![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Latest Art & News10 Nov 2009: Small Addition, Big Changes
Firstborn daughter Anya Sophia Lundberg arrived October 15th, 2009, and you can guess that I've not been online or painting as much since! I'll still be trying to update the site whenever possible (you can see there are new paintings on the main page) but new commissions will be limited, and I'll only accept those with very generous deadlines!
Upcoming changes to the site include having new categories, including one just for Prayer Trees and one for sketches.
Congratulations to Shaun Tan for winning the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist! It's well deserved--I'm an admirer!
This is a short post--but you can't blame me, can you? (I'm looking forward to the days when Anya will graduate from her 3-hour feeding cycle to longer ones.)
Take care of yourselves!
5 Aug 2009: The World Fantasy Awards
I still don't quite know how to process this, but it was a shock to be notified this morning that I'm among the 2009 nominees for the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. I'm among names such as Kinuko Y. Craft, Stephan Martinière, John Picacio and Shaun Tan and still can't comprehend what I'm doing there! This is not something I ever expected but clearly The Field Guide to Surreal Botany got me in there--and it wouldn't have been possible without the many writers, readers, reviews and well-wishers who supported the project. Thank you to all of you, and all of you who have supported me and my art over the years.
It's an honour (pardon the cliche) and HUGE surprise just to be nominated, and I don't know how to express quite all the shock and gratitude I'm feeling. Thanks, you're all awesome.
16 Jul 2009: Art Updates
Of course I've been back from vacation for a while, and have been working on art as well. The latest pieces are always in the thumbnails near the top of the News page. Do check out the ACEOs, and a new page I've set up about how I've found a quick new way of doing digital art: Check out Work in Progress: Dreadmire Chronicles.
I'm not doing tours anymore (thank goodness), owing to the fact I'm now into the third trimester of my pregnancy. Which means I now have time (and energy) for art again--and there's already a queue! If you're curious and interested in having a picture done by me...contact me quick! I'll be trying to fit you in between August and mid-October, when I'll be due. After that, who knows what my life will be like!
7 Jun 2009: On Vacation!
I am away June 8th to 11th. Behave!
31 Mar 2009: Catching Up
First news update on this site for 2009, and in some ways I can't believe it's taken me this long. On the other hand, this has already been a very filled, busy and tiring year so far. The first two and a half months taken up by what felt like an unprecedented amount of education/touring work (a mentally and physically challenging job), then a current (and very welcome) slowdown in that department because I'm pregnant! (As it happened, all nicely according to a fortune-teller's prediction.) That's the biggest news, and a very nice excuse to sit down and get back to more desk work (and that to me includes art). The nature of the education/touring job was draining in the best of times; this year, unfortunately, I was definitely drowning under the load until recently.
(Of course, as happens very often with jobs with high strain--sometimes when you get downtime, your body rebels immediately and gets sick, and that's been my situation so far. Combine this all with morning sickness, and just know that Janet's not been a very happy camper health- or schedule-wise.)
(Warning: technical site stuff ahead.) WordPress was removed from this site--I'm not a fan of WordPress' latest bells and whistles and while I would have preferred sticking with my older version of WP, it fell prey to hacking, and lately I've been losing patience with WP's vulnerabilities, old and new versions. There has been a spate of malicious code hacking going around non-WP sites recently as well--but relatively easy for me to fix. Anyway, my site is currently working but with a big hole where WP used to be; I'm just going to patch up my current CMS to cope. (End technical stuff.)
It's been a bit of a bummer watching the worldwide economic downturn affect millions of people, though from my personal point of view, this was a few years in the making. Speaking with various business people and vendors at conventions from 2004 to 2007, non-essential spending was already headed downhill in the US (for good and many reasons). If book vendors were hurting, I can't imagine the trend for independent artists and crafters. Well, I am in that lot, but actually being in a good place right now for completely non-art-related reasons, I'm not "hurting"... but I am sensitive to those who are, artists or not.
Anyway, this is my long-winded way of saying that I appreciate all of you who've supported my art over the years, whether with just your eyes, your words, or more! I hope you're weathering the downturn, doing well, staying healthy and all good stuff. The art on this site remains free to look at. ;) And new stuff is coming soon.
I'm on twitter as marrael. I'll add a feed here soon.
Janet Chui paints, programs, and shows people around Singapore heritage and WWII sites when she isn't at her desk. The random quotes below come from Blue Green Planet, an environmental e-card site. Janet lists her personal and business practices on this page. Her Healthy Green Artists column can be found at EMG-Zine. She also cofounded Two Cranes Press, and edited and illustrated A Field Guide to Surreal Botany.