reading, writing, fairy tales, erotica, photography, art, music
I'd like to meet:
"Finally, I'm finished." A deep feminine voice said. Opening my eyes, I saw my creator for the first time. Her short brown hair was pulled into a loose pony tail and she wore old, comfortable-looking overalls that were paint splattered in a rainbow of hues and colors. She stood in front of the canvas with her arms crossed over her chest examining me; trying to detect any flaw that didn't meet her standards of perfection.The purple in the background is perfect. The black/brown in her hair matches the other paintings. Bone structure resembles mine. These thoughts belonged to my creator. There were other things in there too, like lyrics to songs from her childhood, Spanish phrases, a grocery list, and memories of her father. They slowly swam along my mind and became one with the rest of me. I could feel as her memories connected with everything in my being.I gazed at her face and her body. I began mimicking her movements. They were small gestures. A hand on her hip, tapping her index finger against her lips or the way she arched her eyebrow. I let out a light giggle as I tilted my head to the side the way she tilted hers.She was the first person to see me. I knew the depths of her soul just as she knew mine. Her chestnut eyes twinkled when she smiled at me. She was my creator. Looking around I found that my vision was limited to the four walls of her studio. At the other end was a tiny, square window that was close to the ceiling. There was a neatly stacked pile of blank canvases on a corner of the room. There were three easels, all of them covered in paint. A rust colored couch was beside me with a coffee table in front of it. The top of the table was covered in magazines. Underneath the tiny window were several shelves with dirty jars full of brushes and tubes of paint. It made me happy to see the paint. There was always potential hidden inside the tubes of color.The sound of footsteps came from up above. It startled me. I took a few steps further inside my canvas and waited for the noise to stop. Carefully I peeked at the person who was making the loud noises.I saw that it was a man who walked into the room. He wrapped his arms around my creator. She turned to him and brushed a kiss across his lips and then turned back to me to continue her appraisal. I came to the conclusion that they couldn’t see me moving inside the canvas. I allowed myself to relax a little."Wow," the man said when he saw me. He stood in front of me, hand on chin. "I can see why you spend more time down here than you do upstairs, Rachel." He took a step towards me and reached out to try and touch my face. I drew my face back slowly. I feared that he would smear my paint, therefore ruining my face. Luckily, Rachel slapped his wrist."You silly ass," she said to him, "Don't touch, the paint is still wet.""Oh...yeah. Sorry," he said as he took a step away from me. I felt myself sigh with relief as I watched him leave. I didn’t like him."You need a name, my sweet," Rachel said as she sat on the blue gray floor in front of me, her brow furrowing. I was quite entertained because she had a bit of black paint on the left side of her forehead and some light blue on the other side and as she frowned these two colors met each other in the middle of her face ever so slightly."La Nena. La Nena preciosa,"she said. The Girl. The Precious Girl. That’s what she was saying in Spanish."Nina. You are my girl, aren't you? At least you would be if you were real," she let out a heavy sigh, her voice sad as she spoke. "Since I can't have children the only thing I can do is paint what I imagine they would look like if I had them," Rachel walked away, leaving me to my thoughts.I spent the next few minutes looking around the studio. There were dozens of paintings and all of them were different versions of me. From left to right there were portraits of me as a newborn child, a toddler, me at six, and so on. I realized that I was the latest in the series. I looked at the other versions and came to the conclusion that I'm pretty or at least as pretty as I can be in a two dimensional sort of way. I have brown hair just like Rachel's, but my eyes are not like her brown ones. No, my eyes are almond shaped, larger than Rachel's and dark green. My lips are full, but not overly large. In every painting there is a different color chosen for background. In one, there was a light pink, in another deep purple, looking about myself in my current version, I was standing in a royal purple room wearing a simple outfit of white blouse with black pants.I took a bit of pigment from my hair and drew myself a bed and an armoire and from the purple on the wall and white from my shirt I created a lilac color. This is the color I chose for my sheets. I sat down on my bed and thought for a moment and tried to think of what else was missing. What else did I need? I drew a chair and a window. Now all I needed was a good view. But what kind of view does one choose when all you have ever seen is the inside of an artist's studio?© Liz DeJesus
Music:
Childless and anxious to be a mother, a lonely artist paints a girl that lives only in her imagination. In Nina, novelist Liz DeJesus delivers an inventive story narrated by a portrait a story that delves into the darkness of longing and the power we have to make our dreams come true.
Elaura Niles ~ Author of Some Writers Deserve to Starve: 31 Brutal Truths about the Publishing Industry
Movies:
Liz DeJesus made her sparkling debut with Note to Self and followed up with a book of poetry - Poems to Use When Hiding from the Shadows. In NINA, a story told by an artist's creation inside a portrait, DeJesus shows yet again why she's one of the most imaginative and creative writers of today. I absolutely love the way DeJesus paints visuals with words - a sign of a true writer. NINA is a true literary gem.
Shelley Halima ~ Author of Azucar Moreno and Los Morenos
Television:
Nina is an enchanting novel, poles apart, superb and striking. The voice of mystery is up and running from the beginning. The story never let's go as it paint's a picture of love and anonymity. A fantasy like no other. What better to ask from an author of the genre?Eric Enck ~ Author of The Reckoning
Books:
A story about love, women and a desire to see the world…A book about a painting made flesh."Am I more than just a painting on a wall? Or would I be able to exist if I decided to step out of this 24 x 36 canvas?" These questions foreshadow Nina's adventures into the real world. After Rachel, her painter and creator, dies, Rachel's best friend takes the painting home, and then Nina's journey starts. Her story weaves beautifully with Rachel's memories, bringing her back to life in the reader's eyes. We come also across the sad figure of Rachel's father, his story intertwined with Nina's, too, and the second chance her mother gets thanks to her daughter's paintings. There isn't just one Nina, as we find out in time.Rachel had been a dreamer. Nina, her masterpiece, has inherited that quality and dreams of going to Paris though she has "no money. No social security number (…) No passport. No clothes." Though she is warned about the evils and ugliness of this world Nina keeps an optimistic, trusting view of it which occasionally gets her in trouble.She discovers Paris and The Louvre and uncovers for Andrea, a wealthy, take-charge type of woman, a hidden part of herself. In a scene both hysterically funny and deeply sad, some Louvre paintings speak to Nina, including a self portrait of Van GoghBut Nina is running out of time. She can't be in this world forever and a decision has to be made…With an uplifting ending, readers are left to expect a sequel to this touching story.Teresa de la Caridad Doval ~ Author of A Girl Like Che Guevara
Heroes:
Ms. DeJesus has an amazing way with words. To be honest I did not think I would like this book, because the main character is a painting, but Liz surprised me. This book is so full of wonderfully described scenery. How she makes me see the world just a little different is amazing. I feel as though I live with the characters, that I know them. I went through all the emotions the characters did, when they did, I wanted to hold their hand. Fantasy readers be prepared to be astounded by this fantastic book.http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/Nina.htmlJ
enifer
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
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