My New Blog!

Followers of Van Gogh's Chair may have noticed I have not posted in quite a while. Not sure how to explain, except that I got a bit blogged out. How to inject a little life in one's online writing? Start a new blog! This one, dedicated to Italy and things Italian (art and travel especially), is called The Raving Italophile. Hope to see you there -- Ciao!

Art History Reading Challenge!

The blogosphere is rife these days with 'reading challenges,' wherein bloggers commit themselves to tackling X number of books in a certain amount of time with a certain theme. The Art History Reading Challenge began in 2009 but is continuing for 2010: you can find information about it here at the Challenge blog. To participate, simply subscribe to the blog and provide a link to your own blog. Then choose a level of participation (3, 6, 9, or 12 fiction or nonfiction books about art to read) and have fun!

I've never participated in an online reading challenge before, and I admit it's kind of cheating for me to do this one. After all, it's my job to read nonfiction art history books! But my personal challenge is to remember to blog about some of them, 'cause I usually forget. I'm very excited that the subgenre of art historical fiction will be busy in 2010 and plan to make that a continued focus too. This new year we can look forward to Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves, Kathryn Wagner's Dancing for Degas, Stephanie Cowell's Claude and Camille [about Monet], and Susan Vreeland's Mr Tiffany and Clara. (If anyone knows of others, post a comment here.)

My first Challenge-oriented review will come this weekend: the promised yet delayed review of Ilaria Dagnini Brey's "The Venus Fixers." Happy Art History Reading!

Vincent the Blogger

The Van Gogh Museum once again shows their keen interest in twenty-first century technology/media by introducing a blog authored by...Vincent. At Van Gogh's Blog, VGM folks provide an excerpt from one of Vincent's letters accompanying a certain date. The most recent entry, from November 28th, gives a portion of one of Vincent's Antwerp letters...from 28 November 1885. A fun and creative way to introduce online audiences to the new translation of Vincent's letters.

While you're there, don't forget to download the IPhone App of van Gogh's letters...too bad I neither own an IPhone nor have the first notion how to work one...

Traipsing through the Blogosphere

Last night I took part in a live internet-radio interview, courtesy of Bookclubgirl.com and Blogtalkradio.com. It was fun! Readers phoned or emailed terrific questions -- very insightful questions that I was happy to tackle. What do I really think about Dr. Gachet? Did I "know" the ending of the book when I started writing? What sort of research did I do to craft the character of Rachel? Thank you to all those who submitted questions and/or listened to the show. If you haven't heard the interview and would like to listen (warning: there might be a spoiler or two), tune in here!

Elsewhere in the blogosphere -- lately I've been doing a lot of 'traveling' -- Sarah over at Reading the Past is hosting a guest-post today on "Van Gogh, Reader of Novels." Did you know Vincent was a fan of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charlotte Bronte? My post explores Vincent as avid reader of novels.

Who Was Rachel?

Elizabeth over at Scandalous Women is hosting a guest post from me on the topic of Who Was Rachel? Thank you, Elizabeth, for your hospitality!

Elizabeth is also providing a giveaway of one copy of Sunflowers, courtesy of Avon Books. The contest is open until 12pm, 5 Nov 2009 -- details at the end of the guest post. Good luck to all!

More Guest Posts

The event yesterday at the USFSP Nelson Poynter Library was a big success! A heartfelt merci to librarians Kaya van Beynen, Jerry Notaro, and everyone at the library who worked so hard to organize the event. We had a nice turnout, snacks, and a gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers to decorate the scene. Thanks to all who attended!

My "virtual tour" continues with two new guest posts: "Why I Love Vincent van Gogh" over at Historical Tapestry and "Following van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise" at Historicalnovels.info. Thank you to Marg at HT and Margaret at HN for your hospitality!

A Blogging Award!

Thank you to Margaret at The Earthly Paradise for giving me & VGC a blogging award! Very much appreciated!

I'd like to pass this one to some blogs that I hadn't discovered yet on the last pass. Here they are...

Life and Times of a "New" New Yorker: Graduate student Amanda takes on the big city, reads a bunch of books, and shares it all with us.

Art Blog by Bob:Bob's an artlover, and it shows!

My Marathon Mommy:my sister Chantel blogs about life as a toddler's mom, owner of a franchise of Baby Boot Camp, and someone who's preparing for her first marathon. She makes me look lazy. ;-)

Congratulations to all!

Hot off the press! Get yer VGC!

My sister, who knows more about these things than I do, told me how to add a subscription link (at left), evidently a new feature on Blogger. I assume I did it right, and readers can then get the scoop via RSS or whatever the heck that is. If I did it wrong, somebody tell me. ;-)

New on My Blogroll

My fabulous sister Chantel is blogging now at My Marathon Mommy. She's Mom to an active 15-month-old, is starting up her own franchise of Baby Boot Camp, and is training for the 2009 Disney World Marathon! [I can't believe somebody related to me is that into exercise!] She will be blogging about her marathon training and mommy-adventures (with lots of humor...). There are pics of my precious nephew too. Stop by and say hi!

Blogging Excellence

When Catherine from Versailles and More was tagged with her Blog Award of Excellence last week, she chose ten blogs/bloggers to next receive the award -- and one of those is yours truly and Van Gogh's Chair. Merci, Madame Delors! I am taking a virtual bow, or should I say an elegant curtsey worthy of panniers.

Now I must choose ten blogs to crown with their own excellence awards. Took some thinking, and here are my choices. I know a couple of them duplicate Catherine's list, but proclamations of excellence are worth repeating. In no particular order...

Writing the Renaissance: I learn new things at Julianne's French-Renaissance themed blog and I like reading about her writing adventures.

Museworthy: The very museworthy Claudia is a professional art model in New York City. She blogs about her experiences and about the great muses of art history.

The Earthly Paradise: Margaret blogs about William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement, her travels in places like Paris and Colombia, and other things that strike her fancy.

Historical Tapestry: The gals at Historical Tapestry blog about historical fiction, old and new.

Word After Word: I love writing professor Heather Sellers' books "Page After Page" and "Chapter After Chapter" -- I enjoy her blog too.

History Buff: Keep up with current archaeological events with historical novelist Michelle Moran.

Notes on the Writing Life: Blog of novelist Sandra Gulland.

Reading the Past: Keep up with what's happening in HF here!

Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore: The Red Wheelbarrow is a sweet little bookstore tucked in the Marais. The owners blog with book recommendations and other news. Makes me feel connected to Paris!

Looting the Past: Prof. David Gill has been on the front ranks of the fight against looted antiquities for years. His blog reports on the latest developments. A Very Important Read!