Ruth Sanderson's Blog

ORIGINAL ART NEWS I’ve added SIX new original oil paintings to the LANDSCAPE original art page. ______________________________________________________________ NANCY DREW! For Nancy Drew Fans: I illustrated the cover of a novella, CASE OF THE CURIOUS COLLECTION, only offered as a reward in a Kickstarter campaign for Nancy Drew retro collectible figures. I’m offering it signed, and including a 4×6 signed print of my original sketch for the project. ORDER your copy HERE. And if you’d like a limited edition print of the painting, it’s available along with a number of my other Nancy Drew covers from the DREWTIQUE store. ____________________________________________________________- PRINT SALE My studio’s name is GOLDEN WOOD STUDIO, inspired by this iconic painting from my picture book, THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES. This oversized print (16×27 is on sale for the 2026 holiday season for $95. Regular price is $150. ORDER THE GOLDEN WOOD Print. __________________________________________________________ CALLING ALL RAVEN FANS… ONE MORE THING! I love crows and ravens, and created a logo for my new substack newsletter titled FAIRY TALES: Mirrors of Truth, where I talk about all things related to fairy tale retellings, as well as thoughts on my own retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, as yet unpublished. I liked the raven design so much I ordered it on a t-shirt and a sweatshirt and put it up in my REDBUBBLE SHOP And that’s my Shameless Self-Promotion for the year. For news on my novel, if you subscribe to the MIRROR OF TRUTH newsletter segment (You can join it by going to the Newsletter link on my website) you’ll be getting an update soon, with a sneak peek of Chapter 2 from the Snow White character’s POV. Enjoy the holidays, Ruth

Much of my artwork from A STORM OF HORSES, my biography of French artist Rosa Bonheur is on view at the MAZZA Museum of picture book art at the University of Findlay Ohio, along with the first three titles in the Random House HORSE DIARIES series. They have multiple rooms with artwork by many children’s book illustrators. Well worth a road trip! Mark Brown recently gifted his entire catalog of book illustrations to the museum. My exhibition should be up through 2026.

So….I have started a Substack publication titled FAIRY TALES: Mirrors of Truth, which will mainly be about retold fairy tales—articles by me and others, reviews, and my own process of creating fairy tales. I’m planning to post a few times a month. If you haven’t discovered Substack, I invite you to join me and discover other writers. I am really enjoying the community. FAIRY TALES: Mirrors of Truth on SUBSTACK My regular newsletter will be focused on Shop sales, and publication news, around twice a year. If you’d like a sneak peek at a chapter of THE MIRROR OF TRUTH, sign up for my mailing list and choose the segment on Mirror of Truth News. Some of the posts will overlap with Substack, but in the website newsletter I’ll focus on my journey finding an agent/publisher for the novel, as opposed to Substack posts that include thoughts on other retold fairy tales.

So….I have started a Substack publication titled FAIRY TALES: Mirrors of Truth, which will mainly be about retold fairy tales—articles by me and others, reviews, and my own process of creating fairy tales. I’m planning to post a few times a month. (My regular newsletter from my website will be focused more on Shop sales, and publication news, twice a year.) I plan to migrate folks from the MIRROR OF TRUTH website newsletter to that one. Main reason: I use a paid newsletter service—MAILCHIMP—and it’s very expensive to send out a newsletter. Substack is free, and it’s a great place to find other people writing about things you are interested in. If you haven’t discovered it, I invite you to join me! FAIRY TALES: Mirrors of Truth on SUBSTACK

JULY 15, 2025 I’m currently crafting query letters to agents for my first YA fantasy, THE MIRROR OF TRUTH. This story has been brewing for a very long time. I started the manuscript over ten years ago. I’ve read many retellings of the Snow White fairy tale for readers from Middle Grade to Adult. One thing that always interested me was how the authors handled the magic mirror. Sometimes it was portrayed as evil, sometimes neutral. Rarely did any of the books explore how the mirror was made and how it ended up with Snow White’s stepmother. I grew up playing in an abandoned theme park in the middle of the woods, and there was a stone cottage in it that I imagined was the cottage of the seven dwarves. The memory of that place fueled my love for fairy tales and has haunted me for over fifty years. It inspired me to create my own re-imagining of this well-known story. I started with the premise that a teenage dwarf makes a mirror for the queen. The idea grew and grew and I ended up building a complex dwarf kingdom where my character Ban is a seventh son and heir to the mirror-smith of the realm. As a seventh son he comes into magical powers, and when he delivers a mirror he’s made for the queen in a nearby human kingdom, he offers to cast a spell of truth on the mirror—for a price. And the plot thickens when he botches the spell… Could this possibly be because he is only a half-dwarf? The illustration of the mirror is in scratchboard and I’ve mocked up a possible cover design, though a traditional publisher would likely design it themselves. This would be for a Kickstarter version. I added the color digitally. If you are interested in the publication journey for my book, sign up for my newsletter and choose MIRROR OF TRUTH NEWS. I’ll wait awhile for agents to get back to me, but if I get no takers I’ll illustrate it and do a Kickstarter.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

I haven’t offered classes in writing and illustrating here in Massachusetts for many years. If you are around in July, I’m offering them on Monday and Thursday evenings in Florence, MA. (Near Northampton)

My favorite thing to do for the past few years has been to paint outside, “en plein air” as it is called, basically meaning “in the open air.” I will be going out next week for the first time this year, but thought I’d share a few of my paintings from the past. I love to paint apple blossoms and it will be another month or so before those bloom. I did just purchase an apricot tree to plant in my yard…I’ve always wanted a flowering fruit tree! I also love painting flowers and including a few in this post. You can see more in the Portfolio pages under LANDSCAPES. And if you’d like to see my paintings in person for possible purchase, I have my work at West Brookfield Frame and ART. (Picture below) Happy Spring! Four Easthampton scenes– the garage at the Easthampton MA Historical Society, the view of Mt. Tom from near the bike path, Spring Blossoms at Park Hill Orchard, and the purple bench at Nashawanuck Pond. Here is my wall at West Brookfield Art and Frame. 10 East Main StreetWest Brookfield, MA

Enjoy printing and coloring this fairy image on your choice of paper. The original painting is “Ride a Cock Horse” from my book Mother Goose and Friends.

Enjoy coloring this fairy image on your paper of choice. I recommend drawing paper, watercolor paper, or Bristol cover stock. Look for my grayscale coloring tutorials on YouTube, To see descriptions of all my books, look in Books/Coloring Books. Look in FUN STUFF for my FREE coloring pages in PDF format.