Olivier Dunrea's Blog, page 2

STUDIO UPDATE

Pearl and Pearl’s Lost Pearls will be published next year! Pearl will be published 13 February 2024 and Pearl’s Lost Pearls will be published in mid-June 2024.

Here is the first review for Pearl in Kirkus:

Last year HarperCollins bought Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Pearl and Pearl’s Lost Pearls will be published under HC’s Clarion Books imprint, as will all future Gossie & Friends books.

IT’S BEEN A BUSY YEAR!

It’s been a busy year! We have been doing a lot of traveling and spending time on Cape Cod. We love our two new Jeeps: Phineas (Jeep Wrangler Sahara) and Sharky (Jeep Gladiator).  We bought Sharky so that we can tow our new Scamp (The Sea Mouse) without any worry.

On the beach in Provincetown with Phineas.

At Race Point with Sharky.

Camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains, NC with Sharky and The Sea Mouse.

PEARL and PEARL’S LOST PEARLSPEARL is finally finished! ...

PEARL and PEARL’S LOST PEARLS

PEARL is finally finished! I’m pleased with the finished art and changes to a few of the layouts that I made at the 11th hour. I am now hard at work finishing the art for PEARL’S LOST PEARLS. Both books will be published in Fall 2023 as a pair.

The early production boards before putting up the LARGE Production Board in front of the drawing board. The new large Production Board that enables me to see at a glance layouts and progress of the book I’m working on at any given time. Variations for the front cover. Pearl standing on the small haystack is the final choice. Finished art in progress. Me working at the drawing board. A few pages from the dummy for PEARL. Rough sketch for the front cover. “Where are your pearls, Pearl?” Two of my favorite pictures from the book.

Favorite Books

We moved the second mahogany bookcase into our bedroom while John scrapes and preps the Iceland Room for painting. I decided to see how it would look if we kept both bookcases in the bedroom. And I am thrilled with the result. Now I have all my most favorite books and the books that I use most for research (archaeology, prehistory, folklore, vampyres, Cape Cod, Mayflower, etc.) close at hand.

A Few Photos from Past Holidays

The pups are spoiled every Christmas!

2018 There can never be too much snow for Christmas! Apple Cakes wrapped and ready to be given as gifts. [image error][image error]

Henwoodie Decorated for the Holidays!

The dining room table is set!

Looking into the dining room from the entrance hall. The Yule Tree is decorated and candles lit.

John has been baking cheesecakes galore!

John and Scout about to get cozy.

Our wee trolls guard the candy table. The holidays would not be complete without lots of candy—everywhere!

A Few of the Best Photos of the Vampyres

These photos were taken by John with is professional camera. I set up the scenes, lighted the candles, and he shipped the photos quickly.

Various details of the miniatures made for the Vampyre Room Boxes.

The miniatures to be placed in the Vampyre Room Boxes. Interior of the dungeon beneath the stairs and upper platform. Black and white photo with cobwebs added. Two versions of antiquing white porcelain busts. The busts are “antiqued” with gouache then fixed with a matte fixative/varnish from Japan. Cramming everything in just for fun. The candles are real miniature candles made by me. The photo was snapped VERY quickly. The vampyre collection on display on the library table in the living room. The collection as I add new pieces to it in the studio. A few of the miniatures being made for the display. Miniature prints made by me. Egyptian scrolls 1 Egyptian Scrolls 2 Egyptian Scrolls 3 Egyptian Scrolls 4 Sepia version of scene. Overall view of the items collected or made for the Vampyre Room Boxes. Faux bat in display box. Photo taken by John with his professional big camera. Each of the silver lockets is filled with paper ephemera that I made. Finding the tiny metal keys took a lot of searching and scouring the internet for sources. There are dozens of chests and trunks stuffed with miniature books, scrolls, rolled maps, brass items, miniature glass bottles, rats, bones, etc. Pile of miniature maps made by me. I’ve been collecting and working on the miniatures for the Vampyre Room Boxes for about a year. This was the first inexpensive vampyre that I had bought that started the entire collection a couple years ago. And this was the beginning of the Vampyre collection!

Making the stone fireplace.

Before adding the final details and painting the stonework. Final stonework details finished and painted. Added the soot to show that the fireplace was a working fireplace. Crane, andirons, and pots added. Close-up of finished fireplace. Fireplace in place in the Red Vampyre Room Box. The entire unit can be taken out.

The Vampyre Red Room Box

Detail of the fireplace mantle. All the architectural elements such as the fireplace, dungeon steps, etc. all come out and can be re-arranged.[image error] [image error]