Monday, December 22, 2014

A Word About 'Are You All Set?'

Since this blog covers books (yes, mine), and since books are comprised of words and language, I can't help complaining about the use of a certain phrase, i.e. 'Are you all set?' Over the years, the meaning of this has deteriorated drastically, much like the retail and service sectors where it is used so often. An example? Sure.

A few days ago I paid a visit to the local office supply store, one of many of a well-known national chain. I took my purchase and stood at the checkout while the polite young cashier responded to a question from a customer regarding an item she could not find. The cashier spoke into the cord on her neck, describing to her manager exactly what the customer was looking for and asking him to come forward.

So, here was the scene. A young cashier, the customer and me. That's all. The manager arrives, sees the customer and the first thing out of his mouth to the customer is, "Are you all set?" I've heard it a million times before and still amazed.  Am I wrong to think that the more appropriate approach would have been, "How can I help you, m'am?" or something similar? Did he really think that anything could be 'all set' in the 20 or 30 seconds that had elapsed between the time he was called by the cashier and the time he arrived to speak to the customer?

No, hell no, she wasn't all set. She wanted her question answered and it hadn't been. 'All set' has come to mean a really rude and sloppy way to ask if someone needs your assistance. Civility and courtesy have taken a back seat. Only my opinion.

Don't get me started on another idiom...i.e. 'No problem'. I'll leave that for another time.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Recent Works

These are recent paintings of mine. None are titled yet. However, first and second ones involve the NYC skyline. The top one shows the Brooklyn Bridge while below that we see two bridges. Below that is a quaint village scene. Fourth in line is the Nubbick Light in York ME. Fifth is a prior painting of mine which I decided to experiment on. It's as if the painting were over a brick wall. It's not quite finished. sixth, I've tried to render a North American Great Ape, known to many as Sasquatch or Bigfoot. No, it's not a portrait. I haven't seen one...yet.






Monday, December 1, 2014

Finished!

After a couple pounds of Elmer's glue, two broken drill bits, two yards of bookcover material, more than a thousand pages, a few dozen yards of dental floss and two large Davey boards, it's done...and I'm happy with the result. These volumes, if retained for posterity, will last a long while. They are hand bound and should remain an heirloom for many years.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Short Video of My Bookbinding Project

The process is exacting. The covers have to be cut to the right length as well as the spine. It must be placed in the right place on the cover for glueing. I've used almost 30 ounces of glue to make eight books, a good portion of a roll of waxed dental floss for binding/sewing the pages together and a couple yards of material for the covers. You have to be careful not to glue everything in sight. Waxed paper helps. I still have to put a title on the front and perhaps the spine for the editions. Almost done.

Monday, November 24, 2014

In the Process of Binding My book(s) of My Family History

This will be my last update and final version of my family history. It's all done except for putting the block of text into a handbound cover. Actually, there are two volumes to the history. I've tried to include everything pertinent including complete ancestral lines to over a dozen families in our ancestral background, famous ancestors, photos, various documents, letters and notes from relatives and as much anecdotal history as I could find (as opposed to just dates).

The process for assembling a hardbound book goes something like this (keeping in mind that the print is only on one side of a couple hundred pages of 11x8.5" paper:
1. Put together the block of pages.
2. Glue the spine side of them.
3. Drill holes close to the spine and sew the pages together. I used waxed dental floss for its strength.
4. Attach end pages and glue again.
5. Glue a saddle (also called a mull) to the spine of the block.
6. Glue the 1/8" cardboard covers and spine to a cloth cover.
7. Setting the block properly within the cover, glue each end page to the covers while also glueing the saddle to end page and the cover.

Some photos are shown to the right of the book blocks, with saddle, cardboard sheets from which I cut the covers. It's not all finished yet, but close.





