M.M. Kent's Blog

 

Open House

at

Wings and Roots Studio

Sunday, May 7, 2023

1 - 6pm

Paintings by MM Kent

 

light fare and libations,

readings from the novel,

A Coward’s Guide to Oil Painting

and from its unpublished sequel

 

219 W South

Fayetteville AR

270-313-9660

www.wingsandroots.com

www.mmkent.net

 

 

  @Reedsy Discovery

Waiting for Spring - 14 x 18 Oil

This January I feel like a herd dog, trying to keep all the stray ideas penned up in the corral, lest the coyotes drag them off  during the dark of the moon. But at the same time, the prospect of a new season has me glancing ahead toward a future with new and re-claimed freedoms,

Dig It - 6 x 6 Oil

a re-connection with the Earth, and its

Possibilities - 16 x 20 Oil

I'm working on the sequel to A Coward's Guide to Oil Painting - the Novel, thinking about friends and family, missing our get-togethers. Meanwhile, let's celebrate quietly.

Peace

 I wish:
I could confer on the world the universal capacity for synesthesia – the ability to touch sound, to listen with the eyes, to see the flavor of something, to feel the way light hits a leaf and sends a prismatic vibration through the atmosphere . . . to taste a picture.
And I would awaken the desire in each of us to listen to all our neighbors with whom we share the miracle of life on this planet.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, MM Kent.
On the Beach by MM Kent

 

WINGS AND ROOTS STUDIO

Book Signing and Open House

Sunday November 15 from 1– 5

Front Yard Event

spaced, masked and sanitized

 

. . . with MM Kent’s Artwork and copies of

his debut novel available

 

219 W. South St.

Fayetteville AR

www.mmkent.net

270-313-9660

 

 

A Coward’s Guide got its first 2 star (out of five) review today. I’ve been wondering when this would happen. All along I’ve told people, “You’ll either love it or hate it.” This Amazon lover hated it. Let the book’s title be a clue: If you have no interest in art, then take a pass. MM Kent

Amazon Lover 

Reviewed A Coward's Guide to Oil Painting by MM Kent

in the United States on October 13, 2020

2.0 Low Quality - Two Stars

     I tried to get into this book but the story was simply not up to par. The author did an okay job of describing the setting but a very poor job of developing the characters. This ultimately led to the story being hard to follow and digest. The author seems to rely too much on the art side and too little on the writing side.

     I have rated it 2 stars as fans of oil paintings may find some pleasure in it. Outside of that, it's a pass.

 

 Note –

First person characters develop from the inside out. A Coward’s Guide is written almost entirely in first person, which means the reader must be able to empathize or else all is lost. :)

Empathy by MM Kent[SOLD summer of 2020]

My friend Jacqueline Froelich produced this interview about my novel, A Coward's Guide to Oil Painting on KUAF radio. Thanks, Jacqueline!

 MM Kent interveiw on Ozarks at Large on 9-15-2020.

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WEEKDAYS AT NOON AND 7 P.M. AND SUNDAYS AT 9 A.M. ON 91.3 FMHOSTED BY KYLE KELLAMS, ANTOINETTE GRAJEDA, TIMOTHY DENNIS, JACQUELINE FROELICH, ZUZANNA SITEK

This editorial review comes from AuthorsReading.com:

 https://www.authorsreading.com/book-reviews/mm-kent/a-cowards-guide-to-oil-painting/

MM Kent, author of A Coward’s Guide to Oil Painting, is a genius. Not only is he a recognized painter in the world of art, but also a creative wordsmith. His novel begins with an explosion. Set in 1969, the plot weaves from West Texas to New Orleans, Mexico, and back to Texas with minute details that make the storyline believable. It is obvious that the author is well acquainted with his settings and the historical timeframe of the era of free love, civil rights, politics, race relations, and the Vietnam War. Perhaps he even lived in some of the scenes he narrates. It should also be noted that the novel’s captivating cover is a creation of Kent’s extraordinary grasp of art.

