SONIA DELAUNAY AND ORPHISM ©

  
By Polly Guerin, Fashion Historian

As a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology I often discussed innovations in color and especially Sonia Delaunay, the painter, textile designer and exceptional colorist who weaves a tale of intrigue worthy of a romantic novel. The unlikely connection between Sonia and the German art collector, Wilhelm Uhde is an interesting case of serendipity.

"I became aware of Sonia through the remarkable film, Seraphine," depicting the French artist Seraphine Louis of Senil who William Uhde, the avant-garde art dealer, discovered and sold the untrained maid's primitive art works. Wilhelm Uhde was a visionary, a man who also recognized exceptional talent in the young artist Sonia Terk (Delaunay). He played a major role in Delaunay’s life by introducing the young artist to Parisian society and presenting her paintings in his gallery. Delaunay was a woman determined to succeed and married Uhde in a union that brought her to the forefront of the art world. This kind of saga is worthy of romantic writer’s consideration for it is a riveting story about a marriage of convenience and the Robert and Sonia Delaunay romance.

A Marriage of Convenience

In 1908 Sonia was pressured by the demands of her influential and wealthy family in Saint Petersburg to take steps to conform to Russian tradition. Despite this restriction she had managed to persuade her family to let her study in France and it was during her first year in Paris that she met, met and shortly thereafter married the homosexual art collector and gallery owner Wilhelm Uhde. This union was a marriage of convenience to satisfy her parent's demands and at the same time for Uhde, through this public marriage to Sonia, would 'save face' so to speak and mask his homosexuality, which under law at that time was prohibited. The marriage was an amicable arrangement and through Uhde's impressive connections and the gallery exhibitions of Sonia's art work it establish her as a significant artist in Paris.

Love in Paris

Love walked in one day when Robert Delaunay's aunt, a frequent visitor to the Uhde Gallery, introduced Sonia to her nephew, Robert Delaunay, himself an artist. There was instant attraction and by April 1909 Sonia and Robert became lovers. They were two artists of kindred spirit but with Sonia's unexpected pregnancy it was decided for the sack of proprietary that she and Uhde should divorce. The Delaunay's son, Charles was born the next year.

Struggling Artists

During the early period of the Delaunay's marriage, they garnered a meager income and were supported by funds sent from Sonia's aunt in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, about this time cubist works were introduced in Paris and Robert and Sonia were at the forefront of the movement, which would change their circumstances considerably. Robert had been studying color theories and "designsimultaneisme," which is similar to the Pointillism, as used by Georges Seurat in which primary color dots placed next to each other are "mixed" by the eye of the beholder. And Sonia began a series of non-figurative paintings called, Contrastes Simultanes, combining geometric forms with bright, prismatic hues. This work was based on the theory of the simultaneous contrast of colors of the 19th century chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul. Sonia became a leading Parisian artist of Orphism. In the Delaunay's collaboration financial success was eminent.

The Orphism Movement

Credit goes to the Delaunay's friend, poet and critic Guillaume Apollinaire who coined the term 'Orphism,' a movement which developed out of Cubism, which made color the primary means of artistic expression. Sonia's work extended from painting to textile design, fashion, wall coverings and stage set design. In 1924 she opened a fashion studio together with the French Haute Couture designer, Jacques Heim. Brilliantly colored and sharply patterned geometric designs were lavishly displayed in the creation of her 'simultaneous' fashions and stopped traffic in Paris when Sonia appeared wearing a totally coordinated ensemble (cloche hat, coat and matching dress) that merged Orphism art and fashion with the interior of her automobile which was upholstered in matching textile. Sonia exhibited her diverse collection in the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, which gave way later to the term "Art Deco.”

