Frabjous Days

By Dorian Taylor

Chloe wants to be an artist, in the early 21st century, a hobby. She runs to her grandfather, an eccentric old hippy hiding in the mountains, painting and writing poetry in his retirement. Sugarloaf and Big Bear, California become Wonderland as she goes from eccentric to eccentric, learning her art, about life and falling in love.

Chloe's best friend, Hadley falls through the Looking Glass after they both graduate art school, and, like Chloe moves through eccentric characters in the San Bernardino Mountains, and Paris to learn her art, her life, her love and begin to teach it.

The book features poetry as well as prose and attempts to make nonsense real, or at least realistic. It serves as a medium for art criticism, philosophy, and some satirical comment on the early 21st century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sangraal Inc.
• Release date: Apr 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301746521

Dorian Taylor

The box came via the Post Office on a Thursday morning. The return address carried no name just a P. O. Box in Ventura California. It contained a sealed envelope and a dozen big ringed binders filled with neat handwriting. The envelope was addressed to me and marked "Personal and Confidential." It contained the following: Dear Rick, I suppose this is a surprise to you, but, for the life (or now death) of me, I couldn't find anyone else in the world to take it. You are the only person who ever paid me to write anything, my only editor or publisher. I suppose that you can throw it out, I know how hard it is to publish things. However, I had the idea that you might one day revive The Blue Review and, since for almost four years I was a contributor, I would hate not to be a part of that. The binders contain the miscellaneous writings of Dorian Taylor, the name by which you knew me. It is quite an improbable name and actually the name of the hero of the novel Top Forty, which you will find in the third binder. I am not going to give you my real name, because I have always rather despised it and, if by some miracle my writings find their way into the public eye, I would prefer they be under the pseudonym I created for that purpose. In Yard Sale, the novella in the first binder, I wrote the following: "All human endeavor resolves itself into group activity. The artist who paints alone in a garret cannot exist alone. In order to secure what he needs to paint, canvas, brushes and the like, he has to know a merchant who sells these things. Having painted, he must then sell his painting. In order to do this, he needs to know gallery owners. So it is with all things within society. It is never enough to be good, or even great. One must be both able and willing to join a group in order to enter society. Van Gogh, arguably the greatest painter of all time, at least the most expensive, was never able to do this. It was left, therefore, to a group of people to discover his paintings, and sell them, after the impediment of his physical presence was removed from the scene. Because Vincent did not cultivate the acquaintance of gallery owners, he painted beneath the glass floor. He could clearly see other painters of lesser talent and greater social skills, exhibit and sell paintings. He saw, but did not understand. Painting is incidental to success in painting. The social skills required to convince gallery owners to display and sell paintings are the prerequisite. The curious feature of this is that the best artists are often anti-social. This leaves any thoughtful person to imagine that the best of art goes out with the rest of the trash just before the estate sale. More than likely, this is the case." Since I have always been a bit unconventional I decided to change this formula a bit and send my artistic production to the only person who ever seemed to like it. You are, of course, invested with all it's rights etc. The only favors I would ask is that you dedicate any book to Valerie, with the poem I have included as the first page in the first binder, and that you credit my writing to Dorian Taylor. From 1997 to 2001, I edited a literary ezine called The Blue Review and Dorian Taylor had been one of my most popular contributors. I hadn't heard from him (or her) since I stopped publishing the ezine and I honestly know nothing about him (or her). The box was a total surprise, and a wonderful one. Whoever Dorian Taylor is, or possibly was as the letter seemed to indicate that he (or she) is no longer with us, he (or she) was a very inventive, interesting and enjoyable writer.

Book preview

Frabjous Days

by

Dorian Taylor

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Sangraal Books

on Smashwords

Frabjous Days

Copyright © 2013 by Sangraal, Inc.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Front matter

(Excerpts from Fothergill, Raymond. Dictionary of American Painting. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2186)

Alice Painting

A technique developed by SLS(qv), which consisted of bisecting a scene painting an opposite or mirror image on half of it. The line between the two paintings was originally fat white paint and the sides were under painted in tempera. Both CRL(qv) and Hadley(qv) experimented in wet on wet using various colored washes and gessoes to achieve a similar effect.

