Is Melbourne too cold for you right now? Are you sick of shivering at your desk in Kensington, or feeling uninspired in Flemington?
Sometimes a writer needs new surroundings to feel inspired. This week, the Melbourne Flâneur takes you on a vicarious visit to the Bendigo Art Gallery, narrating some notes he scribbled down there.
If writing is your hobby, you may often feel uninspired by the everyday. A useful habit is to take your notebook to an art gallery and describe what you see and the thoughts that works of art inspire in you.
What you are practising here is the discipline of writing. The trick is to be less concerned with writing sparkling prose than with describing as precisely as possible not merely what the artwork looks like, but the thoughts, feelings and associations it inspires in you.
When it comes to publishing a book for the first time, it’s developing and maintaining this discipline of writing over the long haul that matters—even when you feel uninspired. A skilful and sensitive editor can always help you to shape the prose, but there must first of all be words on the page to work with.
Like the indefinable frisson you feel before a work of art which inspires you, the experience of working in real life with another writer to shape your words into their perfect form inspires you with the confidence that your book will look its best.
Through his Artisanal Desktop Publishing service, Dean Kyte offers you an authentic artisanal experience, the feeling of confidence that comes from collaborating with a craftsman who cares as much about the perfect presentation of your words as you do.
To experience the real deal and discover how Dean can help you to publish your own book, get in touch with him via the Contact form.
Category: Reflections on Art
What is Melbourne style?
‘Melbourne style’ is the dogleg laneway off the main thoroughfare of high-street fashion. It doesn’t think outside the box: it takes the boxes out of the National Gallery of Victoria just up St Kilda road, glues them to a mechanic’s wall, and reimagines them as many pixels adding up to a graffito’d digital daguerreotype.
You don’t have to wander far off the beaten track of the tramline to find Melbourne style. If you’re heading to South Melbourne Beach, you can roll off the No. 1, turn down a cobbled laneway off Sturt street, and à deux pas, find yourself in this plein air gallery of salon-hung street art.
I stumbled on this cobbled coin one dreary winter afternoon. It had just rained and the sky was the same colour as the asphalt. A stiff wind blew me capriciously along a route I hadn’t taken before in my flâneries.
I had four shots left on the roll and didn’t expect to have my æsthetic antennæ tweaked anymore that day when I twigged to this vintage gent redux.
I love it when you turn a corner and Melbourne surprises you with an unexpected spectacle which colourfully interrupts the grey livery.
Melbourne style takes couture out of Chapel street and plunks it in the laneway.
You may be a designer in fashionable Port Phillip looking to publish an elegant portfolio showcasing your couture. If you’re in fashion, you already know that ‘the Book’ is key to getting through the door.
You require a presentation on paper as bespoke as your own image. And if you’re used to getting your hands dirty, you know why the artisanal approach matters. There’s an indefinable yet palpable quality you can’t get but by the skilful application of hand and eye working in unison.
With my Artisanal Desktop Publishing service, I can work with you mano a mano to design and craft a portfolio bespoke to your needs.
If you crave the rare and exotic, treat yourself to the novel experience of working side-by-side with an artisan who brings to the craft of book design the bespoke æsthetic of a tailor. Contact me today to arrange a discreet and private measure.
How to paint a picture with words
Persuading a client or investor to share your vision is like seducing a woman: you have to paint a clear picture by using vivid and evocative language which appeals to the emotions of your reader.
In this video, Dean Kyte demonstrates how to paint a vivid picture with words as he reads an extract from his latest work in progress. Still in Brisbane, the Melbourne Flâneur paints an impressionistic snapshot of his thoughts and feelings before Rupert Bunny’s Bathers (1906) in the Queensland Art Gallery, making the painting come vividly to life.
As Dean demonstrates, by tailoring the language of your message precisely to your intended reader, you can make even a restricted format like a text message as vivid and evocative as haïku, striking your reader with an emotional impact which allows her to enter into your experience and share your vision in a way which provokes her to enthusiastically respond.
To find out how Dean can help you distil your message to the same point of vivid clarity with his Bespoke Document Tailoring service, fill out the Contact form to arrange a discreet and private measure with him.
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