Amen

2014 Year in Review

It was a wonderful year. It was a challenging year.

I got to meet my brother in NYC and then ride the bus to DC.

I FINALLY met my boyfriend, Johnny Depp. Even wax Johnny Depp is hot. 

Photo credit: http://www.newstatesman.com/

I did LOTS of intense therapy. It was very painful. Healing is wonderful but it HURTS. I can't even tell you how many panic attacks I had. 

 I went to the zoo. I love animals the way most people love chocolate and peanut butter. 

I met two of my favorite bands, Neon Trees and Phantogram. I also went to some awesome shows: Twenty-One Pilots, Morrissey, I took my girls to Paramore, plus I saw Broods, Phantogram, Capital Cities, and Neon Trees.

The man I did my first ever portrait commission for years ago (family aside) was convicted of murdering his wife (who he had me paint a month after he killed her). He wanted me to "immortalize her". Of course I didn't know it at the time. Creepy!

http://www.people.com/article/utah-doctor-martin-macneill-sentencing-murder-wife

I published two books. A silly one with my brother and a novel. It's been a dream of mine since I was twelve. Buy your copy here:  http://www.amazon.com/Pictures-You-Juliette-Caron/dp/1499380771/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401157690&sr=8-1&keywords=juliette+caron

I tried landscape painting for the first time since junior high. 

And animals.

I joined Displate, where one can buy metal art prints. Check it out: http://displate.com/juliettecaron

I made it into my first art directory. That was exciting!!!

Went on a short trip to Arizona. 

Sedona is freakin' beautiful!

And last, but not least, I sold seventeen original paintings and fifteen prints! Dreams DO come true, folks. :)

Meet My Novel

I've wanted to write a novel since I was twelve. I would start writing something, usually three to five handwritten pages, and then think, "This sucks!" and give up. Months later I would try again. I think my record was twenty pages. And then one day, while I was attending college, I read a famous quote by Ernest Hemingway that changed everything: "The first draft of anything is sh*t." I thought, "Wow, really?" It gave me a big dose of courage. It gave me permission to write a WHOLE crappy book--and then I could polish it and shine it and make it pretty later.

About six years ago I wrote my first novel. A whole, 200+ pages of novel. A few months later I wrote a second one. About a year later I wrote a third one. I am now working on a fourth. Reading that quote was a turning point for me.

But it took some time to have the courage to share my books with friends, with family, with literary agents. It took some time before I was ready to release one of my babies to the world. And now I finally have. And I am scared. Really, really scared. But I am also excited. I've wanted this for more than half of my life, after all.

Pictures of You is my first published novel, but the second one I wrote. I know it's not perfect--I'm no Virginia Woolf--but I love it. Writing it was so fun, so therapeutic. I laughed, I cried. I feel like September, Adrien, Chris, Abby and Mary are some of my closest friends. I hope you will like it, too.

Here is the synopsis:

In a moment, September Jones’s life is changed forever. Shortly after high school graduation her best friend, Abby, is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Devastated, September struggles to face each day. She turns to junk food, bad TV and journaling to cope. When September meets handsome, mysterious Adrien, who’s given himself two weeks to write the perfect suicide note, and nice guy Chris, her new coworker who has some troubles of his own, she realizes she’s not the only one dealing with personal demons. Pictures of You reminds us of our human capacity for resilience, forgiveness and hope.

Buy your copy HERE

Introducing: An ABC Book for the Despairing, Disheartened and Depressed

I've been wanting to write and illustrate a children's book since I was a child myself. Actually, I did do just that when I was nine or ten, but needless to say nothing ever came of it. Sooooo, my brother and I, who both love dark humor, were in a somber mood one day and started thinking of funny and depressing alliterations to cheer ourselves up. We ended up with a big old ugly list and then thought, "Hey! Let's turn this into a book!" And so we did. It's not technically a children's book--adults will probably appreciate it more. In fact, it might give smaller kids bad dreams.

An ABC Book for the Despairing, Disheartened and Depressed is a darkly humorous book about some of the crappy things in life that happen to perfectly nice people. From the severe (Atrocious atomic annihilation) to the trivial (Zealous zits), this children's book for adults is full of witty alliterations, and somber and silly illustrations. The authors' goal is to bring some cheer to those who are down in the dumps. They believe it is, in part, through humor they have been able to survive some pretty bleak times of their own.

Buy your copy HERE

Quote

"You can’t wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with a club." 
-Jack London

Sometimes

Sometimes I feel like balancing art and writing is like juggling two jealous boyfriends.

I've been writing a lot lately, but Spring is around the corner (painting in dark and dreary winter is always tough for me) so I will be painting and posting soon.