Writing Inspired by Art Archives - Writing Like a Dancer

WRITERS AND LOOKING AT ART

Posted on October 15, 2015 by writ7707 Posted in Art and Writing, The Writing Life, The Writing Muse, Writing Inspiration, Writing Inspired by Art, Writing Muse, Writing What You See Leave a comment

Writing Practice and Meeting Up with your MUSE

Writing Leap #58

Hi Writers,

Isn’t it extraordinary how so much in our world can nurture our creative souls? A hill of sun bright orange pumpkins piled up next to haystacks on a farm. A small sculpture of a whimsical horse by Picasso. A warm table setting with crystal sparkling in candlelight next to soft blue napkins.

As writers we can be open to any experience that expands our creative sensibilities and helps us write with a ripe imagination.

For those who are inclined, viewing a work of art is one way to continue developing our instincts as an observer, to own our experience and reinforce our repertoire of emotions. Simply for the feeling of being moved.

Philippe Delaunay, a French art collector and connoisseur, cajoles us to do just that. Enter the world of the artist, he says, and just feel. Without any preconceived notions about style, technique or an artist’s repertoire. He writes:

Is it useless to try and explain a work of art?

Or is a work of art sufficient unto itself? More than ever we are subjected to a flood of literature by art critics and art historians attempting to show us the where and the whys, seeking to interpret what an artist has felt or to reveal what the work “means.”

This makes no sense…..

Let’s let a current work of art live for itself, without filling up the air with artistic explanations that are so often superficial. A work of art must be allowed to breathe freely and defend its own existence just by being. True artists are visionaries. They unconsciously approach that which is invisible and try to make it visible. It is difficult, if not impossible, for anyone other than the artist to affix his own words or sentences to someone else’s vision, without often becoming guilty of misguided or biased interpretations.

Through his own writings the artist himself may explain his creative vision and offer his thoughts in words. Here words and images do become a cohesive whole.

What is important for the observer of a work of art is to approach the work with his whole self without asking questions, without having read or listened to commentaries—and simply let himself be pulled into the world of the artist, bringing about moments of communion, moments of silence.

A work of art speaks for itself and if words are necessary to explain it then it is no longer a work of art.

Translated by Cynthia Magriel Wetzler

***

So writers. Don’t look at the plaques next to the painting for titles and dates. Jump in and find your own experience. Maybe the feeling will inspire a story totally unconnected to the facts of the painting itself.

What do you think? Agree wholeheartedly? Disagree violently? Let me know!

LINKING THE ARTS

Jackson Pollack

I looked at this painting for a long time. Got inside of it. It frightened me. Then I wrote a story about a lost child.

Good word: Uncluttered. As in a pure state of mind open to authentic experience.

No books on artists or art criticism. So you can have your own time with the work of art. Not someone else’s.

FICTION BASED ON FACT

Posted on November 4, 2012 by writ7707 Posted in Art and Writing, Fiction Based on Fact, Literary Genres, Personal Writing, Writing Inspired by Art, Writing Muse 1 Comment

Playing Around With a Story Line in Different Literary Genres

Hi there Writers and Readers,

Writing Leap #13 Fiction Based on Fact

There are many variations of fiction based on fact. Creative Non-Fiction, Narrative Non-Fiction (sometimes called Docufiction), Memoir, The Personal Essay. The writing is factual but reads like a story.

Aaaah, but HOW factual? This literary prose style can slip from super faithful to documented facts all the way to painting the facts with different colors and hues to serve your story–and on to outright reinvention of the facts to the point where they are unrecognizable! Lots of intriguing choices for the fiction writer. We can play with the facts. Yaaaay.

Attention journalists reporting a story. Clearly this does not apply to us!

Story Line

When We Discover Something That Sparkles

So gather your facts and go make up a story around them. Play very loose with the story line. Just let it flutter your imagination.

Here’s mine.

Thirteen Centuries Ago in Reims, France

Dom Perignon, my good monk, you must calm yourself. His Highness the King already loves your holy wine. Is not the King riding all the way here to our magnificent cathedral to taste of it during an official royal mass? The King would not be making the long bumpy journey from Paris to Reims for just an ordinary glass of red, my brother.

Dom Perignon covered his ears and pressed hard, as if to squeeze away this voice inside him. If his superiors could hear this constant inner chatter Dom Perignon would be severely chastised. He was a Benedictine and he must remain tranquil. At all costs. And he must pursue his wine experiments for God and by extension his King. Not, God please forgive him, for his own aggrandizement.

