This is a good example of what the MOQ calls the Code of Art. If memory serves, I wrote this story after a day of fishing with my oldest son in a creek that ran past a town where we used to live. I don't use a hook on my line lest I accidentally catch a fish but I did enjoy our time together immensely. I remember seeing clouds of butterflies dancing past us as we sat on the bank in the sunshine talking and watching the water flowing past. I have no idea why the story was written from the point of view of a woman. It just evolved that way. The finished story is a bit more risque than the excerpt you offered but that's neither here nor there. I guess the point is, I had no intention of writing the story until it appeared on my monitor. I'm thinking that is what the Code of Art is all about... a mystery that once fathomed is no longer applicable to real and creative art. I'm not sure any artist can intentionally set out to be creative. Take Vincent van Gogh as an example... I remember seeing a little painting of his hanging upon a wall in a northern California art museum. It was an iris, nothing more... a single flower. We've all seen them. What he did with the canvas and paints defies rationality, however. I am sure he set out to intentionally paint the iris, just as when I sit down in front of my computer I intend to write. What happens next is the mystery. A million artists have probably painted flowers just as a million writers have written stories. What makes van Gogh's work unique is how he visualized the world from the point of view of a mad man. Now, when I say: mad man, I am not talking literally although we all know he was confined to an institution for a time before he committed suicide. In fact, it was said he painted that portrait while institutionalized. So technically he was mad, or perhaps I should say from the point of view of a society that expects its members to conform rather than stand out, he was out of place and lost for most of his short life... except while he painted. When I saw his work in person for the first time, I didn't understand what I felt. I'd seen photographs of his paintings, sure, and I'd even ordered prints to hang on my wall. What I remember most was walking into a seemingly empty museum where my sister insisted we go. I was visiting her for the first time in decades and I thought we had better things to do than drive to a shabby building that purported itself to be a museum of art. There was no one there. I wondered to myself why we came there. It seemed a waste of time. There were various paintings hung upon the walls of nondescript artists who'd I never heard of before or since. She led me to the back room. I expected it to be empty too as I heard no voices nor any sounds at all. Instead, there was a crowd of maybe fifty people gathered around a spot on the farthest wall. I couldn't see what they were all looking at. My sister crooked her finger at me to follow her so I did. By and by a few of the people in front moved off and then a few more so gradually after an hour or so we made our way to the front. I wasn't prepared for what I saw. I just know it made a sudden and everlasting impression upon me and when the nights are particularly dark and I am feeling sorry for myself and my lonesome plight on this whirling globe, I think back to that simple iris hanging in infinity. The Code of Art must mean something like getting it right, but how did van Gogh know? How do storytellers know? What about the musicians and the poets and the beauty they produce? Where does it come from? A Butterfly Picnic means much more to me than a story about a girl lying naked on a blanket in the sun and being ogled by a dirty old man. The creek water flowing past, the butterflies dancing in the breeze, the food and drink, even the blanket... they all combine to lend an air of majesty to the mundane. That is perhaps what van Gogh meant by painting a simple iris. He must have studied the iris, how it moved, how it grew, how it unfurled itself to the sun, and how it died. He must have become the iris in a real sense. In the same way, by writing the stories that I write, I study the characters. I watch and learn how they walk and talk, how they interact with the world. I might write ten thousand words just learning who they are and what they do. Finally, I become the characters. It is only then that I can attempt in my own small way to bring them to life the same way van Gogh brought that iris to life. He imbued it with a type of immortality... its beauty reaches across the years to enlighten others to the possibilities of madness and insanity. Now, I don't mean to imply I am anywhere close to the artist that van Gogh was. I am an imposter. The Code of Art whispers its secrets to me and though I try to represent those mysteries the best I can, I am but a poor substitute for a real artist. I am like a child coloring with his crayons and doing his best to stay within the prescribed lines yet failing at every effort to do so. Anyway...
