North Carolina Stream, watercolor, Jane Kohut-Bartels, 2006
Today I finished the work needed to release “White Cranes of Heaven” ID# 10243736, available from Lulu.com.
For some reason, Lulu.com is listing this new book under the name: “White Cranes”, probably because we refused the ISBN# package from Lulu because it would have doubled the price in the market. “White Cranes” or “White Cranes of Heaven” is the same book, and the name doesn’t really matter much. The content does.
This is the first time I have published any of my paintings, except in a short brochure. The resolution looks great and I am very impressed with Lulu’s printing. I decided to use these paintings to illustrate some of the poems, and it works. I hope the readers who buy this book will agree.
Lulu is still processing some of my product page, so I don’t know exactly when it will be viewable, but when I checked, the new book was available for purchase.
This has been a very long labor. Bill Penrose was the midwife on this and I can’t thank him enough. I’m tired and need a break. I’m going to sit and read a spell, something I don’t get to do often enough.
Thanks to Bren Goode, Margie Chester, Nick Nicholson, Steve Isaak, and my dear friend Bill Penrose for this book.
Without you, it wouldn’t have grown feathers.
Lady Nyo
—
“Winter Afternoon”
–
Winter’s pale afternoon
Creeps into night like skim milk
Poured from one china bowl to another.
The thin crescent moon appears,
A broken cup of feeble light
That spills upon the ground,
Too watery to brighten the road.
–
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted 2011
Tags: "White Cranes of Heaven", "White Cranes", Bill Penrose, Jane Kohut-Bartels, Lady Nyo, lulu.com, paintings, poetry, publishing, thanks to friends
Lady Nyo's Weblog 
March 4, 2011 at 12:15 am
Congratulations, Jane! This poem’s food metaphor for a winter afternoon is spot on. I love the paintings I’ve seen so far. Please tell me you either have some in galleries or are looking for gallery venues.
Beautiful work.
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March 4, 2011 at 1:01 am
Hello Katie!!
Nah….I paint for my walls…LOL!…Actually, I used to trudge around with shows…but really got over the gallery ‘experience’. Here in Atlanta they take 50% of price, so you have to jack up the price to make anything. It’s a racket and they don’t do much to promote.
And since I do mostly watercolors now, they are very delicate, and in outdoor shows, even with the tent top, they get bruised.
I stopped painting a few years ago when I started writing….now? I do a few a year, some on commission, (dogs mostly…LOL!) but I have found that doing the covers for my books satisfies me more than any gallery showing…which was rare.
yeah, I like my work, too…but here in Atlanta it’s these big floral oils or very abstract stuff are what sells. I have trained myself in English Watercolor Tradition, and it doesn’t seem to be very popular around here.
So it goes….I refuse to beat my head against the door anymore…LOL!
I am doing some very delicate botanicals just to keep my hand in the paints, and the new cover is a painting I did for this new book. The reduction is a lot, from the original size, so I couldn’t do a lot of the detail I usually do…but with birds….it’s “Attitude Not Feathers”…LOL~
And painting white birds (the damn cranes) was a real bitch. I would rather paint hawks, etc…because they have COLOR!
Thank you for the congrats, Katie, and glad you liked that short poem. One of my favorites, too.
Hugs,
Jane
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March 5, 2011 at 5:47 am
Congratulations on completing the “White Cranes of Heaven”
Will check it out at Lulu….
I loved your winter afternoon a lot.. and the last line was perfect…
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/03/whispers-winter-dew.html
Twitter @VerseEveryDay
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March 5, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Hello Shashi!
Thank you so much for reading “Winter Afternoon” and your comment. I like that very short poem, too. In some ways, it germinated a number of poems with the moon theme….it was one of the very first I wrote about the moon.
And thank you for your interest in “White Cranes of Heaven”. We really were concerned about the expense ($26.90) of the book….but the price reflects that there are 11 full colored paintings in there, and the resolution is beautiful! They are like miniature little paintings, and the detail and color is excellent…so much better than what appears on my computer screen when I try to post them here on the blog.
The vibrancy of the colors are lost on the computer screen, but the printing by Lulu.com can’t be faulted. I was really surprised, because this is the first time I have seen these paintings printed.
The paper stock is pretty heavy for these paintings and that makes all the difference I would suppose. The cover looks great….better than I expected. That was a very hard cover to do, because I repeatedly shot it and had a professional photog do the same, and ended up using one of my original shots…there is some shadow interference by the window where I attempted to photograph it, but it looks very mysterious. LOL~!
As for the poems? Well, you can determine for yourself, you are a very fine poet!
I have to say that I teared up when I received the proof copies yesterday: I didn’t expect it to appear so …..powerful. There is an energy in this new book that I didn’t realize. Just holding it in my hand convinced me that a physical copy of your work tops anything that can be a computer download.
Bill Penrose did a fabulous job on the formatting, as did he on my first two books, but damn, Shashi! This book has wings~ LOL~
If you get it, I hope to hear your critical reviews. I think it is very important for poets/writers, etc. to listen. Of course, there have been new poems, nature poems, since I published this….that weren’t in there….but perhaps the next book will be different.
Thank you, Shashi, for your congrats and for reading this blog. I much appreciate all who write and leave comments.
Lady Nyo
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March 8, 2011 at 7:32 am
A beautiful painting, Lady Nyo – I love that silky red tree amongst the more muted foliage, water and rocks
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March 8, 2011 at 8:13 am
Thank you, Bluebee~!
What comes across the computer isn’t the brilliancy of the color of the original paintings…That red tree is really red in the original painting….BUT the new book has 11 of them in there, and they are really well produced. The colors are fabulous.
All my criticisms of Lulu.com aren’t directed to their printing techniques…can’t fault that…it’s their non-contact when you need answers…LOL!. Apparently this has been a big problem for many authors with Lulu. over the past few years. And then you get a slurry of letters from them, and it’s confusing!
The book is expensive…$27.00 from Lulu.com, but it would have been doubled with an ISBN# from them. So we decided not to do that, at least for now. I am so touched by friends and others who have writtten and said that they are saving up to buy that book. I know the issue, as I have to buy copies for elderly Aunts and relatives.
The cover was done for this book, and the photographing was really an issue. I had a professional do it, properly, but damn…it was so flat. Bill and I elected to use the photo that I did originally, with all those weird shadows from where I shot it, because it has a distinct feeling of mystery.
Well, thank you, Bluebee for reading and writing to me. It’s spring, and I intend to plant a good garden. I have limited space here….but I am planting a row of corn and sunflowers across my front fence! LOL! It should be interesting…
Hugs,
Lady Nyo
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March 9, 2011 at 7:34 pm
What a pretty painting! So delicate and serene. My best bits are…love the rocks and the water and the far right foliage 🙂
You are such a talented lady!
Cheers
Padmavani
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March 9, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Thank you, Padmavani.
Years of work…..
Lady Nyo
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