The monk nodded to himself and descended a steep narrow staircase. The wine cellar with its big vats and barrels, its acrid smell, and its lone small window was Dom Perignon’s personal chapel, although dear God, he would never utter this thought out loud. Though partially blind It was here in the dim light where he could imagine and pursue his ideas for turning the pale red wine of the Champagne region into the prized deep red color of Burgundy. Surely then the Abbey at Hautvilliers would be especially honored by the King.

Truth be told Dom Perignon was thoroughly exasperated with his efforts to perfect the wine. The wine continued to ferment in the bottle to the point where horrid bubbles appeared. As he descended down into the cellar he half expected to find that the bottles had exploded and made a mess all over the floor.

Must the wine be red? Maybe the skins are the problem. Get rid of them! Would it be allowed to mix our grapes with others from the region?

Dom Perignon didn’t wait for permission. He worked with two eager young monks on a creative recipe for a new holy wine.

Time passed and the new wine fermented happily in its bottles. This time Dom Perignon couldn’t muffle his excitement. His motives were pure and he just might have discovered a drink fit for angels, or at least for the King.

And he did. He popped open the first bottle and heard the fizzle. He poured some into a glass. Oh, how it bubbled. Oops too fast. It was foaming. How lovely and pale it looked.

Dom Perignon took a sip. Aaaah. Extraordinary bubbles. Exquisite light taste.

“Come quickly my young brothers. I’m tasting stars.”

And this, some say, is how Dom Perignon invented the exquisite drink we toast with called CHAMPAGNE.

***

Here’s a champagne toast to all you wonderful writers out there,

LINKING THE ARTS

Dom Perignon Tasting his Stars

A Lovely Word

Effervescent: In the sense of lively and extremely happy

A Book I Love

One of my very favorite writers, Colette, played beautifully with the facts in her stories about her adored mother, Sido, a late nineteenth-century woman in rural France.

My Mother’s House and Sido by Colette.

EKPHRASIS AGAIN

Posted on September 13, 2012 by writ7707 Posted in Art and Writing, Ekphrasis (Writing and Art), Literary Genres, Personal Writing, Uncategorized, Writing, Writing Inspiration, Writing Inspired by Art, Writing Muse Leave a comment

(To my email subscribers. Click on the title EKPHRASIS AGAIN in the above box for full post, links—and color.)

Hi Writers,

Writing Leap #10. Ekphrasis Again

I wanted another go at Ekphrasis (writing inspired by works of art) with the same painting, Child Wearing A Red Scarf by Edouard Vuillard. The first try (August 27, 2012 post) left me flattened emotionally. Although–I’m very glad I had that particular writing experience. The process felt crystal clear if that makes sense.

Has your own writing ever stirred up disturbing emotions in yourself? Or joyful ones?

This time I tapped into my cherished Pollyanna streak and came up with a very different story. This one made me feel good about life and tender towards fathers and daughters.

So how about challenging your imagination with ekphrasis and writing different stories about this one painting? Great writing practice.

Maybe non-fiction? You saw a painting of a child in a museum and it touched you. Or maybe a short account of the artist.

Just remember, ekphrasis is not art criticism. It’s painting as writing muse.

I’d love to know if you try it and if it were fun or not. You can leave a comment about what happened.

Edouard Vuillard, Child Wearing a Red Scarf

Here’s mine.

October 20, 1774

Lucy Abigail Barnes pulled her new red shawl more tightly around her shoulders. The wind was blowing and she was trying to get warm.

“How come it’s always freezing on my birthday, Daddy?”

Lucy and her father walked with quick steps along the Boston wharf towards town, heading for the shoemaker. Boats of all sizes creaked and swayed in the strong breezes.

“Just to put a few birthday roses in your cheeks, Lucy-girl.”

She started to skip over the cobblestones. Oh, wouldn’t she skip high when she put on her new red shoes! Her second birthday present. She had watched her red shawl grow bigger and bigger on her mother’s knitting needles and now she was going to have shoes to match. Lucy’s mother and father thought that turning ten deserved two presents. She wasn’t a single number any more.

“Look Daddy. That little girl is standing on that fishing boat without a coat—and no shoes.”

The little girl waved and came to say hello. Lucy’s eyes widened. “But you have newspaper tied around your feet.”

The little girl blushed. “I wore out my shoes. My mother says we can’t buy another pair ‘til Daddy says the fish are biting.”

