I haven't read a free book that I really liked but this one was an exception. Ms. Fowler was actually a pretty good writer. I think she's good with the canvas and with words. I love the first story and the last one, "Still Life Paintings". The stories were sad and cute at the same time. I loved how the stories have one theme which was art. Even if you don't know a thing about art (like me) you could definitely relate and connect with the stories and characters. ( )

This is a very interesting set of short stories. Three varied stories .. each one depicts various facets of art in our lives..It shows how humans use art/painting to express their feelings of pain/joy/frustration/love. The first story is a tragedy where a woman paint the same picture over and over again without ever realizing that she is attempting to portray the tragedy that ended her life as she knew it.. In the second story painting helps a mother understand her kids..In the third story an artist uses his painting to let the woman he loves know of his feelings..

On the whole an excellent read.. ( )

This is a very promising book of three short stories, that are linked by art and painting. The first story was very emotional - a woman paints obsessively, producing the same painting every time, but unable to recognise the subject of the paintings because of her grief and pain. It's quite a haunting story, and the only problem I had with it was the ending, which I felt was a little rushed. It perhaps needed a little more time spent on the ending to make the story and it's resolution complete.

The second story was very nicely told, with a mother using art and painting as a way to occupy her children; the details were good and the idea was very good - I just felt that there was something not quite satisfying about the way the story ended. Having said that, I enjoyed reading it.

The third was very short, and probably the one that I liked the least - this is more to do with my preferred taste in reading than with the story. Romance is not a genre that I would choose and the final story undoubtedly falls into this category. It was also a little too sentimental for my taste, but it's likely that there are many others who would have enjoyed this very much.

Overall it was a quirky and interesting trio of stories, very different in subject matter but all using painting to illuminate the themes in the stories. I feel that the book would definitely benefit from rigorous proof reading and editing; the stories have the feel of works in progress. There is a lot of potential shown in the ideas central to the stories, in the way that painting and art is used to illuminate ideas and express emotion, as well as in the writing. Writing style can always be improved and if the author maintains the creativity shown in these stories, I think that any future work will be very interesting. I'll certainly be looking out for it.

I received a copy of this book as a LibraryThing Giveaway in October 2011. ( )

This is a collection of short stories, each of them to do with art and painting and how that impacts peoples lives, either by helping to clarify things in their own mind, or by giving people new perspectives on life.

The stories are beautifully written and reading them will take you through the whole gamut of emotions and make you feel what each of the protagonists is feeling.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes painting and art and also to people who like reading short stories. ( )

This collection of short stories is a quick read. The first story about a woman who has a nervous breakdown after a tragic event in her life. She paints the same image over and over again not recognizing that it is the same image when she does have a breakthrough she does break down. The second story is about a harried mother who uses different art forms to teach her children about tolerance. She also teaches herself an important lesson as well. In her third story, a young woman sees her ex boyfriend’s work in an art gallery and she realizes that each of the paintings hold an important message for her. ( )