Monday, November 17, 2014

This Season's Work So Far...see Column of images on the right

I've posted five images of the paintings I've finished so far this winter season. I took the pictures on a rainy, dark day inside, so the images do not do the work justice (in my opinion). Three of these will enter the member's exhibit at the Attleboro Arts Museum in the next few days.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Auction Results

I am so pleased. Both of my paintings sold. "Village Shoppes at Night" sold for $308 and was the highest selling painting in the silent auction. The other, 'Chariot Tracks in Ancient Pompeii' sold for $108. The paintings are visible in my earlier post of October 12.

It is interesting to note that both have been shown in Art Shows in Taunton and Attleboro. 'Chariot' won a first place in Taunton. 'Village' didn't win a thing either place, but certainly had more appeal to the public.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Silent Auction

I'd like to know how 'they' chose which items went into the live auction and which were placed into the silent auction. It turns out both of my donations were part of the silent auction. The silent auction went on after a couple weeks of online bidding and continued all night through the live auction. There were three sections of items in the silent auction, i.e. A, B, and C. Mine was the first item in Section A and got a great placement with maximum visibility. Some of the others were tucked around a corner. There were three to four very active bidders which served to generate quickly higher prices. It was fun to check the bidding sheet from time to time and receive one pleasant surprise after another.

That's it for now.

Attleboro Arts Museum Charity Auction (cont'd)

As I have never been to one of these before, I was duly impressed. The event was well-organized and professionally executed. A buffet of hors d-oeuvres downstairs. An open bar. All was covered by the $35 entry fee. My entry was free since I was a donator. The auctioneer was quite good and moved things along.

Although we left before the event concluded, I would not be surprised if the lady shown in my picture to the right was the eventual winner of my painting. Several bidders returned to up their bid, but she always seemed to be there to outbid them, returning perhaps 8-10 times to up her bid.

We did not see any of the silent auction items get anywhere the number of bids as my "Village Shoppes at Night'. It was exciting, amusing and satisfying to actually witness the interest first-hand.

I'll report back, probably early this week, with the final results.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Auction

The auction was very well attended, especially considering the blowing, rainy, raw weather outside.

Attleboro Arts Museum Charity Auction

We just got back from the auction held tonight. We left a little early. I donated two paintings which ended up in the silent auction. They both sold. One of them had the most activity of any other works (that we saw). Silent bidders went through three bidding sheets by the time we left. The opening bid of $98 had risen to $248 by the time we left (with probably 45 minutes to an hour left). I was quite pleased to see how much interest there was. Must have been a dozen or more bidders with several placing many individual ones, coming back every 10 minutes to be the highest. I'll find out soon if the bids went higher.

More tomorrow.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Go Take a Look at the Online Auction for the Attleboro Arts Museum

Here's the URL...
http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001hqLM2gsYsx82sdOO6VB2PaEAYfY29yyUz7Of55jm3Zp2CLjl6Aq9c1H6Q5kA3dQxKa6W9rJsf9IjB987TTGlbMm7D1PSExowkLGXZvJ4PHswqInDZqUHIg_6eF89XMtzO7nUkDGTDvCOTK0pIZLHkhl3qoL6rN-sqF2AHuziRUaIylMAeKurwoVnNVjHlQGcTJ2bzBEVgJE_1fj3pbLGhQ==&c=AVS3eqB06H3BecEMGubzMkB2xT-DTjy1kpUGK6MIRTJnteIq5h-h9w==&ch=FuwGXrER8Di2j5haSqhOkteDJAr0yRYntbVfukJ-9y0NYhOEAvKpPQ==

I've donated two of my paintings for the cause.


Sunday, September 28, 2014

Taunton Art Association 2014 Fall Art Show

The final day of the Art Show was today. A lot of excellent entries. My 'Gulliver Street in the Fall' took 3rd place in the Acrylic category. I show it below. I always agree with most of the judging, but never agree with it all. The judges certainly were qualified. Three were used with some diversity in backgrounds and expertise, e.g. watercolor, photography in particular. I always wonder how they reach a consensus. Must be interesting. Anyway, my third place was my best entry. Other times I've won with a piece that I entered as a 'oh, well...this is different...maybe someone will like it.'