Crandall School of Art

A traditional art school added to the Covina Colleges in 1958, Crandall became a bastion of traditionalism, granting BFAs in painting when the degree was almost phased out in the United States, and reviving an MFA in painting in 2036, the first American art school to do so. As the alma mater of Janette Coffey Sanderson (qv), CRL (qv), and HADLEY (qv), Crandall was the academic center of mid-twenty-first century revivalism (qv) and the San Bernardino School(qv) .

CRL- Chlöe Randall Michaelson nee: Liddell (2011-2098)

One of a very few classically trained painters before the middle of the twenty-first century, in 2033 she received one of sixteen BFAs in painting issued by an accredited school in the United States. With HADLEY (qv), her work is seminal in mid-twenty-first century revivalism (qv) and the San Bernardino School(qv) .

Generally approached as a satellite of her grandfather, she created collaborative painting and was the inspiration for the 'Lynd Boxes' (qv).

The first 'Alice Painting' (qv) is titled 'For Chlöe II' indicating that she inspired, if not participated in it.

Dragon, Gina- Gergana Rousel nee Draganov (2012-2102)

Brought to the San Bernardino Mountains by her restaurateur husband, after three years of study in Paris, she became known for her label on Cooper's American Absinth. She painted until her death and is considered one of the second generation of the San Bernardino school. She collaborated with Desmond Grant (qv) on several popular digital projects and at one point was a minor celebrity named 'the green fairy" in popular media.

Fey Chalet

Now a National Monument, located in San Bernardino County on county land in Sugarloaf, California, it was originally a summer cabin, which was converted into a bedroom and an art studio by SLS (qv). It was used as a residence and studio by SLS, Janette Coffey Sanderson (qv), CRL (qv), HADLEY (qv), and Desmond Grant (qv).

Grant, Desmond Waldron (1973-2038)

One of the first digital artists to embrace mid-twenty-first century revivalism (qv), Grant is considered to be the third of the three figures that founded the San Bernardino School(qv) along with Janette Coffey Sanderson (qv) and SLS (qv).

HADLEY- Jennifer Hadley Liddell nee Murtchison (2012- 2089)

One of a very few classically trained painters before the middle of the twenty-first century, in 2033 she received one of sixteen BFAs in painting issued by an accredited school in the United States. With CRL (qv), her work is seminal in mid-twenty-first century revivalism (qv) and the San Bernardino School(qv) .

HADLEY was the only art teacher at Big Bear high school from 2033 to 2055, when she became an instructor at her alma mater, the Crandall School of Art (qv). Her energy and dedication as a teacher is considered a major factor in the longevity of the San Bernardino School.

Lynd Boxes

Designed, ordered, and built by art dealer and gallery owner, Jeremy Lynd (1978-2066) and carrying two patents, a Lynd box holds three paintings of equal size in what appears to be a seamless frame and folds into a wall box, one third it's size, used often with a plaque on the front. Originally designed to hold a collaborative triptych by SLS (qv) and CRL (qv) titled Neither One Nor the Other in 2030, Lynd Boxes have become standard art equipment for both single artist and collaborative triptychs.

Mid-Twenty-first Century Revivalism

A broad-based artistic movement in painting that involved a return to classical techniques that were considered to have become a hobby or craft by 2025. Four shows in 2026 are usually targeted as beginning the movement. The Janette Coffey Sanderson Memorial Show at the Lynd Gallery in Big Bear Lake California, The École des Beaux-arts Graduation Show for Five Painters held at Hôtel de Chimay. Desmond Grant's One Man Show at the Riley Gallery in Soho, New York, and the Deadman's Gallery, a roving show that began in Newport, Wales completing twelve shows in Europe in 2026 and 2027.

The Sanderson show is most commonly used as the starting point of the movement, as the Beaux-arts shows had been held for one or more artists every year but 2021. Steven Lawrence Sanderson (see: SLS) arranged the show as a tribute to his wife and exhibited alongside her. Janette Coffey Sanderson (qv) held an MFA in painting, in fact, a degree that was no longer granted by an accredited school in the United States in 2026, she taught her husband. The success of the show, followed by the most successful Beaux-arts show of the century gave impetus to the movement.

