Interview with Author Darlene Blasing

Darlene Blasing

West Michigan – beautiful in winter and heaven in summer.

I grew up here and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in the late 70’s where I lived for twenty-five years. I returned to Michigan in 2002 and I’m happy to be back by the big lake.

Good morning, Darlene and welcome to Vision and Verse, the Place for Art and Authors.  What have you written?

My novella BARGAIN PARADISE is currently available as an e-book. It’s the humorous tale of an obsessive gardener and her neglected husband, a story for those who love to dabble in the dirt and others who wonder at the obsessive qualities the activity inspires.

Anyone interested can purchase it through the publisher at http://argonpress.com/.

Sounds like my kind of book.  I love gardening and my garden.  What is your favorite genre to write?

Humor, historical fiction and mystery are the genres I enjoy reading and writing.

Favorite food.

I would have to say chocolate is my favorite food. A little bit is good for you, you know. LOL

Absolutely!  I love chocolate  It is a for group.  Tea or coffee?

I love chai tea.

Pizza or ice cream?

I can’t eat either one. I have sensitivity to wheat, yeast, tomatoes and milk, among other things.

Where would you like to visit?

I would like to see Ireland one day since some of my ancestors came from there. It’s such a lovely green land in the pictures I’ve seen that I wouldn’t be surprised if my love of the color is due to an innate memory of the place.

Favorite musical artist.  

I like so many different artists and types of music that it would be difficult to single anyone out. I was listening to a CD of John Denver’s greatest hits last night. He was a wonderful songwriter. Jimmie Spheeris is one of my all time favorite singer/songwriters. Pavarotti’s voice and his ability to sing from his heart led me to love opera. Cecilia Bartoli has a beautiful voice. Vladimir Horowitz was an incomparable pianist. Of Eastern musicians, Ali Akbar Khan is my favorite. It’s their ability to touch my heart that sets them apart.

Do you listen to music when you write? 

No, I prefer silence while I’m writing.

Me, too.  What makes you laugh?

Most often, the antics of children and cats tickle my funny bone.

How old were you when you started writing?

I was eleven-years-old when a teacher began encouraging me to write. I’ve been a reader since age four, fascinated by others’ stories, so it was a natural progression to begin writing my own. It wasn’t until I joined the Cincinnati Writers Project (CWP) in 2001 that I thought about publishing. A few previously published short stories and articles can be found on my website at http://darleneblasing.com/stories-articles/.

Describe your perfect evening.

An evening with my friend Don is always a perfect evening.

Where do you get your inspiration?

People inspire many of my funnier stories. Several friends and family members who saw my gardens in Cincinnati, Ohio were bitten by the gardening bug with beautiful results. One woman in particular was the inspiration for Bargain Paradise.

On the other hand, some stories are inspired by events that trouble me. That’s the case with the novel I’m currently working on, Death by Cold Steel. One house I owned in Cincinnati was near railroad tracks. A neighbor told me her cousin died on those tracks decades before. The family thought he was murdered, but it was ruled a suicide. Death by Cold Steel is my way of imagining what might have happened to that young man.

Incidentally, the breath-taking cover photo for that novel was shot by David Wendt, who lived a few blocks from me at the time. You can see it on the home page of my website. http://darleneblasing.com/.

What do you do when you get a writer's block?

I’ve had so little time to write the past few years that words pile up, waiting to be released onto paper. I have ideas for historical novels that will require months of research. When I retire next year and have more time to devote to writing, I expect the words will come pouring out as they did in the past when I wasn’t working.

Who is your favorite author?

There are so many great authors of the past that I’d better stick to contemporary writers. I still find it impossible to choose only one. For historical fiction, Sena Jeter Naslund and Charles Frazier are exceptional. For her sense of humor and understanding of human nature, I like Haywood Smith.

Best book you ever read.

I read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings when I was in high school. I liked it so much I spread the reading out over three years so I could savor it (or savour it, as they say in the UK). I read many other books at that time, but the Ring Trilogy was my favorite.

Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard is my favorite non-fiction work.

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?

My father was my greatest influence. He was a very good man: kind, generous, hard working and fair minded in his dealings with others. He was an avid reader, too, just like me.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?

