The Liar's Diary

THE LIAR'S DIARY is out in trade paper today, JANUARY 29, 2008! The author, Patry Francis, one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, she is proof that hard work, patience, and determination will make your dreams of being published come true. She’s one of us—the quiet people who observe the world around them every day, working day jobs for years to pay the bills and raise a family. She’s one of us who silently slinks off during a lull in life to a “room of one’s own” or even a corner of the living room, to spend a precious few minutes or maybe if we’re lucky an hour or more to write because we are driven to write that one book that we believe is in us (many of us are fortunate to have more than one). Patry has an extraordinary soul, and on more than one occasion she has been there saying all the right things for many of us during our meltdowns when the publishing world just looks so bleak for those of us knocking on the door.

It is rarer than people think to have a book published—agents are daily inundated with hundreds of query letters from writers looking for representation by post or email or online submission forms, I can’t wrap my mind around it sometimes—so when I found out that Patry was finally chosen, I couldn’t be more pleased! It’s just a stunning feeling to finally know that it can happen, and so awesome to have it be someone so special! Imagine the years spent writing, revising, rejection, more revising, and then—well—what the hell, writing another book just in case that one might be “the one”, and then finally, one day it happens, that’s the big IT. An agent accepts the challenge to represent your book, sells your manuscript to a publisher willing to take the risk—the dream becomes a reality. But—here’s the big bad BUT—just when you think you’ve got it all, you discover you have an aggressive form of cancer. This is what has happened to my friend. Patry is at home recuperating from surgery (thankfully her prognosis is good!), so unfortunately, she won't be able to do the necessary footwork needed for promoting the book in its new paperback format, with a lovely new cover to dress ‘her’ up for the party. So since Patry can’t, we’re out here instead, several of us (Patry’s favorite people in the whole wide world), fellow writers like myself, and other publishing-biz folks, have banded together to help spread the word by blogging about her book.

I have to say, ever since I finished reading THE LIAR'S DIARY (way back when it was a freshly minted hardcover with a squeaky spine) I have been telling everyone I know about it, loaning my copy to friends and relations, watching it become “loved” every time it is returned to me…the good news is, it is still sticking with me long after I finished the last page, which is what good books are supposed to do! I am very proud to count Patry amongst my friends, and my goodness, if I had the power, I’d move heaven and earth to see her get well again so she can continue this precious dream come true to write and publish more books—she is the most deserving of us to see this through.

To read about Patry and learn to learn about her and THE LIAR’S DIARY, please visit her blog Simply Wait at:

http://simplywait.blogspot.com/

Please visit your favorite bookstore or online store to order this fantastic book, and enjoy a good read!

All the Time

All the time in the world...this is an old favorite, the delicate grays are really the star in this show, it's sometimes hard to restrain the desire to go darker and leave a light touch rather than bruise the paper surface...sometimes I feel anxious to finish so I rush it, but this one, I didn't, I kept telling myself "You have all the time in the world..."

Escape

This one was simple, it might've taken all of ten minutes to do, it's small, 9 x 9 I think...just playing around with tape, an Ebony pencil, and then an eraser lifting some black off...then that right edge, a loose tendril looking to break free...

I have days like that...now and then, doesn't everybody?

Maybe, maybe not.

I have a little news on the book side of my creative efforts, I will be self-publishing my ghost story "Dusty Waters" in a few weeks time, I'm waiting for the details to come through, and my proof...I won the opportunity by being a participant in the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel contest, so as a 4th place award I get to publish and sell my book on Amazon.com...kinda cool, don't ya think? It's not really the way I wanted to go with my writing, I have been hoping for a traditional book deal with an agent and all that, but so far no agent seems willing to take me on (yet, I'll keep trying). So...it's not much, but it's a start, I might be my own best customer...anyway...I'm working on drawings for the book cover, having some fun, I'll probably post my efforts after I make a bunch of them, and see if I have a favorite...or if anyone else does...my first one was almost a goner cuz I tried to make a guitar motif (since Dusty is a folk singing guitar slinger), but it didn't go so well, then I went at it with a what the fuck attitude and got it wet and went wild, beat the crap out of the paper surface...now I like it...funny isn't it? Sometimes that's the way it is...

Progression

See...before all of this, I did this and that and the other thing...I did some ultra real things like this little Jerusalem Cricket that I copied out of some book with bugs in it, I saw one of these when I was in Utah, so, I just HAD TO draw it with precision in colored pencil...I mean, it's not something that you see every day (If you're from Upstate New York that is...) I was very impressed by this bizarre looking creature crawling around the parking lot outside the camp ground laundry mat, sooooo...










I didn't always draw creepy crawlies...I loved making landscapes so I did hundreds of them...maybe a thousand mental islands...dunno...I lost count, but I thought I'd show you two that I still like quite well...


A monoprint of the wind in the trees...









...and the moon rising behind the woods on the ridge behind my house is a small oil painting...










This was my last representational drawing, two panels, pencil trees with a colored pencil dawn...






















This is a "Shard"...





Yes, I really have a thing for blue....



















And black n' white is my foundation...I happily return to it whenever I feel the need, which is most of the time...this is "For Cello"...I really love the sound of a cello and this little one made me think of it.













Surface Dusk to Dawn, is part of my current mixed media Celestial series...ahhhhh, progression is lots of fun!

Dragons hide in the mist of distraction

Dragons hide in the mist of distraction, 9/26/06

Mixed media consisting of drizzled white acrylic paint, pencil and colored pencil on Bristol paper.

I'm sure you can spot the dragon...he's there...the title comes from a Chinese bit of wisdom from the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting...if you don't have this book in your personal library, get it. It's one of my most favorite art books ever.