Early Influences

Sonia Delaunay (nee Terk 1885-1979) was sent at a young age to St. Petersburg where she lived with her mother's brother Henri Terk, a successful and affluent Jewish lawyer. Although her mother was reluctant at first to submit to the plan, Sonia was adopted by the Anna and Henri Terk in 1890. Through this privileged upbringing with the Terks' she traveled widely in Europe which introduced Sonia to museums and galleries. In St. Petersburg her skill at drawing was noted by her teacher and when she was eighteen she was sent to art school in Germany, where she attended the Academy of Fine Arts. After reading a book which claimed that Paris was the center of the true art world, Sonia made one of her most decisive decisions and moved to the capital of light where her career took off through her marriage to Uhde. Sonia Delaunay-Terk died in 1979 in Paris at the age of 94 leaving a legacy of color and textile ingenuity that has influenced countless artists who followed. ♥

Polly Guerin is a former professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology and has lectured on color psychology as well as fashion presentations. Her two textbooks, CREATIVE FASHION PRESENTATION I and II, and the video she created, The Story of Color, are considered the definitive works on the subject fashion and color. Currently Polly is seeking an agent for her book; THE MESSAGE IS IN THE RAINBOW, on color psychology.

  

The Agony of Defeat, or Wonderful Tonight

by F. Solomon


I was crossing the street in Times Square and thought to myself that I am most likely NOT going to finish Script Frenzy. This is an awful thing for me and an awful blow being that I have won it before and countless NaNos. I feel like a failure. I do not know where to begin but I know that it is very unlikely that I can do it. I was sitting at work trying to type and between the formatting of the page and the pressure that I felt to write I just got up and went to the Gap! It was a good day outside and that was what I wanted to do.

I think every writer, every creative person beats themselves up abut not creating or not creating something good enough, but I am extremely fatalistic. I do not believe that anything happens without a reason, and in the same vein, things do not happen without a reason. If it feels better not to write than maybe that is something that I should go along with. We prioritize the things that we need to at the time.

I am reading Wonderful Tonight by Pattie Boyd, and it is rare that I read nonfiction, but this is a compelling story since Boyd was married to George Harrison and Eric Clapton. To paraphrase the last section I read, she describes that she never knew that she could feel about a person the way that she felt about Clapton and that she overlooked a lot of things because she was so deeply in love with him. That she did not regret anything....

My writing cannot be compared to being in love with Eric Clapton, but I have been sloppy about it, I have been diligent about it. It is my passion, I do not have to beat myself up about failing a challenge--what am I going to do next? I live in a city where the Gagosian Gallery has a new exhibition about Picasso and his muse Marie- Therese. What am I going to do next?

I am going to finish writing something, and that makes me feel wonderful tonight.
  
  

FALLING FOR MR. WRONG

By Cathy Greenfeder

Vampires, werewolves, and warlocks, oh my! Why do women fall for the guy who seems to be all wrong for them? Literature from the popular Twilight Series to the various paranormal, urban fantasies, western romances, and classics such as Beauty and the Beast, and the YA spin off Beastly, abound with the anti-hero, the sexy villain whom the heroine falls for, or the “bad boys” that leave the girl when she needs him the most. Or, in the case of my western romance, WILDFLOWERS, the rough-hewn trapper turned trail guide who is transformed by the love of a strong and brave minister’s daughter.

Since literature often mirrors life, women of all ages have fallen for those bad boys that your mother, your friends, or your common sense warn you about.

According to Psychology Today, every decade offers an “iconic bad boy who gets the girl. The rock stars, the dudes with the smoldering eyes at the bar, the strong silent types. The template can morph, but the assessment is the same – the guy’s got genes that make women weak in the knees, and the power and confidence that signal them.”

“From a Darwinian point of view, females are the choosier sex, and males compete for their attention. The result of this competition is that men have evolved strategies such as seeking alpha status.”


Startling Statistics

A survey of nearly 1,000 women taken by Harlequin found the following:

• 21 percent of women age 35 and older would rather take a chance with a bad boy than date someone slow and steady

• 31 percent of women with children younger than 18 would take a chance with a bad boy (compared with 16 percent of women without kids)

• “A Bad Boy exudes untamed masculinity, independence, and confidence,” says Michael Fitzgerald, author and relationship correspondent for AskMen.com. “To women, these traits – especially confidence – are an aphrodisiac.”