I was asked that question by a college professor many years ago. My answer is still the same. I would love to have a conversation with Jesus. In spite of the research I’ve done, I feel that I know too little about him.

What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?

Find a group of accomplished writers who are willing to critique your work and help you improve. Listen to their advice, but know that ultimately you are the best judge of what you want to say.

WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY MARCH 5, 2014

 

 
 

 

 

 

 





 

 
 
 
 



 

 

 

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SCOTT WADE:  DIRTY CAR ART

 

 

I first became aware of Scott Wade and his amazing talent while watching a program on the History Channel.  Wade is a Texas artist whose curious art form will astound you.

 

Scott Wade lives in rural Texas, down a long dirt road.  Actually, the road is made of limestone and clay gravel and driving on it creates a huge cloud of dust....dust that adheres to car windows.

 

Most of us, when we see a dirty car, are tempted to use our fingers to leave the owner a little reminder that the car needs washed.  But Scott Wade's artistic genius and creativity made him go much farther.  He recognized the potential to create beautiful works of art in the dust.

 

Using his hands and brushes he deftly creates stunningly detailed and shadowed drawings on car windows.  What he once considered a hobby has now become known nationally and internationally as "DIRTY CAR ART".

 

Featured above are just a few of his awesome works.  Check out these websites below to see more of Scott Wades art.

 

www.dirtycarart.com

 

www.dirtycarart.com/DCAGallery

 

Images above from Yahoo.com.  



Interview with Author Julie Ramsey

Julie Ramsey
with husband Dave

I was born in San Diego, California,

but was raised in Monroe, Mi.

Good morning, Julie.  Welcome to Vision and Verse, the Place for Art and Authors.  We're thrilled to have you with us today.  Tell us a little about what have you written. 
My first book came out on Feb 13^th 2014   The Wild Bone: The white Alpha of Monroe.   But I have 3 More at least coming out this year. One maybe two in the White Alpha series and 2 children’s books

Wow, that's great! What is your favorite genre to write? 

By far Paranormal Romance

Favorite food.  

Thai Chicken Salad from Panera could eat it everyday

I'll try it.  I'm going there for lunch!  Tea or coffee?

Tea but I like coffee, too.

Pizza or ice cream?

Pizza

Where would you like to visit? 

San Diego to see where I was born.

Favorite musical artist.  Do you listen to music when you write?  What?  

I like music, Katie Perry and that genre are my favorite but no I cannot listen to music when I write. I get too distracted.

What makes you laugh? 

If you have every read Katie Macalister’s books. That is the humor I LOVE.  I don’t like the raunchy humor. I love a good dirty joke but it has to be tasteful done. More situational humor.

How old were you when you started writing? 

I wrote when I was a kid but nothing very serious. My love of reading didn’t really start until I was an adult. I read Ender’s Game and fell in love with Sci-fi. I then found Christine Feehan’s Dark series and fell for paranormal Romance.

Describe your perfect evening. 

Great dinner, Movie, and being with my family. Maybe a little reading in there too.

Where do you get your inspiration? 

The story of the Monroe Pack can to me when I was writing a paper for school. I am currently working toward my BA and was in a creative writing class. It was too long for the paper but I went back to it and kept on going with the story I had started. It became The Wild Bone. I have now fallen in love with the characters and want to get there stories down for others to read. So far I have had some really great reviews.

What do you do when you get a writer's block? 

I have to stop and to back to it later.

Who is your favorite author? 

I have many but some that I try to stay current on are JR Ward, Christine Feehan, Katie Macalister, Suzanne Wright, Lorraine Nelson, Eve Langlais, Carrie Ann Ryan

Best book you ever read. 

It is the best Book because I was so emotionally invested. I laughed, cried, rejoiced, cussed out and everything in between.  Archeron by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

I'll have to add that one to my list.  Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why? 

That is a hard one. My father for getting me to read Ender’s game in the first place. My husband for pushing me. My sister and my mom who always believed in me.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?

My sister. She was killed is a bad car accident this past July. I would love to sit down and be able to talk to her one last time.

What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer? 

If it your dream to write keep at it.

