Thursday, 4 April 2024

A-to-Z blog challenge: Step D - the fun rules

Since the competition is advertised on social media, ie Instagram, it goes without saying that some social media interaction is allowed. Blog posts like the ones I am sharing this month, where I share my process, but not the details, are allowed.

And so is sharing the details of the competition from the gallery to get the word out for more artists to take part. So yeah, please feel free to share my posts, but also check out the website and Instagram account of the gallery, for more information. Share with a friend, because they may not yet know about the competition.

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜Linzé




 

Wednesday, 3 April 2024

A-to-Z blog challenge: Step C - early bird registration

 

Yes, I love a good deal as much as the next person, so when the AGAC2024 competition administrator mentioned a discount for early bird registration, I was all over it. The registration fee is more than just reasonable to be honest, but if you love buying art supplies (and who doesn't 😉) saving a few rands will be well spent on the next tube of paint for sure. LOL!

    It is not just about saving a few rands, but by registering I am committing my time and energy to see this project through.

    I haven't shared any art work yet, so here is one I did that starts with the letter C. It is a graphite drawing in my sketchbook for a challenge in the Artkula group.

Coffee grinder in graphite on ivory paper

Keep an eye out for a few more during the challenge.

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜Linzé



Tuesday, 2 April 2024

A-to-Z blog challenge: Step B - the rules...what not to do


No one likes rules, so much, but entering any competition forces you to comply to the rules if you want to stand a chance of winning. Art competitions are no different.

Aside from complying with the requirements for size of the artwork, any medium restrictions, there are rules for the submission itself, and limitations on social media sharing. The last one should be the first rule any participant would comply with, because no one would want their work or their ideas at least to be copied. Crying after the fact because someone stole your idea, will not endear you to the judges.

This competition, AGAC2024, is no different in these aspects. As artists we like to share the projects we are working on - some for business, the rest of us just for fun and sharing our experiences of making art.

So if you are entering any competition, make sure to read the rules because it would be really stupid to be disqualified because of something you could have avoided.

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé


Monday, 1 April 2024

A-to-Z blog challenge: Step A - setting the tone

 
     As mentioned in the theme reveal, my posts will be my planning steps for the AGAC2024 art competition. This post explains what my posts will contain for this blog challenge.

     Since these posts are about an art competition, there are some things that I may or may not do, including not actually showing what I am painting. I will use some of my artwork to explain my thoughts, but the actual submission may not be shown until the competition's organisers allow it.

     I will talk about the rules and how they influence my planning. As a past entrant, I was invited to participate again, so I already know the theme for the competition this year. This means that some of the things I will post about are already done, while others will only sometimes follow the order of the posts.

     I also keep track of the time I spend as part of my daily life. Since I am self-employed, some of the work I do requires keeping track of time because it affects the invoice to the client. As I already have the application on my computer, I thought I would also use it for art projects. It provides a lot of insight when I quote for commission work, which I know many artists struggle with. If you are interested, the app is called Daily, and the link will take you to the Apple App Store.

     Lastly, if you are a South African artist, definitely consider taking part. I don't participate for any other reason than having fun and learning a lot while continuously improving my skills.

Come on, you are not too young nor too old to take part -> details.

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜Linzé



Saturday, 16 March 2024

Theme reveal: My A-to-Z blog challenge 2024

 

It's been a while since I have taken part in the blog challenge. The problem is always coming up with new ideas so it isn't boring to me. This year I decided to change things up a bit, and it has the added benefit of blogging about something I will be doing this year: taking part in another art competition.

I took part in the AGAC (ARTi  Contemporary Art Gallery & Interiors) in 2023, and decided to take part again this year. Given the style and theme requirements of the competition, there is some significant planning involved in creating the artwork, at least for me. So why not use the blog challenge to share my process and some of the behind-the-scenes work involved in creating art for a competition.

This is going to be a lot of fun, I promise.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I won't be using the letters of the alphabet as a key, it will simply be a list of 26 items. Apologies if that is not according to the rules of the blog challenge, but hey, this my blog and I can do what I want, right? 😂

Until April!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé


Sunday, 25 February 2024

BOOK FEATURE: A Memory for Love by Linzé Brandon

 

book cover, AI image woman in forest, A Memory for Love by Linzé Brandon
A Memory for Love

"Their attraction brought heartbreak. Could their struggle for survival bring them back together?"


https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1508808


Presale discount available at link.


