Friday, June 22, 2012

Artwork, Road Trip, Music! (Part One)

Sorry again for the hiatus. I had hoped to post before now, especially as I am officially on vacation, but life's been go, go, go!

First of all, another piece from wonderful Katelynn Chambers. This time it's Robin and her horse, Gali. I don't quite picture Robin this way myself, but I love the picture anyway. The relationship implied between the characters is perfect, and I love her jeans! The colors and artwork in general is amazing. I just love her work so much!

Robin and Gali

(c) 2012 Katelynn Chambers and China Blue Publishing

On to the road trip.

DAY ONE

On Monday I headed north, destination: the northernmost part of Washington (state) to visit a person very dear to me. I got a very late start due to errands that needed to be run, and tried to get as far as could without stopping. I don't often get further north than Sacramento, so, especially once past Redding, I began to be a little more interested in the scenery. I was also looking for a potential Starbucks stop, but didn't want to have to go looking for one. There were no signs, so I kept going.

I admit to being tempted by the little city of Dunsmuir (apparently "Home of the best water on earth" and, according to the city's website, "the small-town home of 2,000 you wished you had grown up in."), but eschewing the potential delights of the Dunsmuir Historical Gardens, I continued on. It was probably closed anyway.

I wanted to take pictures along the way, but there are very few places to actually stop, especially not where there's anything interesting to photo. Here's a picture of Mount Shasta, northern California.

Mount Shasta

Not a terribly good picture; it's much more impressive in person. By this time I was in need of tea and ready to venture off the beaten track in search of it, but this mountain town (I didn't write down the name)

didn't look like it would have a Starbucks. Just finding the way back onto the I5 was an adventure. Of course that could be said of most large cities too.

I took some better pictures of Mount Shasta on my "good" camera (which I will add later--I have to wait to get home to download them) some place north of a town called Weed. Yes, that's right, Weed. There's actually a South Weed, a Central Weed, and even a North Weed Road (or something similar.) Weed is obviously a Very Important Place.

I was struggling to keep my eyes open by the time I crossed over the border into Oregon, but finally rolled into Medford about 10 p.m.

To finish off with MUSIC:

I had picked up three new CDs for the trip: The Black Key's El Camino, Keane's Strangeland, and I finally got Gotye's Making Mirrors, which is wonderful. But more about that next time. For now I'll leave you with Keane's Silenced By The Light which is on the radio quite a bit right now. I got to listen to the CD once through, but I'll listen again and have more to say about it on the trip home. I hope you enjoy!



Note: All original text and materials by or commissioned by B. B. Shepherd are copyright 2012 to China Blue Publishing.

The Glister Journals: Bronze can be purchased through any bookseller, or purchase now at Amazon.com

Reviews for The Glister Journals: Bronze

More Glister info and chapters at the book's website here: theglisterjournals.com

The chapters can also be read here at the top of my Wordpress blog. (and also in a menu in the sidebar!)

And please "Like" us on Facebook!

Buy The Glister Journals: Bronze

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Glister Journals Art

I'm VERY excited to be able to introduce you to artwork created in conjunction with my fiction series, The Glister Journals. If you're like me, when you read a book, you imagine the characters very clearly. That's the main reason I like to read a book before I see a movie made from it. I like to have my own mental picture of characters and places in my head before seeing someone elses. I have plans to get some of my own sketches out this summer too, but still haven't had much time to concentrate on art. But I also love seeing what other people think characters look like, or think they might look like.

Which was my idea behind finding artists to help render my Glister Journals characters. I commissioned two amazing artists to do character sketches for me, a couple of which were actually finished a couple of years ago, but I have been waiting for the right time to share them. And that time is now!

For the next few weeks I'll be posting one piece each weekend beginning with this lovely picture by Katelynn Chambers:

Allison and Gold from The Glister Journals

(c) 2012 Katelynn Chambers and China Blue Publishing

I love the sense of movement and the color palettes she uses in her pieces; they are all unique and wonderful. You can see more of her work at her portfolio site, Nettlebeast Studio.

I'd also like to show you the updated cover for the revised editions of Bronze. Both pictures make very nice wallpapers and you are very welcome to use them for personal use, but please respect the copyrights. :)

(c) 2012 B B Shepherd and China Blue Publishing

Click on the pictures to see them full size. All artwork can also be found at my new Tumbler account. And I'm going to throw a giveaway in here: the first person to comment on this post telling me the name of the horse on the cover of Bronze wins a free hardbound copy. I'll even sign it if you like. More about giveaways and locations next week.

Now I think we need to finish with a little music, don't you? I haven't got back to finish my Cinco de Mayo post, so I'll borrow some music I might otherwise have posted there (don't worry, there's plenty more for that post, and I will finish it!) This is "Fire Escape" from Civil Twilight, definitely one of my favorite bands right now, but I'll get back to them on a previous post (Yes! Time travel!)

Have a great week!



Note: All original text and materials by or commissioned by B. B. Shepherd are copyright 2012 to China Blue Publishing.

The Glister Journals: Bronze can be purchased through any bookseller, or purchase now at Amazon.com

Reviews for The Glister Journals: Bronze

More Glister info and chapters at the book's website here: theglisterjournals.com

The chapters can also be read here at the top of my Wordpress blog. (and also in a menu in the sidebar!)

And please "Like" us on Facebook!

Buy The Glister Journals: Bronze