THE BASLICATO

When neurologist Dr. Brook Wilson agrees to take on wild celebrity Italian race car driver Jason Maxwell, known as "The Baslicato," as her patient, little did she realize their relationship would turn her calm, pleasant, well-ordered and well-planned life upside down, sending her off on dangerous adventures in southern Italy and personal journeys into her family's history in northern Ohio. As she prepares him for his big race, she must deal with his demented wife while driving her boyfriend, Dr, Garrett MacEgan into acts of criminal desperation in a attempt to hold on to her.

Interview with Artist Katy Kerr

 Katy Kerr

Ionia, M

Good morning, Katy.  Welcome to Vision and Verse.  How would you describe your artwork? 

I do a variety of artwork from charcoal work to acrylic painting, murals, mixed media in the form of custom mailboxes, hand painted patio stones, glasses and tiles. I tend to do a lot of animals but have done portraits and other subjects as well.

What is your favorite medium? 

I enjoy creating with my charcoals best as they just pop and have such life when they are done.

Favorite food.

Seafood, almost any kind.

Where would you like to visit? 

I would love to visit Italy and Greece someday along with Ireland.

Favorite musical artist. 

I can't say I have a favorite artist as I listen to a variety from Christian to rock to country and everything in between.

 Do you listen to music when you work? 

Yes almost always it makes me happy and that always helps produce better artwork. What? A mixed play list with a variety of artists and genres.

What makes you laugh?

Goofy people...

How old were you when you started creating art? 

I have been drawing as long as I can remember but as far as building my portfolio I started pretty much in 2008 when I was laid off from the civil/survey CAD drafting field.

Where do you get your inspiration? 

I tend to have ideas that seem to just be meant to come to life come to me and work from there.

What do you do when you get artist's block? 

Listen to good music and talk to my friends.

Who is your favorite artist? 

I love to look at artwork from all other artists, can't say I have one “favorite.”

Favorite work of art. 

My favorite work of art at the moment is my steam punk angel I did in charcoal.

Best book you ever read. 

The bible :p

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

Everyone that has been in my life has built me to the woman I am today. Each taught it's own lesson I was meant to learn.

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

Sandra Bullock, I think she would be down to earth and is an inspiration

to me.

What advice would you give someone who aspired to be an artist? 

Find something that captures your soul.

Do you have any links so we can follow you?

Katy K
freelance artist, Rodan and Fields Rep

https://katyk.myrandf.biz/ http://originalsbykaty.weebly.com/

An Interview with Author Sandra Bolton

Sandra Bolton

Raton, New Mexico

Welcome to Vision and Verse this morning, Sandra.  Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Sandra Bolton and I live in Raton, New Mexico. Raton is in the far northeast of New Mexico, about five miles from the Colorado border.  I have written two novels. A Cipher in the Sand was published in 2011, and my current novel, Key Witness, is due to come out in March of this year.  I also have a collection of short stories that I hope to publish in the near future.  I consider myself a contemporary mystery writer with a little romance and a lot of adventure thrown in.

Favorite food?
As far as favorite foods are concerned, I love to cook and eat a wide range of foods and will try just about anything new. When it comes to choosing pizza or ice cream, pizza wins. I prefer savory foods over sweets.  Coffee is a must first thing in the morning, and about three cups. I may have a cup of tea in the afternoon.

Where would you like to visit?
I've had the opportunity to travel extensively due to my husband's military career, but am happy to settle in one place now. I loved Italy and wouldn't mind returning for a visit.

I love Italy, too, especially Venice.  Favorite musical artist? And do you listen to music when you write?

 Music? I'm old school. Neil Young, Leonard Cohen (more for his poetry than his voice), Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin. If I'm writing I can't listen to anything that has lyrics, so some Mozart.

What makes Sandra Bolton laugh?
A lot of things make me laugh: the ridiculous, like Monty Python, silliness, and irony, my grandkids and my dog and cat.


How old were you when you began writing seriously?
I did not start officially writing until my sixties when I retired
from teaching and had time, though I have been writing new scenarios
in my head all my life.



What is your idea of the perfect evening?
A perfect evening would be stranded at my cabin in a snowstorm with a mug of hot chocolate, maybe spiked with brandy, a fire in the wood stove and a good book.

Where do you get your inspiration? 
I get my inspiration from studying people and listening to their life
stories.

What do you to when you get writer's block?
When I feel writers block coming on I take a long walk in the
mountains.

Who is your favorite author?  What is your favorite book?

