What have you done that has been inspired by Art?

          I have decided to take a little brake from answering questions to ask you one. What have you done that has been inspired by Art?


           When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher gave us a piece of paper and told us to make a squiggle on it. Then she told us to turn that squiggle into a picture of something. I made an "S" type squiggle then turned it into a swan with wings and a beak. Since this did not take me very long to do and the other children were still working I continued my picture, adding water and seven Cygnets, one of which didn't want to get in to the water. When the time was up my teacher had us go to the front and show our work. Everyone had one squiggle that had transformed into one thing. When it was my turn I showed my picture and told my story about the poor swan that was afraid of the water. My teacher was so impressed that she hung up my picture on the blackboard.

          I am now 34 years old and I do not draw any better, but the other day when my youngest son was coloring at the table, I sat down, borrowed a piece of scrap paper and drew a squiggle on it. I asked him what he thought it was and he said that it looked like a crown so I turned the crown into a queen. We continued on until we had a queen, a castle, a wizard, a dragon, a knight, a minstrel and a carriage. He asked me to write a story and this is what I came up with.

The Great Queen:

              There once was a great queen, who thought she was the most powerful creature in her kingdom. One day a wizard from a neighboring land came to visit. She summoned him to her throne room.

            “Great Wizard, seer of all things, am I the most powerful creature in my kingdom?” she asked.

The wizard looked into his crystal ball and said, “My dear queen, you do have many great things. The strongest army, the fastest coach, and a mighty castle.”

            “Then I am the most powerful,” she interrupted excitedly.

He shook his head and replied, “No there is another creature greater than you. A dragon lives in your mountains and he is older, wiser and more powerful than you.”

The queen decided that this would not do. She sent all her knights to defeat the dragon, but none returned. She sold her fastest carriage to put up a reward, but no one could best the dragon. Years went by and soon the castle and the queen were in ruins. One day a minstrel came to visit her.

            “I can slay the dragon!” he told the sorrowful queen.

            “I have nothing to offer you in return,” she said.

            “I only ask for your hand in marriage,” he said smiling.

The queen agreed and the minstrel departed. He returned a week later with the head of the dragon. The queen, being a woman of honor, agreed to marry him. They traveled together all over the world singing the tale of a foolish queen who lost it all trying to have everything.

  The forum members at  http://www.devinwrites.com/ write flash fiction contests every month inspired by a photo prompt. The same is true of my poem Forever Mourning. My friend was going to throw out a chalk picture he had done for class: an orange sunset over a bridge. I asked if I could have it and after looking at it for a moment Forever Mourning came out.

Forever Mourning

Time passes so quickly

Like the water that flows under a forgotten bridge

The sun sets on our lives casting shadows across our loved ones

Leaving only the memories of their existence

And the colors behind

The cool water that rushes down river

Whispers a song of sorrow to the weeping wind

It tells of hate and anger

That has long since been abandoned

Opening up to love and friendship that can never end

Since the forever mourning current carries us away

We can only hope to reach the ocean together one day

So until we can walk along the beach

With the sand between our toes

And the foam tickling our ankles

I bid you farewell

As the sun sets beyond the horizon

Leaving only our memories

And their colors behind.

So, in other words, art inspires writing and writing inspires art.  Just look at the success of comic books. Think about that next time you create something, even if you don't think it turned out. One day it might inspire someone else.

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