This old drawing was exhibited at both the Delavan Gallery (November 2006) and the Syracuse Technology Garden (July-November 2007).

It's got a little bit of everything going on in there, which always pleases me...and I always loved Dragons...

Celestial Spring, the phases of the sun and moon, II

This is the latest in the series, a big mixed media mess, but OH DID I HAVE FUN MAKING IT! I've been fiddling around with it for months, it's on a full size sheet of Arches watercolor paper, so it's not my normal size, the big ones always take longer to make. I don't know if the picture here will properly document the layers involved, but what I've done is start off with a flood of yellow watercolor, then I let it puddle and dry, throwing salt on it, tipping it so the wet can run and drip, I splattered white acrylic paint all over, then let it dry. After it dried I began to draw on it in pencil and colored pencil, spattering water all over it, shaving pastel dust and water soluble pigments (graphite and colored pencil) , and then weeks on and off of adding more drawing and shavings, water, splashes and scratches, until yesterday when I said "All done!" There are plans for another, a but a winter theme, something deep ultramarine blue...very dramatic...fun stuff like that! I'm adding two details, I hope they will help give you an idea what's going on in there...

Have a happy new year!!!!!

More from the "Celestial Spring Series"

Is it any indication that I'm already tired of this winter when I'm thinking about spring???

Hmmmmm...maybeeeeeeeee...





These two came from the same mixed media pallet, usually when I find a combination that I'm enjoying, I make the most of it and get busy making more the first one is an Untitled, it's part of the Celetial Spring Series, made on a scrap piece of mat board that came from a cut window, and the second one is also from the Celestial Spring Series, but it has a name: April Hath Come On... it was exhibited last Summer/Fall at the Syracuse Technology Garden. They're watercolor and graphite, splattered, shaved, brushed, drawn, scratched, and sprinkled...lots going on throughout the surface...

























Sometimes I just have too much fun!

The Ocean

I love the ocean, the few times that I've seen it, waded into it, and the one time I went on a whale watch (Gloucester), one of my favorite books is Moby Dick, and I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau...the ocean is such a fascinating place, a force...lovely.

This drawing is a mixed media, watercolor, color pencil, and pencil on Arches paper...it's a busy surface, and the lines trail along, swirl and curl, some of the holes have fine details that the watercolor made which I didn't have the heart to manipulate...there's an Art Nouveau essence about it...it flows and grows...

On spirituality and free will...

Making art for me is spiritual...some would say my talent is a gift from God...I do know that my art comes from me. These drawings are what I do, they give me great joy, and I have never been happier with my art as I have been these last few years of making art. Yes, at times it mystifies me when I finish a drawing or reading a passage in my books and declare my amazement that it actually came from me. I very often surprise myself while I follow my bliss...it's part of the fun...

Maybe I'm too secular in my thoughts for the comfort of others...somehow being enlightened by knowledge and questioning the "higher authority" makes me immoral or somehow "lost" in the eyes of others. I am part of this world, and I believe in something other than what is preached from a pulpit, and I do not take what is written in the Bible literally...I learned at an early age that if I did, I would be a repressed, unhappy soul, too afraid of going to Hell for the crime of having independent thoughts...therefore, I have gone through life with my free will firmly intact. I have no problem with the beliefs of others, "to each his own" rolls off my tongue quite readily, I have no quarrel with such things...this is a free country, God does not offend me, the traditions of Christmas warm my heart, I only dislike the in-your-face marketing that starts just before Halloween. I take exception to being called "faithless" because I don't participate in the public professing of faith within the confines of organized religion. What I have is special, it is "wonder", I can look around and experience awe as I look upon the landscape covered in snow, the sunshine shimmering through ice, marveling over the blue in the jay's feathers, and his clarion voice. I have the sincerest belief in the sanctity of life, of all life. I believe in the human spirit, the light within us that burns bright, and that I will go on long after my body has become tired and has perished. And I believe in freedom. I don't suffer fools gladly, and I don't take kindly to politicians who alienate half the population of our country because they believe they are "just" in their crusade against those intolerable secularists who believe in the separation of church and state to ensure that all men are equal. It is sad to see my country so divided, I am sad to see our world at war over doctrine, and whose god or prophet is better. Who has the bigger bomb? Or the most bombs?

The Golden Compass is just a story created from someones imagination, it isn't something to fear because it expresses an idea that conflicts with someones faith. Your faith cannot be very strong if you feel threatened by fiction. It frightens me when creativity is shunned, threatened, put on trial, forbidden, blacklisted, banned, or worse, if ever, shut down. That is unacceptable to me. People who berate an artist for their creative motivations do not believe in freedom. It's ironic that it is a story about free will...my goodness that's such a scourge of humanity! If you have free will you might question everything told to you, and become a non-believer. And it's written by an atheist, the poor devil...

Oy vey, I not only make incomprehensible pictures, I also play with words!

I look to this recent drawing, and love it for its freedom, the dabbling and curiosity that lead me to making it, and how I wallowed in creating it from my heart, my mind, my soul...I post it here today with my thoughts on spirituality and my wayward politics that might piss-off the "right people"...

I drink a toast to free will.

Luna

How about some color...yes, I do like color and play with it on occasion, Luna is a simple little piece of watercolor splashes, color pencil and pencil drawing layered on top, the texture of the Arches watercolor paper also has a hand in the resulting feel of the piece, I like digging into the heavier paper with a hard pencil lead, or brushing the surface with the side of a sharpened point...

It's very peaceful, soft splashes of pre-dawn twilight and celestial spheres...