Slovenia, Slunj, and Some New Paintings.

I'm not going to lie to you, I have trouble focusing on "work" even though my work these days means writing and illustrating my second book, Rebby the Gallant. I remember back when I was giving a writing assignment in high school and 500 or 1000 words seem like an eternity, an impossible task to complete in the time allotted. Remember trying to make the font bigger or changing the space between lines to fudge a bit? My first book, Ebby the Magnificent has nearly 56,000 words. 56,000 words and about 60 paintings and I did it all without a deadline and no real expectation I would finish it. I have now completed 33,000 words and 30 +/- paintings on Rebby. Arguably that makes it about half-finished.

But I have been getting distracted. I haven't put "pen to paper" since I got back to Croatia. I know authors who can crank out several novels a year. They post about it all the time on social media. I don't know how they have time to post on social media with all the writing they do. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you will notice I never post about writing. Instead I mostly post about travel and painting. This past month has been no different.

In this newsletter, I will show you some of the fun places I have been to this past month and show you my latest paintings. As always, I love hearing from you, so please drop a note to say hi and let me know what you have been up to!

Slovenia, the Land of Dragons.

Rebby the Gallant takes place in the Land of Dragons. If you read Ebby the Magnificent, you will know the Land of Dragons is to the north of the Land of Stones. I call Slovenia and the Northern Italian Alps "the Land of Dragons." Recently, John and I stayed near the only National Park in Slovenia called Kranjska Gora, nestled in the Julian Alps. It is such a beautiful, magical place and the perfect setting for Rebby the Gallant. Visiting this place gave my imagination a much-needed overhaul. And just as we were parking our car after dinner a great ball of green light flew across the sky. We confirmed later it was a meteor seen all over Croatia and Slovenia. Now I just need to figure out how to feature this incredible sight into my book.

Here are a few pictures of our hike.

Slunj, the most beautiful village in the world.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, Ebby and I were invited to Slunj ("Slune")to take part in the Dancing Bridges Festival. Slunj plays a major role in my book and I set it there because it is one of the most picturesque and special places in the world. Not only did I get to tell about 50 school children about my book, and get a special spot on the bridge to present my book to the people of Slunj, but I was joined by four friends from the US! It was such a lovely event and I am including some videos of the village for you to see for yourselves. Click HERE for video 1, HERE for video 2, and HERE for video 3 to see some of the amazing waterfalls and waterways in this most magnificent of places.

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful Dancing Bridges Event where Ebby was welcomed back to Slunj.

My latest paintings.

In addition to traveling I have been painting this past month. We have had some cloudy grey weather here and nothing perks up my spirits like playing with color. Here are my latest paintings. The first is the view from my studio at sunset. I call the second painting "The Grass is Greener" because this beautiful cow was in a lush grassy field but was stretching her neck as far over the guardrail as she could to get the grass growing by the road. It cracked me up and I had to paint her. The third one is a study in beautiful red Croatian poppies. Poppies have been "popping" up more and more in Vinodol and it makes me so happy to see their little bursts of red on the roadside.

As with all my paintings, if you would like to order a Giclee print, art greeting cards, or a T-shirt featuring these images, please contact me at jessica@jwjulian.com or reply to this newsletter.

Art and Books Make the Perfect Gift!

My art greeting cards are now available in a cream colored cardstock. With over 60 original paintings to choose from, and 8 different card sets, picking your new favorite has just gotten more fun! The cards are blank inside, making them perfect for any occasion. I am still in the process of updating my website, so although the images on the website are still being tweaked, the cards are stunning.

You will also find more Giclee prints, available in 11 x 14" prints or you can custom order the size you want.

Additionally, all hand embellished canvas prints in stock are on sale for 50% off while they last!

Don't see your favorite paintings (including my most recent ones) in a card or print on the website or you would like to create your own card set? No problem! Just contact me and tell me what you want and I will make it especially for you at no extra cost. Now is the perfect time to stock up in Elusive Baby Bunny merch for every Bunny on your list!

Shown here are the newly improved "Ebby the Magnificent" Card Collection and the "Sunset" Collection, two of the new sets of cards exclusively available at my online store www.jwjulian.com.

We LOVE our readers and LOVE getting reviews!!

Reviews are a great way for you to tell other people about the book and are extremely important for independent self-published authors. If you enjoyed Ebby, please consider sharing your thoughts with your friends, your book club, your colleagues, on Amazon, Goodreads, with me, or wherever you write reviews. As an independent, self-published author, word of mouth is my BEST advertisement. Don't want to bother with writing something online? Just shoot me a text or email and let me know what you thought about my book. It is the best possible feeling!

Happy reading and hoppy adventures!

J. W. Julian