That Manly Smell

How often in your writing have you struggled to convey the scent of the male protagonist? Well, a research study in Prague asked 65 women to rate the smells of 48 men by smelling cotton pads that had been warn in their armpits for 24 hours. Before the study the men had been asked how dominant they felt. The women had to rate the scent of ten pads on the basis of intensity, sexiness, and masculinity. The study found that women who were at the most fertile stage of their menstrual cycle were more likely to rate the odor of the dominant man as sexy. Dr. Craig Roberts reported, “There seems to be some sort of physiological mechanism that directs women to indicators of good genes. The offspring of such a coupling would therefore be likely to have better genes.”


eHarmony Concurs

eHarmony, the on-line dating service, said that women are attracted to “bad boys” for several reasons. There’s the impulse to perpetuate what’s familiar. “Many women attracted to rogues had a father who was a little wild and rebellious. Because many girls idealize their father, they may seek a partner with similar traits.” Another reason is that there’s an attempt by the women to revise a troubled or distant relationship with their father. A third reason is that many women want to reform the rake. “It’s inflating when a woman feels like she is the only one who can transform a man.” Finally, bad boys exude a sense of excitement, adventure, and danger. Women who grew up in a family that demanded conformity and compliance with rules are intrigued by guys who scoff at rules and shrug responsibility.


IQ vs. EQ (Emotional Intelligence)

According to Dr. Robert Holden, author of Success Intelligence, “IQ is all to do with your head and the meeting of minds. You could have two incredibly intellectually sparky people who know how to stimulate each other with a fantastic debate, but this in no way means they have what it takes for a long-term relationship.” In fact, according to Dr. Holden, “people with a high IQ lack a genuine sense of self-acceptance which leads to a very tortured mental existence and constant mental self-flagellation.” This can make highly intelligent people more fearful and anxiety ridden in their relationships than the average person. The article cites several cases where women who excelled in their careers ended up in disastrous relationships with men. Dr. Holden’s advice to successful career women is to “have a plan of what Mr. Right looks like. Don’t be too quick to dismiss someone because they don’t know who ruled the Byzantine Empire, or too quick to give yourself entirely to someone just because they laughed at your joke. Don’t be too dominant or competitive because that leads to short-term safety and long-term boredom. Finally, develop your EQ. Learn to have emotional strength which is about yielding, surrender, openness, and a willingness to be vulnerable. It is unreasonable to expect other people to love you more than you love yourself.”


Is There Any Hope?

If you’re writing romance, understanding why the heroine of your novel is falling for the hero or the villain, is definitely useful. If it’s real life, you might want to understand your motives. Is it the excitement? Is it an unmet need from your childhood? Is it that “manly smell”? Are you ovulating? Maybe it’s all of these and more. In real life, these relationships often turn out poorly. Bad boys won’t change unless they want to. “Despite initial attraction, most women get tired of bailing a man out of jail, wondering if he’ll make it home from a party, or catching him with another woman. Women who sign on with bad boys enlist for endless conflict and turmoil. Ironically, the very thing that draws good girls and bad boys together is usually their undoing. Many women have learned the hard way that bad boys make bad dating partners – and even worse spouses.”


So, choose wisely! ♥


For more information, see the following websites: http://advice.eharmony.com/, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/, http://www.psychologytoday.com/, www.sixwise.com/newsletters




Catherine Greenfeder is Vice President of RWANYC. Her two latest novels include, WILDFLOWERS, a historical western romance, and ANGELS AMONG US, a paranormal romance. Visit her at http://www.catherinegreenfeder.vpweb.com/.  This article was first published in the RWANYC newsletter.

TOP 10 REASONS TO INTERRUPT YOUR WRITING

by Maria Ferrer
  

  
1. You have no more clean underwear.

2.  Your toilet ring is bigger than your wedding ring.

3. Your dog is eating the cat food.

4. The dust bunnies under your bed are rioting.

5. You need to write down the lyrics to Justin Bieber’s latest song.

6. Charlie Sheen needs more friends on Twitter.

7. The last episode of General Hospital is on.

8. The cat is sleeping on the keyboard.

9. Your muse is out getting a pedicure / manicure.

10. Your significant other wants to play house.



I hope you found the excuses above cute. I’m sure you could list another 10 or 20 of your own. Feel free to add at will.