It's hard to name one favorite author, but I love Kurt Vonnegut, Isabel Allende, and Margaret Atwood.
My reading is eclectic like my music.
At different times in my life I have had different "best books", so I
would say that too is difficult. "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by
Gabriel Gaarcia Marquez comes to mind.



Who is the one person who has influence your personal life the most and why?
We take something from all the people we encounter, but the person who has influenced my writing life would be Steven Havill, successful author of southwestern mysteries. I had the opportunity to attend several of his writing workshops and learned some tremendous lessons about writing. He is a great teacher.

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 would like to talk to Mark Twain to learn some of insights on
writing, and to Nelson Mandela to learn about compassion and forgiveness.

What advice to you have for an aspiring writer?
I would remind all aspiring writers that perfecting the craft takes time and a hell of a lot of hard work. Don't rush. You can do that first draft fast, but that is just a shell. Rewrite, revise, and get a good editor.

Do you have some links so we can follow you?
Here are my links:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_5?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=a+cipher+in+the+sand&sprefix=A+Cip%2Cstripbooks%2C449

https://www.facebook.com/sandraboltonauthor

I am currently updating my author site, SANDRABOLTONWRITESTUFF.com and
it will be live soon.

WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY: NOW AT THE MOMA NY

Frank Lloyd Wright @ MOMA NY

 

February 1 - June 1, 2014

 

 

 

Frank Lloyd Wright and the City: Density vs. Dispersal celebrates the recent joint acquisition of Frank Lloyd Wright’s extensive archive by MoMA and Columbia University’s Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. Through an initial selection of drawings, films, and large-scale architectural models, the exhibition examines the tension in Wright’s thinking about the growing American city in the 1920s and 1930s, when he worked simultaneously on radical new forms for the skyscraper and on a comprehensive plan for the urbanization of the American landscape titled "Broadacre City." Visitors encounter the spectacular 12-foot-by-12-foot model of this plan, which merges one of the earliest schemes for a highway flyover with an expansive, agrarian domain. Promoted and updated throughout Wright’s life, the model toured the country for several years in the 1930s, beginning with a display at Rockefeller Center. This dispersed vision is paired with Wright's innovative structural experiments for building the vertical city. Projects, from the early San Francisco Call Building (1912), to Manhattan’s St. Mark’s-in-the-Bouwerie Towers (1927–31), to a polemical mile-high skyscraper, engage questions of urban density and seek to bring light and landscape to the tall building. Highlighting Wright’s complex relationship to the city, the material reveals Wright as a compelling theorist of both its horizontal and vertical aspects. His work, in this way, is not only of historic importance but of remarkable relevance to current debates on urban concentration.

Photo from New York Magazine, Feb 10, 2014 issue.
Info courtesy MOMA website.

 

 



LORD OF BLAKELEY by Carol Ann Kauffman

THOMAS STRUTH, PHOTOGRAPHER

Thomas Struth is a German-born photographer well known for his black and white photos of modern life.  His subjects range from landscapes, portraits, architecture, to street scenes, the jungle, and industrial facilities, encompassing locations from Asia to Atlanta.

Struth's photos are stunning, poetic, and philosophical, and run the gamut of emotions.  He is hailed as one of Germany's most exhibited and collected fine art photographers.

Struth's most recent body of work is now on display at the Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 West 57th St, New York. through Feb 22, 2014.  This is an exhibit you won't want to miss.

Street scene photo above by Thomas Struth..

Sex, Lies, & Corned Beef Pies! by Georgina Ramsey

 Sex, Lies, & Corned Beef Pies

by

Georgina Ramsey

This book is classified as rom-com/chick-lit, and here's the blurb:

Mae Ophelia Ball, is a desperate, penniless student, who in a moment of madness is prepared to do anything – well, almost anything – for a bit of extra cash! She puts her moral conscience to one side, when she takes advice from the glamorous Lottie, and sets herself up as a phone sex operator, in order to earn a few extra quid. However, the glamour of a job in the sex industry soon wears off, and one of her callers, an elderly man called Bert, comes to her rescue. She soon learns that money isn’t everything, but has this lesson come a little too late?

About Georgina Ramsey:
To date she has five books published, two books in the Love, Life series and two books in the Myrtle Maloney series.  She also has a children’s book published which her son produced the front cover for.  Her favorite genre is definitely humor and this is the genre she feels where she has the most success.  "I wasn’t expecting this to happen but my first book, which is a novelette, “Love, Life & Cream Cakes!” has been a lot more successful than I had anticipated," she said.  Her favorite foods include ice cream, a good curry, and lasagna.

