A Trip to the Art Gallery
Let's get out of the house and visit the art Gallery
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Ideas in an Art Gallery
Okay, I'm a total academic. I love museums, libraries and art galleries. They inspire me. I often get writing ideas in them. Here are a few quick exercises you can do in an art gallery. Since most art galleries and museums have places to sit and look at the paintings, take your notepad along.
1. Imagine you are one of your characters strolling through the gallery. Describe one of the pictures/sculptures in his or her words. Jot down a few notes about what they think about this artwork, and about what emotions that painting or sculpture engenders in them, if any.
2. Go to the abstract art portion of the gallery. Without looking at the author's title for the piece, write one of your own. Jot down the emotions you feel while looking at this work. Write down what there is in that painting that causes you to feel that way. Is there a way you can use the same imagery, only in words, to evoke a similar emotion?
3. Place yourself in front of a realistic painting with some people in the picture. Jot down back stories for those characters, then what brought them to this scene, and what is going on outside the "window" of the frame.
4. Write a 50-100-word description of one of the paintings. Try to touch not only on what the painting looks like but also on what it feels like.