Interruptions and writer’s blocks used to get me down, but I’ve learned to accept them and to think of them as positives. You can too.

Maybe the reason you are so easily distracted and pulled away from your writing is because you are stuck, because your story is not flowing smoothly, because it needs a little more thought. So stop feeling guilty that you stopped writing to clean the toilet / go food shopping / play with hubby, instead welcome the free time to reflect on your plot, the characters, the dialogue.

Because, believe it or not, sometimes we do need a break from writing.♥


Maria Ferrer is a champion procrastinator. However, she has managed to finish one book. Now, if she could only find the time to edit it and submit. But alas, there’s a new Gerard Butler movie at the theatre she’s late for.



COMMENT:     Do let us know your opinion of writing interruptions. And, do share with us some of your excuses for a writing break.

SONG OF THE SILK ROAD

  
By Mingmei Yip

My new novel
SONG OF THE SILK ROAD (Kensington Books, 2011) is a romantic adventure on China’s fabled route and the Go-In-But-Never-Come-Out Taklamakan Desert with the lure of a three million dollar reward.

Though I did not consciously plan it this way, I find I like to write about brave women who live unconventional lives, not always by their own choice.  I owe this novel to a brave and unconventional writer – and a dream.

A Taiwanese woman who called herself Echo was one of my favorite authors. In the 70s, her descriptions of her adventures with her husband in the Sahara Desert captivated many readers, including myself.

Inspired by her, I always wanted to write about a young woman’s adventures in the desert. I had thought of drawing on Echo’s life for my desert novel, but then found my imagination led me in a different direction. A lifelong fascination with the romantic history of the Silk Road was brought to life when I traveled there a few years ago with my husband, going through ruined cities and venturing up sheer cliffs into now abandoned caves that once housed thriving spiritual communities and thousand year old treasures of Buddhist sculptures and frescoes depicting deities, goddess, and western paradises.

The Silk Road is the 2,000 year old route in ancient China connecting the East to the West, where the Chinese ventured as far as Rome. Merchants, adventurers, soldiers and missionaries traveled to trade, explore, fight and spread God's words. However, most didn't make it out alive – killed by bandits, eaten alive by animals, buried by sands, struck by natural disasters. The rumor was that travelers didn't need to read signposts (if there were any), they just followed the skeletons.

Then I had a dream.

In my dream a young woman receives a letter from an aunt whom she had never known existed. The niece was told to undertake a long journey in China, retracing the same routes the aunt had taken, meeting the same people, and doing things the aunt had done. The niece would receive a big sum of money, if she successfully carried out all the tasks – and if she survived.

I remember the dream, but not when it came to me. The young woman was not me, but she had a strong personality and I knew she wanted me to give her a voice. The result is this adventure and love story, SONG OF THE SILK ROAD.


COMMENT:  Do leave a comment and let us know if you've read any of Mingmei's novels, and what would you do if you got a mysterious letter and a challenge for $3 million dollars.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:   Mingmei Yip has eight books to her credit, five in Chinese and three in English.  SONG OF THE SILK ROAD is her latest romance novel from Kensington.  Mingmei is a writer, painter, calligrapher, musician (she plays the Qin) and a journalist.  She has performed and lectured on music, Buddhism and Chinese culture throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia.  She has a Ph.D. from the University of Paris, Sorbonne.  To read more about this fascinating woman and her accomplishments, visit her at www.mingmeiyip.com. 

