Tag: art as inspiration

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

If you follow my blog at all, you know that I love anything medieval. This image reminded me of my time in Europe, walking along cobbled streets in winter, the old timber framed and stone structures still surviving amidst the modern ones. Touching them always brought about a sense of amazement and wonder.  Hundreds of years later, I could still run my fingers along the grooves and marks made by chisels and axes belonging to someone now forgotten. If only the buildings had a voice, they could tell me who made them, and about all the generations of people who had used them since. Such stories they would be…

Those old buildings had character to be sure, full of oddly shaped rooms and cubbies, narrow hallways, and circular staircases. Ceilings were low, sometimes with uneven slopes. Window glass warped and discolored, thicker at the bottom as time gradually changed its shape. Floors creaked, and doors were smaller–not made for the average height of a modern day person. Sometimes those doors were tiny, or in odd places, or even went nowhere at all–at least not anymore. Surely they had a practical function of some kind in their day. But the sense of mystery was often the greatest inspiration of all. As much as I longed to know what those buildings would say if they could speak, it was the not knowing that fueled my imagination. Since I didn’t, and couldn’t know, the longing pressed me to fill in the details for myself.

The warmth of that door, and the stone around it, contrasts with the cold and gloom of a winter day. It’s clearly not the main entrance to this city–it’s one of those mysterious little back gates, or side doors. Who uses it, and for what purpose? Where does the road beyond it lead? There are no guards on watch, and the wall isn’t overly high. In the background the spires of a church rise above everything else. I can imagine that on the other side of the door I will find a cobbled walkway. It will twist through back alleys and narrow streets, wedged between corbeled buildings pressed too close together, leaning out above everything. Every little crevice and arch I pass by contains layers of history, and mystery too. I’d love to take a stroll through this picture, even if only in my mind, and weave a few tales as I go. Of days, and people long passed into history. What will you find on the other side? Or is it your destiny to emerge from the door, to leave the village behind, and follow the snowy path into winter’s gloom?

art-by-edmund-koken

Artwork by Edmund Koken

 

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

Enjoy a fantasy take on Santa for Christmas week. Does this wilderness Saint Nicholas give blessings, not to children, but to all the animals nestled in against the cold of winter? He might even bring them to all the hidden fantasy creatures we never see but know are there. Whimsical gifts to the fairy realm, or small bits of treasure to the dragons. But feel free to come up with your own story, and don’t be shy about sharing when you’re done!

wilderness-santa

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

Eerie and mysterious, yet beautiful. What power do these majestic creatures hold? Do they only emerge when the moon is full, or has something else brought them out into the open? The most important question, of course, is are they good, or is their presence a dark omen? Delve into your imagination as you take in the details of the image…where will it take you?

sacrality-by-shortcircuit123

“Sacrality” by shortcircuit123

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing.

This passage through the mountains is slow and treacherous–not a journey for the weak or faint of heart. But hidden amidst the icy peaks is a stronghold; a refuge from the frigid winds and driving snow. You had heard rumors of its existence before. Vague, conflicting rumors of unknown origin. You’re not sure how it came to be built in this remote mountain range, or who lives there. Are they welcoming to travelers? Or would you be better off facing the elements and pressing on to make your own shelter for the night? You stare up at the castle’s looming form, trying to discern if there is a friendly air about this place, or a forbodding one. In a few hours, the daylight will fade–you must make a choice. You sigh deeply as your feet move forward on their own. Even though you are still uncertain, your mind and body are already resolved…

"Hidden Castle" by Will Roberts

“Hidden Castle” by Will Roberts

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

Hope you like this week’s intriguing image.  What a place for an adventure, with those long flights of stairs going further and further down…into where, exactly? There are warriors and dragons carved into the walls–a visual tale of battles come and gone. Inspiration, perhaps. A history lesson? Instruction on how to navigate what’s to come? More likely they’re a warning as to what awaits these anxious warriors at the bottom. I hope they are well-prepared for whatever you, the writer, plan to throw at them. There’s no guarantee any of them will come back out alive. Then again, they just might escape by the skin of their teeth, with the greatest treasure imaginable.  It’s all up to you!

