This one rings true

Today is publishing day for our new e-book, the art novel A Painter's Life by K. B. Dixon! I'm pretty excited. I first heard about this book back in December of 2009 on an art blog I regularly follow (and you should too), Two Coats of Paint. Two Coats is run by painter, professor and writer Sharon Butler. This line from her posting about A Painter's Life is what caught my attention:

"Often books about painters don't ring true, but this one, a compilation of journal entries, narrative, and art reviews about fictional painter Christopher Freeze does."

As a painter and writer herself, Butler's praise for Dixon's take on the artist's life, scores high marks in my estimation. It took me a year to actually get to reading the book myself (yes, my reading list is easily a year long at any given time), but when I finally managed to sit down with it over the holidays last year, I wasn't disappointed.

There is a increasingly rich literary tradition of artist novels stretching back to Émile Zola's classic 1886 novel L'Oeuvre (The Masterpiece), Honoré de Balzac's 1831 story The Unknown Masterpiece, and beyond. I've read dozens of them over the years, and A Painter's Life manages to not only be a great read, it's also a highly original take on the genre.

Two weeks after reading the book in it's original paperback, I contacted the author and asked him to let us publish the e-book edition. Happily, he agreed, and today I get to offer it to you—I know you'll enjoy.