NOW AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China
 December 11, 2013–April 6, 2014

The first major exhibition of Chinese contemporary art ever mounted by the Metropolitan, Ink Art explores how contemporary works from a non-Western culture may be displayed in an encyclopedic art museum. Presented in the Museum's permanent galleries for Chinese art, the exhibition features artworks that may best be understood as part of the continuum of China's traditional culture. These works may also be appreciated from the perspective of global art, but by examining them through the lens of Chinese historical artistic paradigms, layers of meaning and cultural significance that might otherwise go unnoticed are revealed. Ultimately, both points of view contribute to a more enriched understanding of these artists' creative processes.

For more than two millennia, ink has been the principal medium of painting and calligraphy in China. Since the early twentieth century, however, the primacy of the "ink art" tradition has increasingly been challenged by new media and practices introduced from the West. Ink Art examines the creative output of a selection of Chinese artists from the 1980s to the present who have fundamentally altered inherited Chinese tradition while maintaining an underlying identification with the expressive language of the culture's past.

Featuring some seventy works by thirty-five artists in various media—paintings, calligraphy, photographs, woodblock prints, video, and sculpture—created during the past three decades, the exhibition is organized thematically into four parts: The Written Word, New Landscapes, Abstraction, and Beyond the Brush. Although all of the artists have challenged, subverted, or otherwise transformed their sources through new modes of expression, Ink Art seeks to demonstrate that China's ancient pattern of seeking cultural renewal through the reinterpretation of past models remains a viable creative path.

Image above from New York Magazine, 2/24/2014
Info courtesy Met Museum of Art website.

OPENING MARCH 6, 2014 @ MOMA

GAUGUIN:  METAMORPHOSES

 

March 8 - June 8, 2014

 

 

This exhibition focuses on Paul Gauguin’s rare and extraordinary prints and transfer drawings, and their relationship to his better-known paintings and his sculptures in wood and ceramic. Comprising approximately 150 works, including some 120 works on paper and a critical selection of some 30 related paintings and sculptures, it is the first exhibition to take an in-depth look at this overall body of work.

Created in several discreet bursts of activity from 1889 until his death in 1903, these remarkable works on paper reflect Gauguin’s experiments with a range of mediums, from radically "primitive" woodcuts that extend from the sculptural gouging of his carved wood reliefs, to jewel-like watercolor monotypes and large, mysterious transfer drawings. Gauguin’s creative process often involved repeating and recombining key motifs from one image to another, allowing them to evolve and metamorphose over time and across mediums. Printmaking, which by definition involves transferring and multiplying images, provided him with many new and fertile possibilities for transposing his imagery. Gauguin embraced the subtly textured surfaces, nuanced colors, and accidental markings that resulted from the unusual processes that he devised, for they projected a darkly mysterious and dreamlike vision of life in the South Pacific, where he spent most of the final 12 years of his life.

Though Gauguin is best known as a pioneer of modernist painting, this exhibition showcases a lesser-known but arguably even more innovative aspect of his practice.

Photo above, New York Magazine, February 24, 2014.
Info courtesy MOMA website.



CARRIE MAE WEEMS @ THE GUGGENHEIM NYC

CARRIE MAE WEEMS

 

THREE DECADES OF PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO

 

Now through May 14, 2014

 

 

January 24–May 14, 2014

Carrie Mae Weems is a socially motivated artist whose works invite contemplation of race, gender, and class. Increasingly, she has broadened her view to include global struggles for equality and justice. Comprehensive in scope, this retrospective primarily features photographs, including the groundbreaking Kitchen Table Series (1990), but also presents written texts, audio recordings, and videos. The exhibition traces the evolution of Weems’s career over the last 30 years, from her early documentary and autobiographical photographic series to the more conceptual and philosophically complex works that have placed her at the forefront of contemporary art. Although Weems employs a variety of means to address an array of issues, all of her work displays an overarching commitment to better understanding the present by closely examining history and identity. It also contains a desire for universality: while African Americans are typically her primary subjects, Weems wants "people of color to stand for the human multitudes" and for her art to resonate with all audiences.


Photo above, New York Magazine, February 24, 2014.
Info courtesy of The Guggenheim website.



Coming Up This Week - March 4 through 8

March 4th through March 8

Tuesday        Interview with author Julie Ramsey

Wednesday   What's Up Wednesday

Thursday      Interview with author Darlene Blasing

Friday           WILD BONE by Julie Ramsey

Saturday       BARGAIN PARADISE by Darelene Blasing