Monetization, Midwest Art and More…
I subscribe to some blogs, most of which promise me more if I cough up some dough. More of what? The descriptions are vague but tantalizing. Garrison Keillor just says the best stuff is reserved for paying subscribers but his free blog has enough chuckles and outright laughs to last me awhile. Austin Kleon gives me a list of 100 quotes, but stops at fifty, saying I can get the rest of them if I pay up. Shoot, fifty quotes are quite enough for me, thanks. Both bloggers are bestselling authors and I’ve read them, so I’ve tossed a few coins into their open guitar cases as they perform on the busy sidewalks of life. Pay for their blogs? I think not.
Roxane Gay’s blog is The Audacity and the gloves are always off when you open it. She’s a bestseller too, and well worth reading. My favorite book of hers is “Aiyiti” which, I think, is Haiti said correctly. She is savage and blunt, a wonderful writer and, yep, pay up and get the good stuff, although her free blog is plenty for me.
And this blog you’re reading, The View from Wise Acres, is free. I’ve been told it’s worth every cent you pay for it. Should I become a bestseller, watch out. And if you’re reading this (free) blog a glance to your upper left and a click will connect you to my books and my sculpture which (gulp) are for sale.
Onward.
Two books I’m reading alternately couldn’t be more dissimilar: Jeff Tweedy’s Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. and Mr. Dickens and His Carol, by Samantha Silva. The first, I stumbled upon cruising Amazon and chose it without hesitation; I find his humor and irony engaging. Fans of Wilco’s singer, songwriter and leader will enjoy this disarming book. So will those who discover his music through these well-written pages. Double-win.
Freddie suggested the Dickens book, and I’m finding it not only readable and fun, but Ms. Silva’s atmospherics and descriptions are magical and re-create the old streets of London, so I’m walking (striding) right along with “old Boz,” experiencing the sting of his latest book flop and his scorn for what his publishers want: the book that will change the face of Christmas forever. (And they want it in a matter of days! No pressure there.) And on top of it all, a possible love rectangle with the emphasis on tangle.
Ben Bauer, artist. Click HERE for a bunch of great winter rural art.
Midwest winter coming. The mild and deceptive KC December weather ended today and I bundled against stiff north winds on my walks. Here’s some nice Midwest Winter Art offered by a NYC gallery, Ben Bauer artist. (link) Then there’s Keith Jacobshagen who I recall from KC Art Institute days. Beautiful work then, beautiful work now. (link) I also remember our painting instructor, who reminded me of Boris Karloff, intoning “Yellow Ochre. More yellow ochre,” sepulchrally, as he drifted from easel to easel, hands clasped behind his back. He was a fine artist and a good guy—he just had this very imitable way saying that phrase. We’d say it under our breath as we entered class. Yeello Ooochre.
Communication Art Magazine’s Typography issue, January-February, 2022