Here is an excerpt from my interview with Georgina on Dec. 11, 2013:

Where would you like to visit?
I feel like I should always apologize for being a real homebody, but it’s true. I have visited other countries like Canada, Greece, Turkey, Spain and France, but my heart belongs to the North East of England. I love its earthiness and the history on offer. 

Favorite musical artist.  

This is such an easy question for me. Without a shadow of doubt it has to be the amazing Rumer, who is a British artist, and if you haven’t checked her out, please do – you won’t be disappointed. She has the most soothing voice; absolutely beautiful. Then there is also my penchant for Michael Buble, he’s delicious!

I'll definitely check  out Rumer.  I love Michael Buble, too!  Do you listen to music when you write?  

Sometimes, but it depends on the emotional response that I am trying to stir up in my characters. I often find background noise helps to relax and focus my mind when I am writing a first draft, but when I’m editing, I need silence.

What makes you laugh?

Life makes me laugh, and I always try to see the funny side in existence. I am quite eccentric, so I have been told, and a firm believer in the fact that with the challenges that life throws at you, if you didn’t laugh at them, you’d have to cry. I don’t want to spend my life crying over things I can’t change. 

How old were you when you started writing?

I started writing in a productive fashion in my late teens (I’m now in my mid-thirties), but I began writing professionally only a couple of years ago and had my first book published in 2012. 

Where do you get your inspiration?

I would say that I am inspired by observations of life and my own experiences. My day job is a lecturer of Psychology, so I am naturally critical of, and intrigued by, the human psyche, which is what I tend to draw upon in my writing.

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

Watch a TV show, read a book, put on some music, make a cuppa, or go out and play with my little one. I occasionally try to write through it, but this is only when I’m being stubborn!

Who is your favorite author?

Probably Leigh Russell and DJ Bennett at the moment, but the 

psychologist in me is fascinated by the work of Joe Conlan.  His words are easy to read but his thought processes aren't.

Best book you ever read.

Would you mind me reverting back to childhood for this? “The Witches” by Roald Dahl, or “Our Kate” by Catherine Cookson. I was raised on Catherine Cookson books; I think I was about seven when I read my first one because my mum was such a huge fan. She would read one and then pass it on to me, but only after she had told me the whole plot first. She does like her spoilers!

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

My son and he is my world. We are pretty similar to one another but when I come home from work and want to let off steam he is always there for me with his loving arms, cuddles and giggles. He keeps me sane.

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

Princess Diana, because she was a real enigma. She seemed to be caught between tradition and modern reality, and because I have a fascination with what goes on behind closed doors at the best of times, what could be better than to converse with than the woman who could let you in on the quirks and eccentricities of Buck House! I love our Royal Family. 

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

Don’t be seduced by the supposed glamour of it all. We keep anti-social hours and it is hard work putting out your words for critique. Sales don’t come easy, unless luck is shining down on you; it requires long hours, a huge learning curve and patience. That said, it is without doubt the most amazing career. 

Here are her Amazon links:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Life-Lettuce-ebook/dp/B00DYUEIVK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382266646&sr=1-1&keywords=love+life+and+lettuce

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Life-Lettuce-Georgina-Ramsey-ebook/dp/B00DYUEIVK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382266675&sr=8-1&keywords=love+life+and+lettuce

Echo of Heartbreak Giveaway Feb. 14

Not everybody has a valentine on Valentine's Day.  But everybody has or has had a mother.  Though not a romantic love story, Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life is a story of love.  It's a short story written in the form of a letter from an ill mother to her unborn daughter, giving her advice on living life to its fullest, and some great family recipes.
Comment below, or at Carol Ann Kauffman, Author on Facebook if you are using a mobile device, to be eligible for a free digital copy to be given away tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 14.  

Have You Read One of These?

                                                                     

Have you read any of these?  Did you post a short review?  Reviews are very important to independent authors.  If you've read one of these, or any book by an indie author, and like it, please consider leaving a review.  It doesn't have to be long or detailed.  I don't judge a book by other people's reviews, but many people do.

Thank you.

WHAT'S IN A PHOTO (FEB 2014)

Greetings V&V followers.  Here is our second installment of "WHAT'S IN A PHOTO?"    Now's your chance to leave convention behind and let your imagination run wild.  Here are 4 photos of everyday objects...I'll tell you what they are at the end of this post, but you tell me what you see first.  Remember to "see" in terms of line, form, shape, & motion.


#1

#2

#3

#4

Now that you've had a chance to ponder the photos, check out the list of what they are below.

#1.  A light pull.  #2.  The leg post of a metal bed frame.  #3.  A silver key chain. #4.  The bottom rungs of a chair.  All photos above taken by Parker Kagan-Kaufman, 2014.