"The Deep Stairs Path" by Anonymous

“The Deep Stairs Path” by Anonymous

 

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving for those of us who live in the United States. It’s a time to count our blessings, giving thanks for all that we have, and also a time to be a blessing to those who don’t have as much. We gather together our family and friends, spending the day with those who are important in our lives, whether we see them every day or just once a year. We pray for peace–the kind that heals wounded hearts, and the kind that we hope we will be blessed with in the coming year.

Peace is something that we continually long for in a life full of turbulence and uncertainty. Writers can soothe that longing, at least temporarily, with the stories we create. In the midst of whatever drama drives our plot, we can still find ways to immerse our readers in beautiful places, where peace ultimately prevails. They have the power to live on in our readers’ hearts long after the book has ended, making our readers long to return, either by re-opening the pages for a second read, or simply by revisiting them in their own imaginations. I’d visit the land of Narnia anytime, because the peace of that place spoke to me, and has stayed with me since childhood.

So for this week’s inspiration, I chose a piece of artwork called “Peaceful Kingdom” where we can visit for a time. Even quiet places such as this have their stories to tell. How did this beautiful city come about? Who built it? Who lives there? And who rules over it? Is it an ordinary place, or is it kept peaceful through magical means? At the very least, I hope you enjoy the view. Take a stroll along the mossy rocks that surround that lovely waterfall. Listen to the roar and rush of the water, feel the cool breeze, and gaze up at the red-roofed buildings that seem to hug the hillside. Perhaps the two people standing there could direct you to the best places to go, unless they are also visiting for the first time. Take a stroll along the city streets. Browse its shops, or maybe relax for an hour or two at the local tavern.  What you do, and what you find, are entirely up to you…

"Peaceful Kingdom" by Andreas Rocha

“Peaceful Kingdom” by Andreas Rocha

 

 

Fantasy Art Wednesday

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Get inspired with this week’s Fantasy Art Wednesday, where fun fantasy artwork is combined with a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing!

I couldn’t resist sharing this image. Doesn’t it make you want to get lost in a great story, whether your own or someone else’s?

In my book series there are monks who have hidden themselves in secret underground libraries. They are preserving the ancient spiritual and historical texts of their world, studying them, copying them, memorizing them. They are desperately searching for answers that will help humanity fight against an enemy that seeks to destroy and enslave every living thing. Some of these monks have not emerged from hiding for many years. They are safer that way. The enemy would love nothing more than to destroy them and the knowledge they keep. For these monks, the outside world represents both danger and a distraction from their unique role in history. They have gladly given up any claim to a normal life, even a typical monastic one, in exchange for something far greater.

This image took me deep into one such hidden library, where in a dimly lit room, a monk eagerly reads sacred texts by a stump of candle. Day and night have no meaning. Neither does time. Has it been months, or years? And does it really matter, so long as the work continues? There is only here, and now; a single flame for light, and the smell of parchment and old leather bindings.

With the absence of all other distractions, nothing exists but the contents of each tome as its words come to life behind the reader’s gaze. Descriptions of verdant forests, fragrant fields, and rushing water become all the more vivid, leaping from the page with a life of their own. Here in the dark, they become more real than the living world far above. The monk can feel a fresh breeze against his skin, even though the stale air around him is motionless. The spray from a waterfall leaves beads of water on his worn woolen robe, and the candle’s flame burns his eyes like the blazing sun. He shields them protectively and continues on his journey, slipping into another place, another time, as easily as if his hand was the one that had scribed the words on the page before him. He can bear this life of isolation because the trueness of his vision has the power to sustain him. Through the tomes, he sees the world, not through the eyes of a mortal man, but through those of the Creator who brought it into being. Not as it is now, but as it was meant to be from the beginning. After such an experience, nothing else compares…and nothing else will satisfy.

What about you? What visions come to you as you gaze upon these pages, lit up by nothing but a small stump of candle? What world are you transported to, and what will you find once you get there?

"Lost in a Story" by Glenn Porter

“Lost in a Story” by Glenn Porter