Inspiration and Pale Pink Roses

My mind has been criss-crossing between what was, what is and what will be.

The story Annemiek has so wonderfully responded to is now so far in my subconscious past that I have almost forgotten it. So I turn to Annemiek’s images to be re-reminded of my own words.

In Annemiek’s picture I see pink, not red, and maybe there’s a connection here between the story I am ‘growing’ into a novella which started with an image from one of her bowls.

The image I had in my head was one of a pale pink rose. And here, I’ve paused in writing this blog to go check the bowl because suddenly I'm not sure if I had re-imagined it.

The bowl has a title: Art Story Bowl Romantic Mouse with a Red Rose.

And I discover that, actually, the colour is red, not pink. And this, I think, is the crux of the matter.

The transference of images, the passing of thoughts, and most of all, the taking up of inspiration.

This is the joy which comes with artists trusting each other and opening their creations out and up for further interpretation.

And so, what remains are images of curtains and tulips. What remains are possibilities. Of love. Of spring. Of hope.

This is something that I try and capture in my story. Here is the opening few lines:

On Thursday 11^th March 1976, a bouquet of roses in soft pinks arrived at a hotel on the Dublin-Galway road. And with it, on a high-quality cream envelope, Mabel was written neatly in black, underlined three times.

I'll return to this story now, knowing that the original inspiration came from a red rose, not a pale pink tulip, and that the-image-to-the-word ensures that the words become just what they need to be and nothing more.

Billowing curtains

Reading Shauna's story "Possessions" was inspiring and difficult at the same time, 

as you can read in my previous post.

It took a while before the ideas started too take shape. 

But in the end they came, the billowing curtain and the glimpse of hope freedom, 

were the elements finally captured in porcelain.

A dove of freedom escaping from the curtained room.

But I had to add some light too, behind the curtain, 

hard to capture in a picture, in real it's more subtle.

Red felt right, not sure why tough

Loaded gun

30 Oct 2011: Here we are a year later or so and I facing another challenge. I do like the interaction and am amazed by the effect my bowls and Shauna's stories have on both our creative lifes. I've been reading and rereading Shauna's story "possessions" of which you could catch glimpses in earlier posts.

I will honestly say I read fantasy and history novels most of the time and Shauna's writing is different, realistic, not avoiding the hard facts of this world. There in lies the challenge to connect that world with my porcelain world, which is fragile, cute and happy.

In the first line of "Possessions" Shauna mentioned a loaded gun and I feel the pressure of this gun by now, for months I've let the story brood, but nothing will come to mind..... So I picked the story up again today and reread it again.

And I can find some happiness in there too. Is it too easy to take this glimmer of happiness, of a world the main character tries to escape too in his mind, and turn this into a bowl?

There is hope in there too, how to express hope in a story bowl.There's some vivid description in the story too, about radiating sunlight light, blinds and 50 denier flesh coloured tights.

There's so much in there, why is there no bowl coming from my hands, my mind, the porcelain, well wherever it has to come from....

4 Jan 2012: over 2 months later, about time I should at least publish this post. And no there's still no bowl, it as so easy to let it be with my daytime job as busy as it is since November, hunting for new a new house and the busy Christmas period for the creative side of my business. The days slip by, the nights too. But now I'm awake, too much on my mind, knowing I will still be stuck for time to concentrate on this wonderful project and I feel bad about it. Can I set a date in my diary somewhere in the next 2 weeks and force myself to create the long awaited bowl that day. Don' think it will work that way, but I can take that time to concentrate on this project and hope the inspiration will follow soon.