Desmond Grant (qv) was one of the seminal and most successful digital artists of the early twenty-first century. Noticing the success of both the Sanderson and Beau-arts shows, he decided to use his one-man show in August of 2026 to exhibit what he called his 'hobby paintings'. Grant's traditional work, heavily influenced by the Brandywine School (qv) of a century earlier, as was, to a lesser degree, Janette Coffey Sanderson, was very successful both critically and financially.

The Deadman's Gallery was a popular show of paintings that featured classical techniques. It was revealed, in a showing in Berlin, Germany in November of 2027 to be a total fraud. The 'curator' Marion Leigh Ashley was actually John Burtson from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the gallery was a collection bought at garage and jumble sales in the U.S. and Britain with fabricated artist biographies and provenance. The effect was to return the importance of provenance to traditionally fashioned freehand painting from the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Curiously the paintings sold by the Deadman's Gallery, with the fabricated provenance, formed a provenance of it's own and Deadman's paintings carry a moderate value if traditionally painted.

SLS and Desmond Grant died two weeks apart in December of 2038. A joint showing of their work, along with a dozen Lynd Box (qv) collaborative triptychs by Grant, SLS, Hadley (qv), Gina Dragon (qv) and CRL (qv) cemented traditional painting technique. The hobby, craft was, after almost half a century, returned to the realm of 'fine art', provenance had to be established and painting freehand became a recognized profession again.

The San Bernardino School

An important movement considered a keystone of mid-twenty-first century revivalism, the San Bernardino School covers painters from the San Bernardino mountain area of Southern California from roughly 2026 through the end of the century.

The seminal figures were Janette Coffey Sanderson (qv) and her husband SLS (qv) (Steven Lawrence Sanderson), along with early convert Desmond Waldron Grant (qv). The Sandersons began painting the area surrounding their summer cabin, near Sugarloaf in about 2015. When Janette died in 2025, her husband arranged for a show of their work in The Jeremy Lynd Gallery (See: Lynd Boxes) at Big Bear Lake, as a tribute to her. The show, in February of 2026, was one of four shows that year establishing mid-twenty-first century revivalism (qv) in painting.

SLS would continue to paint until his death in 2038 at age 91. In his last five years, from 2033 to 2038, he created and painted what he called 'Alice Paintings,'(qv) which were to become a major influence.

The 'second' generation of the school consisted of CRL (qv) (Chlöe Randall Liddell), HADLEY (qv) (Jennifer Hadley Murtchison) and Gina Dragon(qv). The three, with SLS and Desmond Grant, created a series of two and three artists collaborating on a triptych of a single scene. These are the famous 'Lynd Boxes' (qv), designed by Jeremy Lynd. They all carried a poem written by SLS and readable on an engraved plate when the box was closed. The poems were published in 2043 as The Lynd Poems, and reprinted in The Collected Poetry of SLS in 2052.

CRL was the granddaughter of SLS, and lived in the Sugarloaf cabin while attending the Crandall School of Art (qv) in the Covina Colleges. It was at Crandall she met HADLEY who stayed at Sugarloaf from 2029 through 2033. HADLEY became a major figure in the longevity of the school as she had a twenty-two year tenure as the art teacher at Big Bear high school. Many of her students spread out through the mountains to become the school's next generations. Both Desmond Grant and Gina Dragon used painting to back digital art that revolutionized advertising art.

The Sugarloaf cabin is now a National Monument, named by SLS as the 'Fey Chalet,' (qv) and it continues to be used as an art studio by invited guests.

Both 'Lynd Collaborations' (See: Lynd Boxes) and 'Alice Paintings' are prominent features of painting today.

Jeremy Lynd is generally considered as part of the second generation of the San Bernardino School. Though he was not a painter, his invention of the Lynd Boxes (qv), place him there in most reference works. Gina Dragon (qv) is also considered a member of the second generation of the school.