Zarina sa'Der is not just an officer of the law, she is a category one memory witness, trained to work with the most vulnerable victims of violent crimes.


   Her last court case left her with nightmares which requires her to take a break to focus on clearing her special memory banks before she goes insane. As a Treasure of the Magicians' Order, the Grandmaster arranges that she can take her vacation at the High Order retreat for the ideal peace and quiet she needs.


   It has been three suns since Aidan Crea lost his mate and youngest daughter in the Wa'raki war that devastated Xa'an. When his best friend accuses him of becoming a grump, he agrees to take a break before the Grandmaster orders him to. After some soul searching he realised that he needed to get back to living instead of purely existing after the loss he had suffered.


   Zarina and Aidan form an unusual friendship that soon grows into something deeper, until Aidan is tasked to protect her after a contract is given out to assassinate her. Although her job exposes her to the worst criminals of society, things take a turn for the worse, when they finally find out who is behind the attempts on her life.


   They find themselves pawns in a larger plot and they have to risk their hearts and their lives to finally get a chance at a happily ever after.


#adult #fiction #fantasy



Friday, 12 January 2024

BOOK FEATURE: Master of Rods and Strings by Jason Marc Harris


SYNOPSIS

 Jealous of the attention lavished upon the puppetry talents of his dear sister—and tormented by visions of her torture at the hands of the mysterious Uncle Pavan who recruited her for his arcane school—Elias is determined to learn the true nature of occult puppetry, no matter the hideous costs, in order to exact vengeance.

BUY LINKS  ->  Crystal Lake Publishing     Amazon

EXCERPT

I will not deny that I have always been fascinated with puppets.

Perhaps because I was born on a farm in Saint Siméon, a forgotten town west of Valence in southern France named after the patron saint of puppets. Despite the frequent puppet shows many families considered themselves extraordinarily lucky if a child were accepted into the Lycée Avancé des Marionettes to study such puppetry—not all were enthusiastic.

Neither my father, Patrick Clermont, nor my mother, Anne Belleau, ever bought me a puppet.

I sulked over this injustice. At the age of four, I could only watch my sister, Sonja, play with Angélique, a fairy marionette with long red hair that our Uncle Pavan had bought her.

Occasionally, when she noticed me moping, Sonja would let me pull at the strings. Although I could get Angélique to do a flopping walk, I never could make her glide so gracefully as my sister did. Sonja’s twirling flourishes of thumbs and rippling fingers gave Angélique life.

“Such talent, such polish.” Uncle Pavan rubbed his large thumbs together as he watched Angélique slide amid potted wisteria and marigolds in the garden, flow through the open patio door, and float inside up to the doll’s house to join Sonja.

Sonja played at Angélique’s strings like a harp by whose invisible sounds the marionette bobbed with buoyant grace, almost hovering at times as if her silky azure wings could truly fly.

Uncle Pavan’s own prowess at puppetry was marvelous. Some townsfolk whispered he could literally bring puppets to life. He took a dedicated interest in Sonja’s future. That is why I have so few memories of her. She left for the advanced arts of puppetry.

I was left alone.

I longed to play with Sonja as we had on brighter days of jumping on piles of bronzing autumn leaves or racing through lavender fields with the spring winds—chasing harvest mice and Swallowtail butterflies dipping amid the yellow cowslips. We’d jump and then crouch down between stalks of shuddering wheat or corn. When I brooded and stroked Sebastian, our silky-furred black cat, who had also been the playmate of Sonja, I decided that if I showed myself particularly adept at puppets like my sister, then I would be reunited with her.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Marc Harris teaches creative writing, folklore, and literature, and is the Creative Writing Coordinator at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX.

He graduated with a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Washington, and an MFA in fiction from Bowling Green State University, where he served as Fiction Editor of Mid-American Review.

Creative work in journals such as Apex and Abyss, Arroyo Literary Review, Marvels and Tales, Midwestern Gothic, Psychopomp Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, and Writing Texas

His novella of weird horror Master of Rods and Strings was included in the Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award® Reading List for 2021 and will be republished by Crystal Lake Publishing in 2024.

Find the author online at his website: https://jasonmarcharris.com/


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