New section: Visit our sites

To make it easy to access our members' sites, we've got a brand new section, now placed in the upper left corner of our blog.


First up: Shelley Adler's website. She specializes in the genre of California realistic painting but brings to it her unique perspective. In her words:

My intention is to recreate within the small framework, the specific moment caught by the camera. I attempt to express the personality of the person(s) through their body language and the way they are positioned in relationship to each other and to express the feeling of the time or era in which they exist with atmosphere and color. Some of these elements may be present in the black and white snapshot, but they are not always obvious. I enhance the image by using my intuitive sense of the scene to imagine the colors that were there as the photo was snapped, and to bring to life the black and white image.

I feel that I am having a conversation with the images of the people as I paint them. They open up to me as I study the photograph and see the subtleties of their expressions and bearing. I then try to make that revelation part of the painting.

Currently, she's showing her work in several galleries in the area. Please visit her site for more information.
Shelley's link on ArtSlant
Tag Gallery interviews Shelley

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

We will be reading J. M. Coetzee's book, Disgrace, winner of the Booker and Commonwealth Prizes. I've gathered some links about the book and the novelist, posted below. Please feel free to send along any other items of interest.

Salon review in 1999
What wikipedia says about Disgrace
The Guardian review of Disgrace
The Amazon page on Disgrace
Book review on Hackwriters.com
Tony D'Souza writes an essay about Disgrace
Complete Reviews page


As you probably all know, Coetzee won the Nobel prize in 2003. Here's his biography on the Nobel web site.
What wiki says about Coetzee