Kent’s character, Blaine Grayson, is believed to have been killed when his small private plane loaded with Mexican marijuana crashes in a bleak West Texas cow pasture. The story then gives a glimpse of Blaine’s back story as the scene shifts to his younger brother, Cliff, and his brief, life-changing encounter with a woman whose identity he failed to get. The saga continues with the two main characters, Mariah and Cliff, alternately telling their stories as they independently set out to learn the truth about Blaine’s airplane accident. During the search, Mariah poses nude for painting and sculpture classes, while Cliff paints in watercolor and later in oils.

Kent is a master in developing believable characters, as in:  “A tall gaunt man…the image of a funeral director or a riverboat gambler, pale-skinned… in a black vest, crisp white long-sleeved shirt, black slacks and shined shoes.  A large bent nose, wire-rim glasses, and a New York accent….”  Both Cliff, a young high school graduate running from the law and Mariah, a wild hippy chick, are complex and believable. They each advance the plot with alternating action, flashbacks and mysterious surreal experiences. The author weaves artistic theories, terms and techniques to create multiple layers of meaning like a palette knife painting including marijuana smuggling, murders, greed and grief. Sensuous action, music lyrics, luscious landscapes, Spanish language and delicious Mexican dishes make a spicy mixture, but when Mariah slides a slimy oyster down her throat and gags, “It comes back up, and [she] chase[s] it across the table with a napkin, snagging it before it heads to the floor.” White-knuckled action may get under the skin and into a reader’s nightmares but the bleak shadows of despair and mayhem are highlighted with quirky humor. A background quest for romance, a kidnapping, political intrigue and murder combine to bring the story to a roaring, twisted climax.

The visual imagery expressed in a painting and the mental imagery evoked by coherent writing are both forms of imaginative communication. Rarely does a visual artist/creative writer successfully accomplish both as well as Kent has done with A Coward’s Guide to Oil Painting. 

Reviewed by: Carole W

The first Amazon Reader Reviews are coming in at Five Stars for 
A Coward's Guide to Oil Painting.

On 7-17-2020, the book's sales rank reached #79,973 on Amazon, out of over 8,000 books listed.
Is this a novel about Art and Painting?          YES!Is it an intimate, intelligent Love Story?       YES!But wait. A mystery about outlaws in 1969?      YES, that too!
Look forward to more reviews.

MM Kent may have traded his traditional canvas for a word document, but his artist’s eye has still created beauty and life through black words on a white page. His debut novel, A Coward’s Guide to Oil Painting, is a fast-moving story that pauses to describe a market scene or the taste of gumbo, while questioning our nation’s moral compass through a historical, and often humorous, lens.

A Coward’s Guide follows the lives of two characters, Mariah and Cliff, through the months preceding and succeeding a fateful plane crash described in the first chapter. Their shared concern for Blaine, Cliff’s older brother who was involved in the crash, slowly draws them closer together geographically, until a short, chance encounter forms an instant connection. Through a tantalizing, almost unbearable use of dramatic irony, their stories continue to develop in the shadow of their independent searches for Blaine and personal discovery.

Set in the late 1960s, A Coward’s Guide asks important questions about drug use and government in America. Without losing the thread of the narrative, Kent describes the socialist movement in Mexico and its impact on a marijuana famer, adding layers to the tense discussion of foreign involvement in Latin America and the legality of weed. The serious topics and ethical dilemmas of A Coward’s Guide and the amorous undertones combine to produce a captivating novel that appeals to the intellects and romantics alike.  

MM Kent’s A Coward’s Guide to Oil Painting is a testament to both his literary talent and considerable skill with a paintbrush. His artful descriptions create clear images of people and places, and above all, his new book is a way for readers to observe the world through the eyes of an artist, in all its multi-layered beauty and contradictions.
Submitted by Grace Martin (age 19)