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Are you a writer? Are you an artist? Can you be both?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course you can!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dating back to prehistoric times, visual art led the way to telling stories. Cave or rock paintings were etched or drawn on walls and ceilings using pictographs. So, the real storytellers were the ones who could draw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was growing up, our family played the classic board game, Pictionary during every long weekend gathering. It was one of our favourite games to play on family night. Basic rules: You pull a card from the pile, read the one-word on it (without telling anyone what it is) and then draw a picture of the word, so the other team can guess what you are drawing within one minute. Let\u2019s just say, there were many hours of laughing our ass off at the people who could only draw stick figures. We had a hard time distinguishing a hat from a rocket ship, or a turtle from a car. These people were not storytellers or artists\u2026 they were considered the comic relief for the room, and I\u2019m sure they had many other talents that just weren\u2019t applicable to this particular game. Not to toot my own horn, but damn, I was the Queen of Pictionary and that is probably why I remember these flashbacks so easily compared to a few other family members who have erased these memories from our entire childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
For someone who writes, it is important to visualize the scene as you are writing the words down on paper. You can add in so much detail to a paragraph about a person gliding across the lake in their canoe with all their art supplies that it pulls at the reader\u2019s heart strings and digs deep into their emotional core. You can almost feel the wind pushing the hair across their face, or the sun baking the dark freckles into a whole puddle of brown tanned shoulders. You can build the suspense up gradually, making the reader want to be there too, relaxing and enjoying life, without a care in the world. In comparison, if you were watching the movie of this same scene, instead of reading the book, your eyes might be focused on the shoreline with the guy holding a gun, aimed at the person in the canoe. You wouldn\u2019t feel the relaxation part of the story, nor notice the wind-blown hair and tanned shoulders, your heart and mind would go directly to the threat standing on the bank with the crosshairs placed directly in the middle of the guy\u2019s forehead. You would feel the angst and the suspense of what was about to happen, but you would miss so many other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my opinion, the greater story is all about the words, and the order they come in and the way the writer decides to paint the visual image for the reader. This is what creates a better story. Okay, I\u2019m just going to say it\u2026 I\u2019m one of those people who think (and know) the book is ALWAYS better than the movie. Yes, there are people out there that say the movie is better because it takes less time to understand the story\u2026 but do you really know the whole story or just what was on the surface that the naked eye had time to see? Movies are quick and rapid images, easily forgotten. Books are slower and can be absorbed to a fuller extent leaving a lasting image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to a piece of visual art, such as painting, drawing, sketching, or sculptures, I feel these works of art evoke emotions and thoughts that sometimes go even deeper than a short story or a novel. There is so much going on in one piece of art that your mind automatically starts to produce all kinds of different scenarios that will create several distinctive story ideas to go along with the artwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when a creative person decides to cross back and forth from their role as an artist to writer and then back again, the art and literature overlap one another in many ways. I think it serves as a springboard for each discipline. It allows you to delve deeper into the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up to this point in my life, when I write, I only write. When I paint, I only paint. Simple stuff. Separate tasks. I visualize images continuously with both, but never have I tried to mingle the two together. Recently, I have been challenged to combine both the writing and the painting together for one project. I thought it would be tough, and it is, but it is proving to be helpful that I can jump between the two creative worlds of writing and painting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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My challenge: Since I was lucky enough to snag the last available entry to the Algonquin Outfitters\u2019 popular Paddle Art Contest<\/a>, I have about six weeks to come up with something creative with a paintbrush and a canoe paddle. Not only, do I have to come up with a finished product of art, but I also have to decide on the title of my work AND I have to produce a story behind the creative work of my piece. I\u2019m not a professional artist, nor a professional writer, so this will push me into what I call \u201cTHE SCARY ZONE\u201d of stepping outside my usual comfort zone. Not only that, but I\u2019ll have to show people my work. Ack! That makes me queasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once I\u2019m done with my story and my piece of art, I will drop it off at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery<\/a> in Owen Sound to be shipped to the Town of Huntsville. There will be an on-line auction from September 15th<\/sup>to 29th<\/sup>, 2019, to raise money for three organizations: Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound, Oxtongue Lake for Arts and Culture (OLAC)<\/a>, and the Town of Huntsville\u2019s reserve for future public art acquisitions. There will also be a live event held at the Algonquin Theatre <\/a>in Huntsville on September 27th<\/sup>. More details are available at algonquinoutfitters.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n