Blog Archives: December 2018

This is the first in a series of posts about how not to start your novel. One of the most common questions I see from new writers is how to start. I can't necessarily tell you how to start your novel, but I can tell you how not to, particularly if you want to find an agent or a publisher. I follow a couple of thousand people on Twitter, largely other authors, many of whom are self-published. The self-published people love to hawk their books, and I like to go to Amazon to “Look Inside,” which I do mainly out of curiosity. It interests me ...

Still Life with Fruit Oil on Canvas 50 x 60 cm 2008 Locaton: Procida, Italy   I did two like this, where I tried to ride the border between abstract and imagery. Back to Gallery                     Still Life with Fruit Oil on Canvas, 50 x 60 cm 2008 Location: Procida, Italy

Math III Oil on Canvas, 100 x 80 cm, 2008 Location: Procida, Italy I've always loved mathematics, and thought that the symbols made a wonderful abstract painting. This one hangs in my office here on Procida where I can look at it every day. Back to Gallery

  Women with Too Much Time on Their Hands Oil on Cavas, 50 x 60 cm, 2009 One of my favorite paintings. I often have trouble naming a painting, particularly one like this that lacks any imagery. But it reminded me of a group of women sitting around a table knitting, or something, and chewing the fat. Location: Prodia, Italy Back to Gallery

Every author has heard that the story usually starts with the second chapter, and they are advised to delete the first chapter. I did that with Printed Woman. Here is the original Chapter One.   “Assume everything is a lie.” The professor pointed to the hologram displaying an outline of the history of philosophy for the past five thousand years. The black robe of an instructor billowed as he moved. “That was the view of the thinkers of the third millennium. But what’s wrong with that notion?” None of the forty students moved. He ...

  Reclining Nude with Star Oil and Venetian Turpentine on Canvas 100 x 100 cm 2009 Location: Venice, Italy This is one of my favorite works, but when we left Venice it had to stay behind. It hung in my office for several years, and is the background for my profile picture on this site. Venetian turpentine is very thick, and takes months to drip down until it finally stops. You can paint over it, but the the paint cracks as the glob slides down the canvas, giving an interesting effect. It may also entrain other paint it moves ...