August 3, 2021

Kimberly Brooks — Paintings from History

Posted by in Fine Art
Kimberly Brooks — Paintings from History

Artist’s Statement:I work in series, diving into subjects from many different angles of observation, history, and memory. I strive for a result that descends from the clouds in my mind like lightning to the earth, to light a night sky or occasionally set a tree on fire. I painted for years in my head before I ever held a brush.  So I have therefore been painting all my life.  And as a way of speaking, it suits me.  The first time I showed my work so many years ago, I felt so exposed, I blushed.  I paint both abstract and realistically, always hovering in between, in search of something new. *** Kimberly Brooks is an American artist and author of The New Oil Painting (Chronicle Books). She is known for her portraits and landscapes in…

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March 23, 2021

“Real Estate,” A Novel Excerpt by Kathryn Holzman

Posted by in Writing
“Real Estate,” A Novel Excerpt by Kathryn Holzman

A few passages from my novel, Real Estate, published by Propertius Press in November 2020.   Excerpt #1  Santa Clara Valley, 1962  On a cloudless Saturday afternoon in May 1962, Harriet Jackson rode her brother’s battered blue Schwinn bicycle along Mariani Avenue, alert for passing cars. She inhaled the delicate spring scent of newly budding manzanita blooms, delighted that her mother had sent her to the store for a quart of milk. As she pedaled, she sang “Johnny Angel,” mouthing the words as sung on her favorite 45 by Shelly Fabares.  Harriet let the breeze carry the lead but provided the chorus’s echo under her breath. The popular song complemented the sense of possibility in the crisp morning air. The rotation of her bike tires provided the backbeat. Together we will see how lovely heaven will be. She tilted the bike automatically into…

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March 3, 2020

“I Shipped Myself Out of Folsom,” by Townsend Walker

Posted by in Writing
“I Shipped Myself Out of Folsom,” by Townsend Walker

Probably ought to start with how I got there.   Driving up 395, stopped for coffee in Olancha. Tall, weathered man came into the diner, pulled up a stool like he owned the place. We started chatting—horses, construction, steel work. I’d done it all. Will Thornton had a big ranch out there in the high desert, east of the Sierras. He was looking for help and hired me on.  That’s how I met his daughter Holly, not a pretty girl, but with a daddy owning fifteen hundred acres . . .  I courted her, but she didn’t take to me much. With Will, I was getting along real well. He liked my work, we chatted about what I’d done, what he’d done, about desert life. One day setting fence posts, he eased into talking about his daughter. Too much a stay-at-home, would never find a man in their town of 192 people. I wasn’t shy about telling him I was sweet on Holly, “be happy to oblige” and he helped me convince her. We got hitched in Reno with Will and Holly’s sister as witnesses.  Real soon it started not to…

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January 15, 2020

“Hue,” Colorful Flash Fiction by Kasondra Perez

Posted by in Member Writing & Art, Writing
“Hue,” Colorful Flash Fiction by Kasondra Perez

Southern California is the same hue as your eyes. Brown rutted brush where the goats will chew out the fire breaks so maybe we won’t burn up like your rage on a Saturday night after maple colored scotch.   I remember white blankets of soft ice covered the town where I went to school. Everything was touch and go, where winds would pick up like a whip and snap you forward on the walk from your dormitory, coming up again on the return like a violent slap to the face of pitch cold, kind of like last night with your words, never actually, but reaching into my grey matter and thumbing at the tabs of files until pulling out one labeled Insecurities. You took that folder and studied it like admissions counselors studied my manuscripts. Scrutinized and memorized. …

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