“Oh,” Lucy said. “I hope it happens soon. What’s your name?”

“Ezra. My father wanted a boy.”

Lucy and her father said good-bye and walked on. She couldn’t stop frowning. They crossed the narrow street with lots of shops. Before they got to the shoemaker’s to pick up her red shoes Lucy stopped.

“Ezra should have shoes too, Daddy.” She jingled a little drawstring purse she was carrying on her wrist.

“Do you think I have enough coins from Grandma to buy her a pair?”

Her father looked down at her. “Lucy, I am truly sure you will have enough money.”

Anybody passing by would have thought; now there’s a father who has love and pride in his eyes for his daughter.

Happy Writing Everybody,

LINKING THE ARTS

A Nice Word

Tender-hearted: in the sense of compassion and kindness. Lucy’s tender heart acted spontaneously.

Books I Like

Many children’s stories from centuries past contain explicit moral lessons. A wonderfully entertaining collection for me is still Aesop’s Fables from the Ancient Greeks. Who can resist the tender, “The Dove and the Ant.”

And if you love being transported back to Boston during the Revolutionary War as I do (I’m a Massachusetts-ite: born and bred) Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes will take you there. Did you read it in the seventh grade too? I loved it even more this year. I guess that’s why I put Lucy and her father back in old Boston.

Music

Mussorgsky composed his classic piano suite, “Pictures at an Exhibition” in 1875 in response to an art exhibit of a friend who had just died. In the spirit of ekphrasis: the paintings themselves, the experience of walking through the exhibit and the composer’s deep sorrow became his muse.

EKPHRASIS, WHAT’S THAT?

Posted on August 27, 2012 by writ7707 Posted in Art and Writing, Ekphrasis (Writing and Art), Uncategorized, Writing, Writing Inspiration, Writing Inspired by Art, Writing Muse 2 Comments

(to my email subscribers. Click on the title EKPHRASIS, WHAT’S THAT? in the above box for full post, links–and color.)

Playing Around With a Story Line in Different Literary Genres

Hi Writers,

Writing Leap #9 Ekphrasis, What’s That?

Painting as writing muse.

A touchstone for the imagination. Ekphrasis!

It’s a funny word from the ancient Greeks that means writing inspired by works of art. It’s like a riff in jazz, an improvisation, a spin-off story.

This is not art criticism. No analysis of artistic technique.

It’s pure freedom to take a detail or the overall image in the painting, any painting, and see where it takes you as narrative. It may come out a poem. Wheeeee!

Edouard Vuillard
Child With a Red Scarf

Edouard Vuillard

Child Wearing a Red Scarf

Drink in this painting. I bet you have a story already.

Here’s mine.

***

The nice man took little Stardust’s hand and led her quietly out of the jewelry department where her mother was peering into the case with the diamond earrings.

“Where are we going?” she said as he picked her up and pushed them through the revolving doors.

“To buy you a lollypop. Would you like that?” He set her down on the sidewalk and took her hand again. She pulled a corner of her red scarf up to her mouth.

“An orange one?”

“Of course. The biggest orange lollypop you ever saw.”

Stardust felt herself being pulled and yanked along the sidewalk.

“C’mon sweetheart. Let’s beat the red lights at the street corners.

“I don’t know you.”

He smiled at her. He leaned down and put his fingers through her curls. Mmmmmm. He kept pulling her along.

“My name is magic,” she said. Stardust is a magic name.”

“Sure.” Her pulled her to a car, pushed her into the front seat and sat next to her in the driver’s seat. He brushed her red scarf away from her arm and started kissing it, getting closer and closer to her face.

“I’m nice, right?” he whispered in her ear.

“Ker-choo!” He pulled out a tissue and blew his nose.

“What the heck?” The nice man stared at the empty seat next to him.

He squealed. Where did she go so fast? He snapped his body around this way and that, felt along the floor, jumped out, looked in the back, looked in the trunk and back under the seat. He felt his eyes go wild.

Stardust’s mommy was just beginning to worry. Please Stardust, you know what to do.

“Mommy, mommy I did it. I touched my red scarf and wished and wished. Just like you said.

Her mother hugged her. “There’s my good little witch-in-training.”

***

I never expected to feel slightly sick after writing a piece but I did with this one. To venture down into the dark can be disturbing.

The upsetting feelings are lingering.

LINKING THE ARTS

Book

The portrait in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is

an example of ekphrasis. He creates changes in the portrait

as the story moves along.

Quote