Dori DeCamillis

I'm finally announcing my new blog, Without a Net. It will offer more in-depth information about my paintings, and will include features about people and organizations I find fascinating. The blog you're reading now will remain more of a personal scrapbook, and Without a Net will be a venue for my writing with plenty of art, humor, and connectivity with others. withoutanetblog.com

I’m currently working on two new books that are quite different from my last two, but some of my readers will recognize a thread that connects them all. My first books, “ The Freeway ” and “ My Steamboat ” are memoirs from my younger years. Basically, I had some crazy, funny stories I needed to get on paper before I forgot them, and they hopefully made for an entertaining read. My new books are both about my art. The first one is a picture book (with minimal text) about “Exhibit A,” a series of paintings I created from 2006 to 2011. The project, partially funded by an Alabama Council on the Arts fellowship, highlighted places in my adopted home state. (The A in Exhibit A is for Alabama, if you haven’t figured it out.) I traveled around the state gathering images and information that inspired 12 intricate panels that incorporate oil painting and inlaid ceramic tile. The series was labor-intensive but very satisfying, and I’m happy to finally have the images ...

I'll be giving a talk and reading about my book next Tuesday, 11:00 at Jefferson State College, AL April 16, 11AM-Noon, Room AL 111 (Allen Library)  at Carson Road Campus,  2601 Carson Rd.  More info (205) 983-5911

Old friend of mine took this picture of her reading "My Steamboat" while vacationing in the South Seas.

Above: Me in 1964 I’ll be home for Christmas. My hometown is Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and I’m driving there from Alabama. In addition to hanging out with family for the holidays, skiing, snow-shoeing, and eating too much, I have a little business to attend to. I’m having a book-signing for my new book, “My Steamboat: A Ski Town Childhood,” and I’m going to be on TV. From the emails and Facebook messages I’ve been receiving from old Steamboat friends, I think there will be more than 2 people at my book-signing, which is quite exciting when you’re not a famous author. (I call myself a micro-celebrity. Twenty-seven people know who I am.) I am pleased with the response to the book so far, which is a big relief after 8 years of writing and editing, wondering who in the world would care about my little story. In a previous blog post I expressed worry about the impending release of the book. I had that panicky last-minute regret feeling, wondering if people would hate it or dismiss...

If you haven't read any books by Bill Bryson, you should. He is funny, a fantastic writer, and always throws in a little social commentary. I'm reading Notes From a Small Island , a travel memoir about England, his adopted country. (He's originally from the U.S.) I haven't read a book by him that I didn't like, but my favorite is probably The Adventures of the Thunderbolt Kid, another memoir, about growing up in Iowa in the 1950s. He could write about masking tape and make it fascinating and hilarious.

I took a trip last week to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, my home town, to meet with photographer Buddy Bair to shoot the cover of my new book. Buddy is a friend from high school, and I discovered his gorgeous photographs on Facebook. Until I saw his work, I planned on using old photographs from the 1970s of me and my siblings. It would have taken a lot of doctoring to get those old pictures to work on a book cover, and when I saw the lush color and dramatic compositions of Buddy’s work, I knew I wanted his photos instead. We “hired” four young models to stand in for the Duckels kids. Buddy’s two daughters, my brother, Derick’s, daughter, and, from a hasty round of phone calls at the last minute to high school friends I hadn’t seen in decades, the nephew of Kim Wilhelm. Kim has been a friend since I was in diapers, and is an often-mentioned character in my book. I was so pleased we ended up using kids with whom I have a connection. Aside from getting soaking wet, freezing, dusty, ...