Writers who are also visual artists

I don't get photography. The past makes me sad. Photographs are always in past tense. Therefore, photographs make me sad. Creepy pictures of the olden days just make me think of how dead the people are.

Polenth said:

I liked your photos, from the link in your signature. I don't have much dynamic to say, but it might encourage others to look.

Click to expand...

Aw shucks.

alittlenerdy said:

Photographs are always in past tense. Therefore, photographs make me sad. Creepy pictures of the olden days just make me think of how dead the people are.

Click to expand...

Funny. I would never think of it that way. To me, a photograph is the eternal Now. The photographs I take are always documents of a moment that I was truly present for and are timeless because of it. But I suppose that might have a lot to do with being the one taking the photo.

alittlenerdy said:

I don't get photography. The past makes me sad. Photographs are always in past tense. Therefore, photographs make me sad. Creepy pictures of the olden days just make me think of how dead the people are.

Click to expand...

You probably don't want to see my gravestone pictures then...

Do all photos make you feel that way, or just ones of people? I don't think of people at all when I'm photographing nature stuff.

pconsidine said:

Aw shucks.

Funny. I would never think of it that way. To me, a photograph is the eternal Now. The photographs I take are always documents of a moment that I was truly present for and are timeless because of it.

Click to expand...

I see what you mean about capturing the present. How do you feel about memories?

pconsidine said:

But I suppose that might have a lot to do with being the one taking the photo.

Click to expand...

Yeah. A picture's worth a thousand words, but only if the photo means something to the person viewing it.

Polenth said:

You probably don't want to see my gravestone pictures then...

Do all photos make you feel that way, or just ones of people? I don't think of people at all when I'm photographing nature stuff.

Click to expand...

Graveyards are fine. I pass a few on the way to work everyday. The people are buried above the ground. Pictures of graveyards are ok, because the people are dead already.

It's mostly photos of people or events. I only have one picture of people on display in my apartment. I would rather display something timeless like art or keepsakes.
I can't stop thinking of the past when I see certain pictures. It's like I can never be part of what's in the pictures. I would rather stick them in my drawer forever than take them out and stare at something that's so permanent.

There was a similar thread abut writing a music a few weeks ago, which is where I fall into the picture. I used to like painting and drawing now and again, but have since focused more attention on writing and music after having realized I have little to no talent with the former. I enjoy making movies, however, and think I may still have some lurking talent in the moving pictures. It's been far too long since my 8th-grade masterpiece The Delicate Sound of Brutal Destruction.

alittlenerdy said:

I see what you mean about capturing the present. How do you feel about memories?

Click to expand...

Memory and I have a pretty contentious relationship. But that does bring up the real value of photography for me – it forces me to be present in the current place and time. If I'm not focused on what's in front of me at that very second, I can easily miss something really special. I don't think I ever have that experience with writing (though I can sometimes have the same experience with music).

But even when I look at old pictures, it doesn't make me think of "the past" as much as it makes me think of the "now" that was when the picture was taken. For example, when I look at my grandparents' wedding photos, I'm not reminded of the fact that they're dead as much as I'm reminded of the fact that they were alive. My feeling about the photo is more based on the moment that's recorded than whatever meaning the even might have accumulated since then. A Matthew Brady photo of a Civil War battlefield will make me sad, but that's because the moment itself is sad, not because of how I might feel about the Civil War or the particular people depicted.

That could be just me, though.

I just learned how to post pictures (with a lot of help!) So I thought I would share; As I said I have no formal training and I'm not claiming to be any good, but here is my MC in my latest novel- meet Quinn-

O.K., I am a writer, artist (both 2-D and 3-D, but primarily a carver), and (was) a scientist. 'Though I no longer do research, all my degrees are in science - including Ph.D.

I have taken enough art studio and history courses for a BFA, but never got one. Only studied writing through a smattering of workshops and continuing ed courses. Most of what I know about it I learned through doing, i.e., writing and reading, participating in strong writers' critique groups, and teaching undergrads. It is amazing how one's own writing improves after grading others' work.

Interestingly, I found that creation in ALL media (including science theory) felt the same... Maybe because I was an "exploratory scientist" using exploratory statistics (not the hypothesis testing stuff you may have met in a basics course).

Science theory creation felt like tracking an elusive beast thru a dense jungle - trying desperately to record my tracks. The end result, the theory, was not so much the beast but a map of the way to find the beast - a discovery of the innate order of the jungle - which emerged through a kind of shearing away or seeing through the tangles to the core meaning/underlying structure.

As a carver (especially of wood where the grain rules), I do something very similar - or it feels similar. I draw plans, choose wood that seems to support my plans - and since I do furniture I have to be really anal in meeting rigid engineering constraints in my plans. But then I start carving. The grain & inherent, energetic structure in the wood takes control as I listen to what it is saying and help that inherent structure emerge.

Creative writing feels much the same.