On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 11:40 PM, MarshaV <[email protected]> wrote: > > An amazing favorite from 2007: > > > > A Butterfly Picnic > > Clumps of small white butterflies with black eyeballs on their wings dance > in spiraling circles along the creek. A woman is watching the butterflies > play but she isn't seeing them. She sits on a green and white plaid > blanket. Along side her a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine poke up out of > a brown woven basket. Sunshine tingles over her naked body. A breeze > rustles the cattails growing in shallow water beside the creek bank and > tickles the grass growing around her blanket. A long unused train trestle > runs over the rippling water just a short distance away. Mottled-gray > stones at its base are crumbling. A man sits on the trestle on a ledge near > the top close by a metal ladder driven into the weathered stone blocks. The > woman takes the bread and breaks it, reveling in finding the soft > underneath through the crisp crust. She pours the wine. Raising the glass > to her lips she looks up to see the man watching her. She starts but > quickly remembers that he has always been there. Sh > e watches the butterflies play but she isn't seeing them. > > > > > > On Dec 20, 2013, at 12:16 AM, Dan Glover <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I don't know if my giving away a few books has anything to do with > emptying > > my teacup but perhaps. I got the idea from World Book Day where they > enlist > > others in an attempt to give away a million books. I thought, why not > give > > away a few of my own instead of those of other authors? > > > > I never much cared for the term 'flash fiction' as it seems to accentuate > > speed over quality. I don't need writing prompts nor do I wait for > > inspiration to arise. I just write. > > > > Whether my stories are amazing or not, I don't know. I appreciate you > > saying so although the way you put it has me ensconced in the past. I am > > still deeply involved with my writings on a daily basis. As always, I am > > happy to send you (or anyone here) an e-copy of my latest work if you so > > desire. > > > > People ask me where my ideas for my stories come from. I don't know. I > sit > > down in front of my computer to an empty screen and a blank mind and in a > > little while it is full of words. Most of it is crap but sometimes I > > discover a few pearls amid the swill. > > > > Anyway... > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 5:25 AM, MarshaV <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> > >> > >> Hi Dan & Ian and all, > >> > >> I can identify. Have you any idea how many paintings I've dropped off > at > >> Goodwill hoping they'd find someone to appreciate them. Clean slate, > >> emptying teacup, or just plain making room for more. Cannot really > >> complain, though, I love every moment in my studio. So on to making > some > >> art journals. > >> > >> Knowing how frustrating these MD discussions can be, I miss you both. > >> Dan, your stories - flash fiction? - were always amazing. And, ian, I > >> thought Grayson Perry had some important things to discuss. AND for > >> goodness sake, isn't it about making art out of life??? > >> > >> Maybe to start the year discussing the code of art might be a good > thing. > >> > >> > >> Marsha > >> > >> > >>> On Dec 19, 2013, at 5:14 AM, Dan Glover <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> > >>> Tear those books up, Marsha. Make 'em sad they were ever printed. > >>> > >>> Me, I ordered three dozen copies of my various books and gave them out > to > >>> the owners, managers, salesmen, service writers, secretaries, > mechanics, > >>> and porters at the auto dealership where I sorta make a show of working > >>> every now and then. Most times I just hang out in back and read books > on > >> my > >>> Android. > >>> > >>> Anyway, some of them were happy, some didn't give a crap, one gorgeous > >>> little blonde gal who I'd really like to pork acted like a kid on > >> Christmas > >>> morning, and one guy told me he actually writes too... one of the > Mexican > >>> porters who details cars. > >>> > >>> Who'd a thunk it. > >>> > >>> I felt like I was handing out blankets to hobos. Maybe I was. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>>> On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 3:14 AM, MarshaV <[email protected]> wrote: > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Greetings, > >>>> > >>>> Just ordered a used library copy of zAmm to use the pages for creating > >> art > >>>> journal. Being a bibliophile it is always painful to destroy a book, > >> and I > >>>> have a great love for this book in particular, but what the heck!!! > >> Soooo > >>>> symbolic. Not as dramatic as tattooing a paragraph on my body, but > more > >>>> personal in so many ways. > >>>> > >>>> Btw, if you were to tattoo a paragraph, which would it be? And why? > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Marsha > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Moq_Discuss mailing list > >>>> Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > >>>> http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > >>>> Archives: > >>>> http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > >>>> http://moq.org/md/archives.html > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> -- > >>> http://www.danglover.com > >>> Moq_Discuss mailing list > >>> Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > >>> http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > >>> Archives: > >>> http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > >>> http://moq.org/md/archives.html > >> Moq_Discuss mailing list > >> Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > >> http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > >> Archives: > >> http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > >> http://moq.org/md/archives.html > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > http://www.danglover.com > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > > Archives: > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > > > > ___ > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > -- http://www.danglover.com Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
