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Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith

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Category Archives: Painting

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A Writing Biography, Part VII: Organization, Lost Energies, New Novels, Publishing, 1994-2011

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on December 19, 2024 by Michael D. SmithDecember 19, 2024

It’s been difficult to write 1994-2011; this is quite a long era, from my thirties to my fifties, with several deluded sub-eras as well as breakthroughs. But the period seems anchored at each end: beginning with The Soul Institute charting … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writing Biography, Akard Drearstone, Art Shows, Double Dragon Publishing, Editing, Jack Commer, Jump Grenade, Man Against the Horses, Marketing, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Painting, Perpetual Starlit Night, Publishing, Query Letters, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Sortmind, Sortmind Press, Stories, Tarot Cards, The Damage Patrol Quartet, The First Twenty Steps, The Soul Institute, The University of Mars, Twisted Tails, Writing, Writing Process, Zarreich | Leave a reply

A Writing Biography, Part VI: Failures, Successes, Rhythms and Swerves, 1983-1994

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on January 8, 2024 by Michael D. SmithDecember 16, 2024

I’m struck by the veering between successes and failures in this period, losing control and skidding across all four lanes until I’d finally get enough sense to stop the car and take a good look around. Had I never learned … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writing Biography, Akard Drearstone, Asylum and Mirage, Character Images, Jack Commer, Martian Marauders, Novels, Painting, Publishing, Query Letters, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Sortmind, Stories, The Damage Patrol Quartet, The First Twenty Steps, The Soul Institute, The University of Mars, Writing, Writing Process, Zarreich | 1 Reply

The Exoskeleton

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on July 3, 2023 by Michael D. SmithJanuary 14, 2025

Mindful of one of my favorite saws probably picked up from The Internet, “There are two kinds of people: those who place people in categories, and those who don’t,” I nevertheless postulate that there may be three kinds of artist … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Process, Asylum and Mirage, Jack Commer, Marketing, Novels, Painting, Publishing, Supreme Commander Laurie, Writing, Writing Process | 4 Replies

Asylum and Mirage: A Note on the Cover

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on February 20, 2023 by Michael D. SmithJuly 22, 2023

The novel’s cover comes from my June 2005 abstract painting show at Dallas Public Library’s Bradshaw Gallery. As the previous posts about the book describe, I’d had the image of Dave’s art warehouse for many years, long before doing this … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrylic, Art Process, Art Shows, Asylum and Mirage, Book Covers, Caspra Coronae, Novels, Painting, Tarot Cards | Leave a reply

Asylum and Mirage: Current Conditions

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on October 19, 2022 by Michael D. SmithOctober 19, 2022

Artist Dave Raavenscorr picks up what he thinks is a college girl, but flees in panic when he discovers she’s Dr. Marina Nunn, chair of the Lake University Music Department and a refugee from the Reunion brainwashing catastrophe at Linstar … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrylic, Art Process, Asylum and Mirage, Caspra Coronae, Character Images, Novels, Painting, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

The Super Colossal Mess Jungle 2.0

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 30, 2020 by Michael D. SmithApril 30, 2020

Following up on the building of the red stretcher and stretching its canvas, here’s the sequence of the completed painting, though as usual I forgot to chronicle all of it, so we see just a couple major steps and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrylic, Art Process, Instructions, Painting | Leave a reply

Stretching the Canvas

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 22, 2020 by Michael D. SmithApril 22, 2020

This almost has to be demonstrated in person before it makes sense, but I’m giving it a verbal try here. First, vacuum the floor to get up items like cat hair. Unroll the canvas on the floor. Place the completed … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrylic, Art Process, Instructions, Painting | Leave a reply

Construction of the Red Stretcher

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 12, 2020 by Michael D. SmithApril 22, 2020

This will be a non-adjustable stretcher. It doesn’t allow further adjusting of canvas tension as with commercially-made stretcher bars, which have corner slots that aren’t glued, along with pegs which you hammer into these slots to take up slack. However, … Continue reading →

Posted in Acrylic, Art Process, Instructions, Painting | Leave a reply

A New Portrait of Jonathan James Commer

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on July 21, 2019 by Michael D. SmithJuly 12, 2020

Jonathan James is Jack Commer’s insolent, troubled son, the author of the bestselling Alpha Centaurian novel, A Fragmented Encyclopedia of Recent Self. He was also briefly Emperor of the Alpha Centaurians, later leader of a rebellion against the SolGrid surveillance … Continue reading →

Posted in Balloon Ship Armageddon, Character Images, Collapse and Delusion, Drawing, Jack Commer, Novels, Painting, Science Fiction, The SolGrid Rebellion, Writing | Leave a reply

Why Did I Publish Sortmind?

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on February 24, 2019 by Michael D. SmithJune 25, 2019

Trantor Group CEO Peter Trantor scrambles to reassure his latest client, the lovely but unreadable bank executive Anna Winstead, that his telepathic Sortmind app really isn’t as deadly as people assume. But he has some explaining to do when a … Continue reading →

Posted in Character Images, Literary, Novels, Painting, Publishing, Query Letters, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Sortmind, Sortmind Press, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

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Recent Posts

  • Introducing The Benign Incursion
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus
  • A Blog Post from February 13, 1976
  • A Writing Biography, Part VIII: The Exoskeleton, Archiving, Publishing, The Blog, and the Long Novels, 2011-2023
  • The Major 2024 Book Energies
  • A Writing Biography, Part VII: Organization, Lost Energies, New Novels, Publishing, 1994-2011
  • Zarreich – Publication at Last
  • The Sortmind Draft One Project
  • Dreams Used in Zarreich
  • Zarreich – The Draft Covers

Links

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  • Jack Commer Series from Sortmind Press
  • Kara D. Wilson
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  • Sortmind the novel from Sortmind Press
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  • Where to find my novels

Archives

Categories

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  • The Benign Incursion (2)
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  • Zarreich (13)

Recent Comments

  • Introducing The Benign Incursion – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The Unknown Ending for The Martian Marauders
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on Trip to Mars in Paperback
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The First Childhood Appearance of Jack Commer, September 19, 1962
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The Irregular Origin of The Martian Marauders
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The UR Jack Commer: A Look at the Childhood Beginnings of the Commer Saga

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Michael's books

Why Meditate: Working with Thoughts and Emotions
4 of 5 stars
Why Meditate: Working with Thoughts and Emotions
by Matthieu Ricard
WordPress Web Design for Dummies
4 of 5 stars
WordPress Web Design for Dummies
by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End...
5 of 5 stars
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End...
by Philip Plait
Using Joomla!
3 of 5 stars
Using Joomla!
by Ron Severdia
Serpent's Tooth
5 of 5 stars
Serpent's Tooth
by Toni V. Sweeney
On a cruise Melissa bonds with an older man, Travis, who turns out to be a famous celebrity in hiding from a once successful life. But by degrees we become aware that his enormous success came at the price of bonding with demonic forces...

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