In all three arenas (creative writing, visual art and scientific theory generation), that unitive state where my separate, rational, little 's' self disappears into a flow of creative inspiration feels exactly identical. Like catching and riding a huge wave (in comparison to which my conscious self is a tiny speck). All I have to do is keep my puny ideas, ego and fears out of the way and let 'er rip.

alittlenerdy said:

I don't get photography. The past makes me sad. Photographs are always in past tense. Therefore, photographs make me sad. Creepy pictures of the olden days just make me think of how dead the people are.

Click to expand...

I hope you are writing stories expressing this POV on photos. It is very interesting and NOT common. I'd love to read a story where the character or plot is somehow driven by this.

alittlenerdy said:

I don't get photography. The past makes me sad. Photographs are always in past tense. Therefore, photographs make me sad. Creepy pictures of the olden days just make me think of how dead the people are.

Click to expand...

Glad to see you appreciate the lighter side of life... (BTW... my avatar is always a painting of mine)







The past is past,

what’s now will pass,

your future will pass,

reflect the past,

savor the past.

I've sold one short story and one painting. The short story got me $90. The painting (medieval pigments on goatskin parchment) got me $700. Maybe I should reconsider writing? On the other hand, I may have already saturated the market for imitations of early 14th c. East Anglian illumination...
-Barbara

I'm a writer and a visual artist. My subject matter overlaps but I don't see an overlap in style.

I do find that when I'm drawing I cannot write and vice versa, and that drawing sort of helps me muse about the writing. I come back from drawing-periods with better thought out stories. So to me it's more that they're two separate things I do, but one informs the other.

Anyone else have that sort of experience?

I was the president of the Art club in high school. Does that count? I like to sing too, which is sort of visual in a extroverted kind of way.

Shweta said:

I'm a writer and a visual artist. My subject matter overlaps but I don't see an overlap in style.

I do find that when I'm drawing I cannot write and vice versa, and that drawing sort of helps me muse about the writing. I come back from drawing-periods with better thought out stories. So to me it's more that they're two separate things I do, but one informs the other.

Anyone else have that sort of experience?

Click to expand...

Definitely. Sometimes the best remedy for a writer's block is to throw myself into some concerto or other, and sometimes after only 45 minutes or so, I open up my laptop and I type faster than ever.

Plus then I've learned the concerto.

Shweta said:

Anyone else have that sort of experience?

Click to expand...

Ayep. I think I've always been a natural storyteller, but I can never tell the same story in more than one way at the same time. It either comes out as a picture or it comes out in words. It drives my mother crazy that I'm a writer and an artist, but I have no interest in illustrating my own work. It seems so logical to her.

For me art and writing have a constantly evolving relationship. Sometimes I cannot manage to do them both at once and other times I'm almost violently compelled to write a bit then paint/sculpt/draw a bit.

Most commonly, really immersing myself in art renders me nigh-unto non-verbal. It's usually easier for me to switch from writing to art than the other way around.

The same impulse drives both disciplines, so I tend to write in a wide variety of styles and genres. Likewise, I tend to do a lot of different things with art. There are some things I don't stray too far from. My stuff tends to be dark and realistic. Though I like to push realism around like a rodeo clown in a barrel full of nails. Otherwise, pretty much anything goes.

pconsidine said:

It drives my mother crazy that I'm a writer and an artist, but I have no interest in illustrating my own work. It seems so logical to her.

Click to expand...

Oh snap!
I'm the same way. Only I don't think my mother's noticed.

In other news, Zak Jarvis pointed me at this, which is surely something other writer-artists will like

ETA: wtf, Zak, timing!

Shweta said:

I do find that when I'm drawing I cannot write and vice versa, and that drawing sort of helps me muse about the writing. I come back from drawing-periods with better thought out stories. So to me it's more that they're two separate things I do, but one informs the other.

Anyone else have that sort of experience?

Click to expand...

Yup. I get almost manic, so can only work in one medium at a time, but the change in creativity fuels the other medium. Does that make sense?

I'm an artist, writer and muso. My art is realistic (facial portraits, sun/weather-inspired landscapes and seascapes), I write children's fantasy and my music is mainly rock and roll. Nothing mixes with the other, and I can't listen to music when I write or paint because then I want to play the music.

And yeah, I couldn't illustrate my own manuscripts. I don't "see" them like that.

I could probably illustrate my stories in images, although with some difficulty. I'd rather just stick with portraits. Lazy, huh? But my whole AP drawing/painting concentration was out of my head...very taxing, after a few months.

It would not be hard, though, to illustrate them musically. Give me enough time, and I could either come up with something all on my own, or else cut little pieces from symphonies and quartets here and there until I had the whole story. I have my phases...sometimes I think in words, but usually I think in three-note repeated snippets of whatever I've been listening to recently.

Luckily I tend to think before I speak.

I can't illustrate my own work, either. And I've had several people suggest that I try graphic novels but they're not really my style art-wise.

Though I have written stories that started as paintings.

ZakJarvis said:

Most commonly, really immersing myself in art renders me nigh-unto non-verbal. It's usually easier for me to switch from writing to art than the other way around.

Click to expand...

This is true for me as well. I've had a very productive art week and going back to my WIP it seems kind of odd and alien.