There is some good work and good artists that never seem to win (not talking about me) but place 2nd or 3rd. The excellence of art work is in the eye of the beholder and the whole process of judging is subjective. 

Friday, September 26, 2014

The Painting Season Has Begun

For many of you, there is no painting season. Which could mean one of two things. It doesn't have seasons, it's all year long...or...well, or not. For me, I look forward to the fall and winter to get back into painting. It's a great diversion in the colder weather. It's an inside sport. Outside is golf which, for me, diminishes as the weather gets colder.

Anyway, it's also the season for showing, i.e. art shows. These have become one way I can measure my development as an artist. Sales and/or awards mean at least someone other than myself has taken note of what I have done.

I have my own feelings about how much I improve from year to year. Each year I try to develop a little more expertise, trying something new, whether it's different subjects, techniques or whatever.

I can tell I am improving, although it's never fast enough. I use strictly acrylic paint, mostly since oils and the their cleanup are slightly more toxic, in my view. I tried watercolors long ago with little success. Acrylics have some advantages.They dry much quicker. But they also have disadvantages, one major one being the difficulty in blending colors or softening an effect. Just watch Bob Ross with his use of Liquid Clear to see what I mean.

This year one of my goals to to create realistic ocean waves, especially coming into a beach.

In the next few entries, I'll share some early work started this month.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

How to Win a Juried Art Competition

Here's what I see when I go to a juried art show (competition).

I see three kinds of art pieces:

1. The kind of work that most show attendees will recognize as having some kind worth, albeit widely varying worth.
2. The kind of work that is really different. I may not appreciate it fully, but I take notice.
3. The kind of work that I look at and look at and look at...and finally say I really don't get it.

Now, what category do the winners fall into? Maybe you'd think #1 or maybe #2. Nope. It could be any of the above and very often is #3.

But almost all of them are larger than average in size and priced quite high. So that's what I have learned in my semi-successful five years of entering juried art shows. Enter big, but not ridiculouly big canvases and give your work a pricetag that would give the potential art buyer pause. It doesnt hurt to name the piece something a little odd, like 'Muse of Light, Reflection#5'.




Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Books Priced Back to $2.99

I didn't find much effect in sales, so I re-priced all of them back to $2.99.

Great News for those eBook Readers who use IPads and iPhones!

Yesterday Apple unveiled iOS 8, the new Apple operating system upgrade that will come out this fall.

This entry below was copied from an email I received from Smashwords, my ebook distributor. Great news for ebook readers who have iPhones, IPads. 

Buried in a slide during the live demo event referenced as "iOS 8 features we didn’t have time to talk about" was an ebook retailing bombshell:  iBooks will come pre-installed on iOS 8.

The iBooks app is Apple's ebook store.  Inside that app is over 250,000 books from Smashwords authors.

This is a game-changer for ebook retailing.

iBooks will come pre-loaded on every device with iOS 8.
Image modified from original sourced from BGR.com


According to the latest public information, there are over 800 million devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) running prior versions of Apple's iOS.

The new iOS will be available as a free upgrade to users of the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini with Retina display. 

Prior to iOS 8, readers who wanted to shop iBooks were forced to click to the Apple App store, search for the iBooks app, sign in with their email address and password, and then install it.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Reducing All Books to $1.99 from $2.99

I am reducing the prices of all my books to $1.99 from $2.99 indefinitely. I want to see how sales are affected by the reduction. It may take a while to see the effect since the changes will not take place immediately, but rather over the next two weeks.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Friday, March 21, 2014

UnZombies Starting to Show Up at Online Vendors!

I've located UnZombies at Scribd and Barnes & Noble thus far. Just a matter of time before it's at most. Smashwords is taking care of this distribution quickly. I'll be doing Amazon over the weekend.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Premium Distribution Approved for UnZombies!

