Thursday, January 21, 2010

Roving Art - "Placement"

The Book of Dreams features characters based on two of my artist sisters - Yvonne and Deirdre - but, in fact, I have three more! On my Links page, I've listed my sister Lorraine's website which she shares with her sculptor husband. (Art doesn't run in our family, it gallops.) Here is a sample of one of her most recent projects called "Placement. " Her paintings are printed onto labels which are "placed" here and there around the world, by herself, family and friends, and some who remain anonymous. I did this placement on the Aran island of Inis Oirr, off the west coast of Ireland, in summer 2009. Amazingly enough, I did NOT arrange the black bicycle against the hedge or the trophy for currach racing. It was all there just waiting for me to add the perfect little image of a cow. Go here to see more placements in Ireland, Toronto, London, New York, and Prague:http://www.lorjames.com/.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Fifth Sacred Thing

Found this book in my sister Pat's library and was surprised by how good it was. Truly compelling characters and plot. I read it in two days despite its size. Starhawk is a New Age feminist non-fiction writer and political activist. I didn't expect her to be able to make the jump to fiction, but she does it with ease and panache. Mind you, she could have done with a better cover and title. Both put me off the book at first and I had to force myself past them to read it!