Frenzied

by F. Solomon So after doing NaNo, and having done Script Frenzy in its inaugural year, I was pretty certain that I would be able to get it done. One hundred pages seemed like so much less of a challenge. I was not even going to do it, but on April Fool's Day, I decided to take the plunge. I have written two pages, and I feel at times like giving up because I was not going to do it and I have been busy and because quitting is the easy thing to do. But I also realize that it is not over. I have always finished NaNo at a time when I thought I could not possibly get it done, but somehow I wrote an obscene number of words in a short period of time. I am that type of procrastinator; I will wait until there seems to be hardly any time and then come the heroics. All the work that I could have been doing, gets done at the last minute. I started talking to friends and family about the script so that it would become REAL. Once you tell people they ask and you have to follow up. Much like the bright yellow Gotham postcard I have taped to my computer that says "Don't Forget to Write,". Telling people makes you have to do just that or look dumb, or unfocused at the least. Men are supposed to be the visual ones, but I am constantly seeing images that I want to capture for this script which, at two pages, I think about every day. I use my Evernote app to capture images that I want to put on the page. Scripts are much more structured than novels, so I spend a lot of time writing in Google Docs so I can format easily. As hard as it is, I know I am going to get this done. I would never skydive, but these writing challlenges are as close as I come to it and believe me it is a thrill you cannot recapture. Once you finish it you kind of forget the exhilaration that you had to get to that point. I will get there again.

WRITING ABOUT PLACE

by Lisa Dale

I did an interview with a reporter from The Bergen Record the other day, and she asked me if I was planning to write a book set in New Jersey (where I live). I’ve written about Pennsylvania, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Virginia—but no Jersey.

Not because Jersey isn’t a fascinating place to set a book—the Meadowlands are amazing—but because my process of writing about place is pretty specific at this point.

I told the reporter: “I probably won’t do a book set in New Jersey until I move away.”

Here’s why: My new book is set in Newport, RI, at a small coffee shop on one of Newport’s bustling piers. The coffee shop in question was based ever so loosely on my experiences as a barista here in Jersey. But I needed a romantic, seaside location for it. Newport fit the bill.

Matt and I went up to Newport to scope out the location—and it was perfect: the beautiful blue bay, darling colonial buildings along the waterfront, and the giant mansion “cottages” on the peninsula. It took my breath away. I knew I had to write about it.

But as much as I take care to base my work on real life, the Newport in my book is ultimately an “imagined” Newport. It’s Newport through my eyes. It’s evocative of the real Newport, perhaps, but it’s something largely different.

In order for me to write about a place, my imagination needs room to grow into it. It’s like a honeycomb: the facts are the structure, but it’s imagination that fills in.

Here in NJ, a stone’s throw from the city, I’m too immersed in fact to set a story here.

Anyway, in case you didn’t see it already, my Rhode Island book, SLOW DANCING ON PRICE’S PIER, was out on April 5! Here’s the beginning of an excerpt. I hope you’ll find it interesting! Each chapter of SLOW DANCING is prefaced by a bit of coffee lore—which could be a blog post unto itself! Coffee is fascinating!

*

“How’s the espresso?” Thea asked.
           Garret took a sip. The espresso was rich, pleasantly bright with hints of citrus, but chocolaty too—low notes of something dark, heavenly, and forbidden. He wanted to close his eyes, to give himself over to the taste and weight of it on his tongue. It was a damn good espresso, but then—he knew it would be. She’d made it. It burned a little going down.
           “It’s alright,” he said.
           “I need to talk to you.”
           “I’m a busy man. I’ve got things to do, places to be.”
           “I owe you an apology,” she said.
           He crossed his arms, careful not to spill espresso.
           “Anytime something’s gone wrong, I’ve always had my family to depend on. Well, I’ve always had your family to depend on. Since I met you, they’ve been my entire life.”
           He pressed his lips together. Wherever this was going, he planned to resist. She’d get no sympathy from him.
           “But now,” she went on, “I feel like I’m losing them. If they’re not already gone.”
            He took a sip of his espresso to cover his reaction. “What do you want me to do here, Thea?”
           “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
           “I’m afraid I’m not following you.”

*

To read more of this excerpt, click here.

Wishing you much happy writing and reading!  And if you check out SLOW DANCING, let me know!♥


QUESTION:  What is your process for writing place? Do you write better when you’re immersed in the place you’re writing about? Or when you’re away?