Sanderson, Janette Coffey (1944-2025)

A classically trained painter, eventually earning an MFA in painting, Janette Coffey Sanderson (nee: Schwartz) is considered a seminal painter in mid-twenty-first century revivalism (qv). Her tribute showing, February 3rd through March 8th 2026, was the first of four shows to establish the movement.

The eighty-two paintings exhibited, starting from some in her student days, showed a technical expertise that was rarely exhibited in the digital age. Seventy-five of the paintings were sold, and with fifty-five of her husband's, SLS (qv), began to re-establish a market for non-digital art.

She is generally credited with teaching her husband technique, and for re-establishing non-digital freehand painting as salable.

SLS- Steven Lawrence Sanderson - (1947-2038}

The seminal figure in mid-twenty-first century revivalism (qv). Also a seminal character in twentieth, twenty-first century philosophy, his influence is unquestioned. 'Disembolism' as expressed in his 2016 ebook, Neitzsche's Arrow, is a hallmark of philosophical thought. He opposed both Heidegger and Jaspers, arguing that science in the big bang was correct. Evolution, progress was impossible in a devolving universe. He argued that you improve you. The only thing you controlled.

A polymath (some have said pseudomath) he had been at various times a salesman, jeweler, furrier, antique dealer, newspaper columnist, and car restorer. Painting was originally an avocation learned from his wife, Janette Coffey Sanderson (qv). Nonetheless, over his last decade alone he produced 412 paintings, and exhibited worldwide. He introduced both the Lynde Boxes and Alice Painting. Posthumously, however, his work in literature and philosophy, almost unseen in his lifetime, overshadowed his output as a painter.

Chlöe in Wonderland

Chapter One

He opened the drapes and looked out. The world was bright, and he perceived it was much harder edged than his old eyes were able to show him. He had seen such mornings. Mornings where the Spring was just touching reality, and the tops of the deep green needles reflected the yellow of the sun, The oak leaves beginning to be born promising warmth that was to be delivered, later.

He walked back into the kitchen, sprayed his glasses with Windex, polished them and went out to look again. He framed things, and then sadly reflected that he had exhausted the possibilities of his deck, or his window.

He looked at the calendar, the naked lady in May and figured it was the eleventh, six months from his birthday, a fact he hadn't considered in about eighty years; today he was eighty-two and a half, which was, in point of fact, two and a half years older than he ever wanted to be. Going up or going down you tended to notice the smaller landmarks. His body was outdated. He had prostate cancer, two surgeries had held it off, it was the type that grew slowly. Sixty-three years of smoking gave him shortness of breath, COPD last time he asked a doctor. He still relished the strong, small cigars the postman delivered; living about seven thousand feet above sea level he wondered that he could breathe at all. His right arm hurt as he worked. Arthritis ate at him. A bottle of liniment and ace bandages let him move, and the summer would help.

He blended the beans, a heavy dark roast with a dash of Kona, ground them and set the drip. He put a kettle on to boil and went out to the garage to start the car. He used the car sparingly, and during the winter took the bus, so he formed the habit of starting it daily to keep the battery charged. He had two rituals that marked his days. The first was open the drapes, make breakfast, start the car, eat breakfast, defrost dinner, bathe and dress. The second was bring in wood, make dinner, eat dinner. Since Janey died, and he had moved here from Phoenix permanently, it was the rituals that grounded him, gave him existence.

The cabin, or more grandly termed 'chalet' was small, only six hundred square feet, it sat in Sugarloaf near Big Bear Lake, and it used to be rented as a ski chalet before he decided to be a hermit, of sorts. Seventeen years before he traded a second house in Arizona for it. He used it as a summer home so that Janey and he could escape the triple digit temperatures of summer in the Sonoran desert. Five years ago Janey died, and he couldn't face his own home, so he sold his stake in Arizona and moved.

He wrote and painted, and little else besides minor acts of maintenance or cleanliness. Sometimes, writing, the irony struck him. He finally achieved what he had secretly wanted to be since he was a grade school child, a painter and a poet. The irony was that it had taken