Wow, that didn't take long. That is, Premium Distribution approval. Now, Smashwords, my distributor for my books, will be shipping the book to all its channels. They include Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Page Foundry, Library Direct, Flipkart, Oyster, Scribd, Baker & Taylor Blio and Baker-Taylor Axis360. I will handle the distribution to Amazon. It may take a week or two to show up in these markets.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

A Brief Excerpt from the Book

This is a passage where Roberta Wiederganger meets Morton Revenant for the second time, only under more stressful circumstances.

Ro had earned a reputation in her close circle of friends who trained together as an unforgiving fighter. She was one who could take a tremendous beating, while demonstrating an indefatigable ability to rise again and again, eventually and most often overcoming a vastly superior opponent. It was her  over-the-top determination coupled with an unworldly insensitivity to pain. She once missed four days of work, using the excuse of an unreported car accident. Those who witnessed her underground fight saw Mama Oso (the 'Bear'), a female Mexican behemoth of a fighting machine standing over six feet two and weighing almost two hundred seventy pounds, spend over an hour pummeling the smaller female Police detective from El Paso. The undefeated Mexican fighter broke several of Ro's ribs, her jaw, and an ankle bone, while giving her two black eyes and innumerable bruises.  For 75 minutes, a largely Mexican crowd, having bet exclusively on her victory despite 40-1 odds, watched the most lop-sided fight they had seen in years. They had come to watch a terrible beating and were getting their money's worth.

The fight was almost stopped early when Ro became blinded by the amount blood on her face and in her eyes and another when she almost lost consciousness in a submission hold. However, the fight took a dramatic turn after an hour and fifteen minutes. Mama Oso decided that Ro was beaten down enough and it was her time to end the war.  She sensed that Ro was now vulnerable, sore, tired, and bruised enough to be unable to sustain her final, overwhelming attack. The two stood some fifteen feet apart. Ro slumped, sensing the attack. Rope-a-dope style, a la Muhammed Ali, she tried her best to look defeated and defensive. Oso bought the ruse and came at her furiously. Ro dropped to her knees, further promoting her stance as a defeated opponent, but waited patiently.  The huge Mexican got to a point about three feet away and reached down to grab Ro by an arm. Ro was much faster and agile than her slew-footed adversary, jumping to her side and striking Oso one time left hand to her throat with a followup right upward palm into her nasal cavity. The big Mexican fell like a bag of rocks, attempting to breath for about 15 seconds, then passed out. She died within a couple minutes. The spectators, first energized by the  expected ending of Oso's knockout punch, fell silent as Ro stood over her, raising her bloodied arms in victory. After the shock of the sudden reversal in Oso's fortune, the crowd cheered loudly for their new heroine. Ro never fought underground again, but her reputation never diminished. It grew, although no one really knew who she was. She fought under a thick veil of anonymity. Sometimes someone who attended the underground battle in Juarez thought he recognized her as the Yanqui beetch who defeated Mama Oso, but she never admitted anything to anyone. Knowing she had won was sufficient for her.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

UnZombies is Published in Smashwords!

A zombie apocalypse novel of 58,000+ words. UnZombies. Using the dead to fight the dangerous living and the dead. That's what they do. The secret of them is developed by an eccentric, perverse, wealthy genius.

Brief Book Description below the final cover selection...

On an archaeological dig in Alaska, a professor was bitten by a prehistoric man dead for 10,000 years. The death and reanimation of an astronaut forced the escape of others from the 'safety' of the International Space Station. News of a developing apocalyptic pandemic circulated worldwide. The ocean rescue of an infected astronaut put the worlds' two largest naval forces on a collision course toward war. Two fighter pilots, an astronaut and her police detective sister and flee zombie danger on an aircraft carrier to the American Southwest in order to survive.


Ultimately, they decide to seek refuge with the estranged, innovative, perverse and wealthy brother of one of the fighter pilots. Longtime serious family relationship issues remained unresolved before the brother offered protection from a rogue military force and the reanimated local human population.  How? UnZombies. Dead, but not dangerous.