Lisa Dale's new novel, SLOW DANCING ON PRICE'S PIER, is here. For more information on Lisa and SLOW DANCING visit www.LisaDaleBooks.com.

REVIEW: Enneagrams for Character Building

   
by Carolyn Gibbs

If you'd like an addition to your tool box for creating characters, and what writer wouldn't, check out BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS CREATING WITH ENNEAGRAMS by Laurie Schnebly. I learned about this book while taking an online class at Savvy Authors.com.

Enneagram is a system used to identify the nine personality types all writers should know: the Perfectionist, Nurturer, Archiever, Romantic, Observer, Skeptic, Adventurer, Leader and Peacemaker. The method is a psychological tool used by counselors and human resource professionals to identify personality types, and shows how people will react in given situations based on their type.

Laurie Schnebly, a romance author, takes enneagrams a step further and shows how each of the types relate to each other when paired. After explaining how enneagrams work, there is a chapter for each type which breaks down how these types see themselves and how they handle situations. Each type is described -- the type's heroic strengths, their fatal flaws, how the type was as a child, how the type relates at work, and most importantly, relationships and how they would relate to each type. It's kind of like Love Signs for personality types. Schnebly also demonstrates how five characters she uses as examples, would come into conflict by applying their enneagram type. She uses a detective, a princess, a cowboy, a teenager and a career woman to show how the enneagram types influence their behavior.

To help you identify a character's type there is a short quiz at the beginning of each chapter, to determine if the character fits that type. You can also use the quizzes to determine your own type or loved ones. This is a fast and fun way to help you determine a type for a character. This method is also great to help you refine a character you're writing but are having difficulty with, and to help build the back story and motivation that will bring the conflict your story needs.

BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS CREATING WITH ENNEAGRAMS is a nice addition to our writer's tool box, and one written by a romance author who understands the nuances of plotting a romance story.

The book is as entertaining as it is helpful, so be prepared to spend some time playing around and having fun, but not too much, after all you've got a book to write.♥

Carolyn Gibbs has been published in short fiction – “Holiday House Guest” available at LadyLeoPublishing.org – and is busy bringing new characters to life.

SPRING CLEANING YOUR MOJO

 
By Karen Cino



Could it already be April?

Ssh…don’t tell anyone, but I am still crawling around, unable to find the motivation I need to move forward with my new project. It’s the same thing, day in and day out. Just when I’m ready to sit down and crank out a skeleton of an outline (and believe me that would work for me especially at this time of no momentum) sometime pops up.

It’s been one thing after the other. This time, instead of working on my outline, I’ve been playing around with my new birthday gift, my Kindle! Yea for the Kindle! Nay to another lame excuse not to work on that outline.

I am bound and determined to get this outline done this Spring. As I sit here, I think about my fellow writers who are going through the same exact thing. So, I decided that it’s time that I put the breaks on excuses and get myself –and my family –on the band-wagon.

Trying to find the time to write when you are parent can be a challenge. I find it harder now to write then when my kids were toddlers and I was holding down a full-time job working a 45-hour week.

I always had composition notebooks, coloring books and crayons on hand. We always sat around the kitchen table doing our own writing. I’d make it a game. Make it fun. I used to have breakfast-for-dinner nights. Those were the nights when I got the most writing done. It gave us all something to look forward to and in return, once dinner was over they would watch television in their rooms, and I was able to do my writing.

Now, writing has become a family affair. Both my son and my daughter are blessed with artistic and creative abilities. My son is a musician who writes lyrics and composes the music. My daughter loves writing too but has now put her energy into being a photographer. Perfect! We have decided that we will all take an hour a day when we are all home together to work on our projects without any interruptions, including texting and calling one another.

Having a full-time job and being a parent can really be a challenge. But keeping a positive attitude and finding just an hour a day in the midst of your busy schedule, will force you to use that hour efficiently. And that I can attest to.

This month give it a shot. See if you can steal an hour a day for your writing. I know this can be hard, but if I can do it {sometimes}, then so can you. Happy Writing!



Karen Cino is President of the Romance Writers of America / New York City chapter. She writers women’s fiction novels set in Staten Island.