A Coward's Guide To Oil

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A Coward's Guide to Oil Painting by MM KentCliff and Mariah have compelling intimate encounter in the dark before being separated without proper introductions. She wants to plant a garden, and he wants to be an artist, but when his brother’s plane crashes, they launch separate quests to find out what happened. Suspense-filled scenes at a mysterious hacienda outside San Miguel de Allende give A Coward’s Guide to Oil Painting a south-of-the-border flavor and the boundary between what’s moral and what’s legal gives it an outlaw feel. Sexually curious folks in Austin add spice, colorful characters provide comic relief, and idyllic beach scenes in Zihuatanejo provide that patch of blue where the eye can rest. Through the eyes of Cliff and Mariah, with the help of life-drawing groups and ex-pat mentors, we are treated to an insider’s peek at the artist's world. While gaining insight into the ‘gaze,’ the ‘muse,’ the creative role of Eros, and the ways that memory and imagination can affect the nature of reality, we almost feel like we could pick up a brush and paint our own masterpiece. A Coward’s Guide to Oil Painting is a love story, a movable feast of sensual delights and artistic insight, part cozy, part caper, part coming-of age, with a dash of international intrigue and a smattering Spanish words. This re-picturing of an American subculture of 1969 is instantly accessible, intelligent and nostalgic—a sensuous bowl of pozole, tasty to the last drop.