission.

About this exhibit: Through photography and mixed media, this exhibition reveals the secret history and natural beauty of Kolyma, formerly the land of Soviet labor camps and the coldest inhabited region in the world. Stunning new works by young native Siberian photographers Bolot Bochkarev, Nastya Borisova, and Ajar Varlamov trace the remains of the vast highway built across the taiga, tundra, and permafrost of North Asia by Stalin’s prisoners. “On the Road of Bones” juxtaposes the events of the hidden past with the power of the frozen landscape and the contemporary lives of people in the far north. Learn more at OntheRoadofBones.com.

This event takes place at:
Kris Waldherr Art and Words studio-gallery
1501 Newkirk Avenue (entrance on Marlborough Road, across from Rite Aid)
http://www.artandwords.com/events.html
directions

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Our next exhibit opens the following Saturday! Here’s the poster for it:

More information to come very very soon—as soon as I get this long-aborning proposal off my desk!

• Filed under creativity, events, friends and colleagues, new projects, queens, studio and gallery | 3 Responses

Publishing Monday: Back from England—and more

Ack, how could almost a month pass since my last blog post? And that one was right before my trip to England at the end of November. Quelle scandale! Well, the truth is that since my return I’ve been so inspired that I’ve been working nonstop on my novel THE LILY MAID and other projects (more about those below). So the objective of my trip was more than met. And Nana’s ashes were brought home to the church where she was baptized and married.

I have several hundred photos from my trip, many of them research-oriented. One highlight was a visit to Highgate Cemetery’s West Cemetery to visit the grave of Elizabeth Siddal, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s model, muse, and wife. Below is Rossetti’s Beata Beatrice, an oil painting he completed of Lizzie (which is how her many knew her) several years after her death from a laudanum overdose. Though her passing was ruled death by misadventure, she may have left a suicide note which her husband destroyed. However, Lizzie was a gifted poet and painter in her own right, a fact often overshadowed by the Sturm und Drang particulars of her association with Rossetti.

The fragile condition of Highgate’s West Cemetery leaves it closed to visitors except by advance arrangement. I feel very fortunate to have had such a special experience. I am grateful to Justin, my guide at Highgate, who was both knowledgeable and tolerant as I paid my respects.

I was pleased to see that someone else had recently visited Lizzie’s grave—I added my offering of a peach-colored rose to the red flowers already there. Lizzie’s plot in the Rossetti family enclave is located down a hidden, isolated and ivy-strewn pathway slick with autumn leaves. Justin said that she’s visited by more men than women–and the men tend to weep. One even became visibly angry and ranted about how she was abused by Rossetti. “I think the women who visit are made of sterner stuff,” my guide concluded.

Lizzie’s tragic life is included in THE LILY MAID as a cautionary tale. In this excerpt from my novel, my protagonist Elizabeth is warned about the dangers of being a muse from her ex-fiance:

Charles began, “Elizabeth Siddal was the muse for Dante Rossetti, the most famous Pre-Raphaelite of them all—”

“—Don’t bore me. I know who Rossetti is,“ I interrupted. “And I told you, Mr. Dulac is not a Pre-Raphaelite.”

“Doesn’t matter. All artists seek inspiration—a muse, if you will.”

“Indeed.”

“Everyone should have a muse. But nobody should have to be one.”

Charles’ eyes met mine, daring me to ignore him…. His voice became low. “Elizabeth Siddal posed for some of Rossetti’s most famous paintings—Beata Beatrice, Paolo and Francesca. His poems are about her. You know this one:

‘At length their long kiss severed, with sweet smart:
And as the last slow sudden drops are shed
From sparkling eaves when all the storm has fled,
So singly flagged the pulses of each heart….’

I flushed, remembering.

Charles continued, “Anyway, Rossetti claimed to be in love with Miss Siddal—that she was the only one who could inspire his art. But he soon tired of her, beautiful as she was, and replaced her with another muse, Jane Morris. Miss Siddal did not take it well. Sure, Rossetti did the right thing and married her, but she never recovered from losing that influence over him. It was like a drug to her. So she replaced it with another drug, laudanum. She died at the age of thirty-one from an overdose.”

I was disturbed, but determined not to show it.

“When she died, Rossetti tucked his only copy of his poems in her coffin next to her long copper hair. He regretted it, so he had the coffin exhumed from Highgate seven years later.”

