Author Archives: Lawrence Grodecki

About Lawrence Grodecki

I'm a visual artist with a contemporary look. My art is not so easily classified and some have told me I'm developing a new style... "Lawrence`s unique choice of combining his drawing, natural found objects and digital painting represent an evolved and mature art language." - Laara Williamsen

Spanky and the Gang (Not the Group)

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Raw . . . Hiding

Lately I’ve spent a lot more time reading blogs than writing them. All kinds of blogs. It’s kind of strange how I tend to be drawn into the edgy ones. They tend to be on the raw side, sometimes deeply personal – but not drowning in self-pity – I can’t stand that. Some of them even piss me off now and then, but in a good way, not like the news on television. I admire or treasure them all, but each differently.

By no means is this list exhaustive, so please don’t be offended if you don’t see your blog on it. Then again, you may be on this list but don’t feel your blog fits the description above. If that upsets you then the only phrase that come to mind is one of my personal favorites, ideal for this type of predicament, “Well just spank me and call me silly!”

So here they are, on their own path:

Gunmetal Geisha

The Awakened Dreamer

Random Thoughts

Wildflower Women

Awake Black Woman

The next time I do post like this, it will be entirely on book-related blog.

Dawn at Last – Book Description

Some call it sinful, others say divine . . . they all call it refreshing.

A smart and sexy romance, perhaps the kind your mother doesn’t want you to know? Chances are she will love it too, even though this is definitely not old school shenanigans!

Secrets deeper than the Seven Seas . . .

Modern day Victoria, BC sets the stage for Donna Belauche, a professional intimacy counselor who keeps her client list short and her list of friends shorter. Life is far from fun and games for Donna. In her quiet time, it is not her work that brings her to the brink of madness. It’s the weight of her past – so many deep secrets – almost crushing her. Holding love at arm’s length, she pushes men away, even one who especially adores her.

That’s when she wrote in her journal, “genuinely kind and charming,” but next to that she added “perhaps a little dangerous…be very careful.”

Making Dali Blush

As she pushes love away, Donna devotes her free time to the pursuit of a different kind of passion – a hobby involving tulips, a creative exploration of women – an exploration of what some call sinful, and yet others divine. She is not alone in this project. She and her partners do it all in the name of art . . . but have they taken it all too far?

As wonderful as it seemed, still is it even okay, or was it all just decadence? Yet such a sweet decadence, as fresh as the first drop of honey.

It’s funny how it works when love’s at play.

Some say this book is controversial because of its characters – interracial relationships, unconventional pasts, and affairs between lady friends who are oblivious to the label, “lesbian romance”. They see nothing unusual in any of it. For them it is just how they live. There is Ben, the house painter who will paint most anything, and a server named Sunni, with a thing for buns. Along with three others, they manage to help Donna find her way, almost in spite of themselves. They don’t realize how important each is to the other, especially to Donna, as she scratches away at the ties that bind her.

Untwisting the Night Away

The lives of these misfits twist together like vines – never knowing exactly where they will wind up. Through all the intertwining, love offers up one amusing surprise after another. Then, on one final night – three men and three ladies – everything finally comes together. Lives are changed forever . . . but for the better? How does one ever really know? At last, is it ever just about love?

Read these comments from fans of Dawn at Last . . .

Exciting and Adventurous – The intersecting plot lines led me on an adventure, an intriguing blend of humour and mystery.

Fresh and Amusing – The humor and wit throughout is really enjoyable. The interracial relationships feel very contemporary, and say a lot about love in today’s world.

Breath-taking and Sexy – The intimate scenes are seductive, making me want to be involved – a wonderful adult romance.

Complex and Mysterious -The emotional journey is challenging. It took me through many stages before emerging at the other end with my own thoughts and revelations.

Dangerous and Raw – There are times in the book where I sensed an element of risk and it heightened the experience.

Entertaining and Evocative – Overall the book is fun. It’s a wonderful adult romance. The story, themes and characters stayed in my mind long after I finished the book – waiting for the sequel now!

“Dawn at Last” is Now on Amazon

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There’s a lot of playful mystery in “Dawn at Last” – six main interweaving characters.

It’s taken a lot of time and effort, but it was worth it.

Over the past month or so I’ve made some changes to my novel, previously published as Sunni Knows, but renamed Dawn at Last. By the way, did you know that apparently The Great Gatsby was once titled Trimalchio in West Egg . . . yes, books do go through title changes.

The content is mostly the same, with a little refining of the first chapter and a little addition to the ending. It seems that while my fans loved the book, for many the original ending felt unresolved. It took a lot resolve to fix that, but I’m glad I did – the ending is now more exquisite . . . at last.

You can see the new cover over to the right side – if you click on it, you will be taken to the Amazon page of Dawn at Last. I don’t mind saying that it’s fantastic and really goes with the tone of the book. A huge thank you goes out to Sandra Parlow, a wonderful lady and an excellent photographer. She allowed me to use some of her photography – the basis for the imagery on the cover – you can easily find her amazing work on Google+.

I’d also like to thank an anonymous friend for her musings and guidance throughout this process, the extent of which could fill an entirely different book!

Finally, it will about a week before Amazon has the “Look Inside” feature working – after that you can read the first 10% of the book for free. That should take you about half way through Chapter 3 – The Grape Squishing, although that’s a bit of a tease because by the end of that chapter things start getting a little juicy.

In the meantime, if want to get a feel for the book, I’ve posted first chapter on my Facebook Notes, and here’s the link to that: Chapter 1 – The Ending Begins .

