Two summers ago I took a one-day painting workshop with Carol Maguire http://www.carolmaguire.com/ and we've remained in touch. Carol responded to recent work posted on http://artid.com/members/mickey, saying "watch your edges." These three simple words have helped solve the frustration I've had wondering why most of my paintings look so illustrative and not painterly. Because all my edges are sharp! Making some edges sharp and others soft (out of focus) will direct the viewer's eye and add depth and interest. I think that's why this small painting on tapestry works.

Post-Labor Day at South Beach on Martha's Vineyard felt like our own private piece of the island. Those folks in the background were the only others enjoying the sand and surf that day. Puffy clouds would break for brief periods of intense sun. One of those moments gave Tony the highlight on parts of his face not protected by the brim of his ballcap. No better time to be on MV!

Check out other paintings at the recently posted "New Works" Gallery at artid.com/members/mickey

Back in MA -- Granby Massachusetts
What a tour. I just got that Bee Gees song out of my head (you know the one, "and the lights, all went dooooooown in Maaaaaaassachusetts...") and I'm back, not 15 miles from where I was a few days ago. You'd think the organizers could do a better job scheduling these things.

But it is good to be back. My host today is Mickey (who I found out, to my pleasant surprise, is a woman) and she doesn't actually have a blog. She tells me she can put this up on Facebook, however, but if she can, she's more technically gifted than I am. I can't make head or tales of Facebook. I do have a Facebook account, which allegedly has my blog linked to it, but every time I log in I am besieged by requests to take quizzes to find out how similar I am to Courtney Love, or invitations to join the Naked Polar Bear Wrestling group, or messages from people I don't even know who want be my friend. And what, pray tell, is this "Poking" all about? (Incidentally, when I do accept someone as a friend, I generally add a "how did you meet" comment along the lines of, "we were in rehab together," or, "She was pole-dancing in a bar in Singapore and I was really impressed with her tattoos." They usually don't ask again.)

Social networking may be the wave of the future, but to people like me (you know, people who aren't really old yet, but can remember black and white TV) it's just a lot of noise.

Mickey, thankfully, has other, non-Internet related activities planned for us. We're going to the nearby State Park to climb The Seven Sisters mountain range and I have to say I am looking forward to it. When I lived in the States I was a keen hiker and spent many a weekend in the Adirondacks or the mountains of western Massachusetts, gamely trudging up trails for the spectacular view I knew I would find when I reached the top.

Mickey promises the view from the Skinner Mountain house won't disappoint so I am eager to get going. But we need to stop off and get me some proper hiking shoes, first, and sunscreen, a backpack, some power snacks, a water bottle... When you're on a book tour, you don't generally think to pack these sorts of things. (I wonder if I can claim them back on expenses.)

It will be nice to get back to nature and forget about this tour for a while, seeing nothing but forest and hearing nothing but the buzz of insects and the twitter of birds. If I can get this song out of my head, anyway.

Would you like to participate in the
2009 KINDNESS of STRANGERS TOUR?
Visit the Tour Page to sign up or to view the latest Tour updates.

Michael Harling is an American author living in the UK
undertaking a virtual world tour via the kindness of strangers.

Links: (can be imbedded in the above or listed after the text)
Tour Page: http://www.lindenwald.com/thetour.htm
Book Page: http://www.lindenwald.com/booksale.htm
Home Page: http://postcardsfromacrossthepond.blogspot.com/