THE LILY MAID is about a young woman who becomes a model to a charismatic artist and his wife and, in the process, uncovers a mysterious tragedy. It’s set during the Aesthetics art movement in 1880s London. You can learn more about Elizabeth Siddal and her work at LizzieSiddal.com and PreRaphaeliteSisterhood.com—both wonderful sites. I also highly recommend Lucinda Hawksley’s biography, Lizzie Siddal: Face of the Pre-Raphaelites.

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It wouldn’t be a Publishing Monday post without some mention of publishing. As I posted last month, my new e-book imprint Art and Words Editions is officially launched! I’m especially pleased that all of our Fall books have been approved and released by Amazon, BN.com, and Apple.

Our newest addition—and one which I’m especially proud of—is Lisa Hunt’s Soul Drawings. Thie e-book original is a stunning look at the fine art of this much-loved illustrator whose many publications include the Fairy Tale Tarot, Animals Divine Tarot, and Celestial Goddesses.

Soul Drawings is available for $9.99 in iBooks, Kindle, Nook, and PDF formats; the PDF will work on any computer. View excerpts from the book here. In addition, you can download a free chapter and art here from Apple, BN.com, and Amazon.

In January, we’ll be posting an exclusive and candid Q&A with Lisa about the creation of Soul Drawings as well as a video detailing what goes into creating a “soul drawing.” Not to be missed!

• Filed under The Novel, art and words, be-mused, creativity, e-books, friends and colleagues, new projects, the art world, the world around me, travels | 3 Responses

Publishing Monday: Announcing….

… Art and Words Editions, my new digital imprint.

Our mission statement:

An e-book is more than the sum of its words. At Art and Words Editions, we’re dedicated to ushering in a golden age of digital publications for children and adults. Our e-books and apps are impeccably designed and gorgeously illustrated. They’re also written by some of the most inspiring and empowering authors around.

Our publications are available in a variety of formats for iPad, Kindle, NOOK, and other e-readers. Want to play it safe? We also publish in plain vanilla PDF which can be read on any computer. Check our Tech Specs page for installation information for each format.

Think of us as providing wit, wisdom, and wonder to your iPad—and beyond!”

As you can imagine, I’ve been hard at work on this big secret project for much of the summer and this autumn. I’m so pleased that I can finally unveil Art and Words Editions to you!

Oh, and if you sign up for our newsletter, you’ll get a free e-book. It’s in PDF format, so you can enjoy it on any number of e-book devices, including your computer. Click here for the details. Too much commitment? You can also “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

• Filed under art and words, e-books, iPhone apps, new projects, publishing, retail therapy, tarot and oracles | 2 Responses

Sacred World Oracle: Five animals to go….

With all the projects going on here—novel revisions, iPad e-books, gallery exhibits, and iPhone apps et al—it’s been some time since I’ve posted any Sacred World Oracle updates. The good news is that I’m closing in on finishing this deck, with just five cards left to illustrate. I’m very pleased that U.S. Games Systems will be publishing the Sacred World Oracle; they’re also the publisher of my Goddess Tarot and Lover’s Path Tarot. If things keep on schedule as hoped, deck will be available in mid-2011.

With five cards left to illustrate, I thought it would be fun to get your feedback: What other sacred animals should I include?

Some background information: The decks is divided into quadrants, each devoted to the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. I’d like to add another card to the quadrants of earth, air, and fire; two cards to water. You can view most of the art here. Or, better yet, try a free reading with the in-progress Sacred World Oracle.

Here’s what I have so far:

Bat
Bluebird
Butterfly
Dove
Dragonfly
Owl
Peacock
Raven
Spider
Bear
Bull
Cat
Dog
Fox
Lion
Rabbit
Ram
Snake
Carp
Crab
Dolphin
Frog
Salmon
Swan
Turtle
Whale
Centaur
Chimera
Dragon
Falcon
Firebird
Horse
Phoenix
Salamander
Scorpion

I invite you to post your card suggestions in the comments below. If I use your suggestion, I’ll send you a copy of the Sacred World Oracle when it’s published. (In the case of two or more people making the same suggestion, a drawing will be held.)

So bring on the animals!

• Filed under mythic living, new projects, publications, tarot and oracles | 5 Responses