The book has to be approved for Premium Distribution before it is sent off from my Distributor, Smashwords, to the many other retail distribution outlets, e.g. Apple, Sony, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

First Edit Complete on Zombie Book...Entries in Art Exhibition Make the Cut

Well, I'm well into the second edit of my newest Zombie novel. Each time through is another chance to fix any typos, spelling errors, continuity issues, storyline changes, etc. I'll probably finish it off with the third I have to decide whether the ending is to my liking. The thing is, an apocalypse theme usually doesn't go well, but I have to give the reader something hope....or do I?

My two entries in the Nature-themed exhibit made it through the selection process. That's good news. I'm guessing by the numbers I saw online that not many were not allowed in. Members (of which I am) were allowed at least one of their entries would be selected.

I'm looking at entering a couple of other juried exhibits in the spring and summer. More on that later.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Third Zombie Book (as yet untitled) is Finished!

Sort of. I always have to go through a number of edits which will take a couple weeks, anyway. There's a boatload of errors I have to fix, including those of format, spelling, grammar as well as story and character development, continuity, etc. I look forward to this (except for the formatting which is a pain in the butt, as usual).

There are a number of interesting characters in this. Some family dysfunctional issues and backstory. Also, story sites include an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, the estate of a very rich technology entrepreneur in the Southwest, an archeological site in Alaska and the International Space Station.

That's all for now.


Friday, February 7, 2014

Newest Painting - Illusionistic

I've posted the image of my latest painting this winter off to the column on the right. I got the idea from something I did in an introductory college course about forty-five years ago, including something I saw online with squares, then I added a lot of color, and also added some illusions of three dimensions in terms of the solid spheres as well as the more camouflaged ones more hidden within the painting.

Look for these....
There are a total of 11 spheres of different sizes in the painting if you care to find them.  Look for places where the squares seem to bulge. There are also at least five levels of depth, e.g. a large checkered sphere in the middle over the solid orange one which lies over the largest checkered sphere which lies over two other solid spheres. They in turn lie over the rest of the checkered board. There could be more.


Here's the time-lapse of the project...to an almost complete state...

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

New Book Status Report

50,000 words...yup, that's the status report. 50,000 words. Still a lot of work to do. I'm still working on a new painting with a built-in 3D illusion. So, I've split my time between the two.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Making More Headway on the Zombie Novel

I just passed 46,000 words. The scenes are a little more tense with the character interaction. The Zs are a little different than my other two zombie books. Did you know they can be useful? How so? Slaves, entertainment, security, defense, companionship, experimentation, whatever else? You'll see.

Meanwhile, on the painting front, I'm experimenting with kind of a 3D illusionary painting. Enough said. I'm trying to do a timelapse of it, but at times I have to lift the canvas (it's really an illustration board) and do the detail.  Oh well...

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Posting My Two Latest Paintings

This makes 11 for the winter season thus far, about one a week. They're both landscapes, although the black and white one is more like a fantasy scene. I had something a little different in mind, although my idea changed when the painting started on the canvas. The second scene is from a path through the woods at my golf course from the tenth green to the eleventh tee.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

New Painting - Treeline

This was fun. I've finished the painting, pretty much. I'll post a final picture of it on the column to the right soon. This was one where I had the idea in my head and was able to execute it in a short period. Some of the others I've finished this winter have been a struggle. That's despite being satisfied with the final result.

Anyway, here is a time-lapse video which captures most of the painting's development. It starts off with the background lighting already completed.

Monday, January 6, 2014

New Untitled Zombie Book Now at 40,000 words

Getting there...Zombies with unZombie-like traits. A villain that could be a hero. A sister who hates her brother. A brother who says he doesn't give a fat fig about what people think. We have an apocalyptic finish.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

The New Untitled Zombie Book

I've been writing a little more regularly now on the new Zombie book. It's at 39,000+ words now and I'm rolling along in the middle of apocalyptic violence. There's a hero that's easy to hate. He may have a redeeming feature that the other characters don't see at the moment.

The Book Trailer for Flatline Virus. - Watch!

Here's the book trailer video for Flatline Virus...only the second time I've posted it since I published the book in 2011. Only 44 seconds.