Seeing more than one’s self by dropping the “i”

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Love, that eternal mystery, and shouldn’t it always be that way?

For me that is a rhetorical question, because I know the answer, and in many ways. Does that make me an expert in love? Of course not, what a horrible claim that would be . . . in a way dishonorable to the divine and the sublime.

Perhaps it is what some may call a hobby, but for me it is more like a way of life . . . the search for it (love) in most of what I see . . . and I’ve seen so much of it in so many ways. Some that know me (or think they do) would scoff at every word I’m writing here, but I can’t control that, have no need to, and simply dismiss the scoffing as irrelevant. That doesn’t make me arrogant, but more like frustrated. There’s so much I’ve come to know, but it seems the price of this knowledge is an almost solitary confinement in the knowing.

Perhaps the painting and the writing are an escape from this solitude? It sometimes feels that way. More than that though, there is this smoldering desire, “true art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist,” as Einstein put it.

Many readers may find these words vaguely written, and that’s understandable. What I’m reblogging here might also be construed as vague, and yet there is so much beauty in the mystery of it all. I neither condone nor dismiss any of its content, but somehow I do find it easy to understand, as it is ultimately one more way to search and find love, and oddly enough, it seems to describe a creative process.

Here it is, a most intriguing post: The nature of domination.

Life Without Fear

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I wonder how many people in our culture, or any culture for that matter, really understand this teaching:

Found on Pinterest, originally from Amy Jirsa – Quiet Earth Yoga

I know it may be very hard to comprehend the truth of this, especially in the part of the world I live in . . . this way of thinking is not widely taught. Certainly the main stream media, and many other institutions, do not want you or I to think this way – it flies in the face of greed when you think about. It’s also bad for a lot of business.

Put as simply as I can, this is why I like watching butterflies and trees and the wind and the clouds. There is this truth there, life without fear. That is part of what inspires me. Enjoy your Monday.

A Little Magic

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One thing I love about my kind of painting is how unpredictable it can be.

Last night I had a wonderful time polishing up colom, putting the finishing touches on it . . . for a comparison, see My Saturday Column – Pardon the Typoh! I lost track of time and almost packed it in when I was done at 2:30 in the morning . . . but I didn’t.

colom – finally finished!

As often happens when I’m finally finished a picture, such as colom above, I’ll spend a little more time just playing with it – this where life becomes unpredictable – at 3:00 in the morning, after playing with a few effects, a little magic happened. The picture below is what I’m talking about . . . it’s still untitled, but I really couldn’t wait to put it up here, and soon it will also be on my site.

Finally, the funny thing is that I went to bed last night thinking about how much this new picture ties in to my novel, Dawn at Last, at least in the emotion of it all. For a minute I thought perhaps it would make a great cover, but I’m not really sure about that.

If I ever do a hard cover version though, I’m sure it will include some of this art as an appendix, or perhaps I will call it a heart – a book should have a heart, right? 🙂

My Saturday Column – Pardon the Typoh!

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colom – actual size is 9″ x 21″

This picture is yet another selection from the series I call “Typohhs”. It is part of the word colombien, from that larger picture called CoffeeMates. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, then you probably didn’t read the previous posts about this series. Don’t worry, they are short, so please start with How to Appreciate the Coffee Without the Grounds and then yesterday’s post, The Story of Ohh.

As you can see, The Story of Ohh actually comes from this word colom, which comes from the word colombien. As I’m writing this, it feels like I’m drawing my own alphabet, derivatives and such . . . but it’s all Greek to me! Tell me if you’ve seen this one before . . . Kimono from Krystos!

Do you like “The Story of Ohh?”

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This is another one of those Typohhs!

This picture is another selection from the series I call “Typohhs” . . . for more information, see yesterday’s post (How to Appreciate the Coffee Without the Grounds).

In that previous post I showed you the earlier version of the larger image, with all the original lettering. This picture below shows what it looks like with many of the typohhs embedded . . . it may be a little difficult to see, depending on how large an image you are looking at. The Story of O is there, embedded in the word colombien. The Caff from the last post is there as well, at the bottom.

A more Current version of CoffeeMates

How to Appreciate the Coffee Without the Grounds

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How do you like your coffee?

Part of a series called Typohhs (8″ h x 14.4″ w)

This picture is one of a rather large series that I’ve been working on for many years now. It started with a scan of a can of coffee about seven years ago now (see below).

As I began etching away at this image, I found myself getting down into each individual letter, and groups of letters, such as Caff above. It began to feel like every letter had its own story – perhaps my take on a picture is worth a letter or two?

This larger picture is called “CoffeeMates”

I actually let the larger picture sit for about five years, until a couple of years ago when I spent most of the summer (and then some) working on this series. Pretty much every letter has been transformed into a series that I call Typohhs, with the emphasis on the “Ohh!”

What can I say? I suppose if I were a vegetable, I’d be beyond the outfield in Field of Dreams. If you follow me at all, by now you know I’m a movie fan, and I really liked that one when it first came out. The only thing that bothers me is that it’s only the men who are “coming back”. Also, I used to be a big baseball fan when I was a kid, and now as an adult one of my favorite baseball films is Bull Durham.

So for all those fans of “Ohh!” here is one of my favorite scenes from Bull Durham:

lawrence grodecki

art, writing and other musings

Author Archives: Lawrence Grodecki

About Lawrence Grodecki

Spanky and the Gang (Not the Group)

Dawn at Last – Book Description