Painters are as fascinated by people as writers are, and I think we can learn something from them about observating and using what we observe. This thought was promoted by an interview in Artists and Illustrators magazine with painter Celia Paul.
I found some of the details of her life as well as her general observations quite interesting--and often connected.
Here's how she got started painting: "My father was head of this religious community in Devon and I was sent to a boarding school. It was a really terrible school but it had a great art teacher. Painting was my way of being private and having control over my own world."
That probably rings a bell for a lot of writers, including me.
She draws a related conclusion about why women painters often do self-portraits: "I think a women's position in the world is less secure. People are often referred to as the wife or daughter of somebody and you only have to look at a questionnaire to see 'Are you Miss, Ms, or Mrs?' Women generally question who they are." I'm sure that although she is a renowned artist in her own right, she has sometimes been categorized via her association with Lucian Freud. That's one of her self-portraits to the left.
Another thing that will resonate with many writers is her statement that "I couldn't work from the model because she didn't mean much to me. I started to realise I needed to work from people who mattered to me."
A lesson I draw from that is not necessarily to write characters closely based on people you know, but to get to know your characters well enough that they mean something to you, and then it gets easier to write them.
A fascinating insight into her character comes from her statement , "I think you have to be selfish as an artist. I've got a son, he's now 26. I've had to make clear that London is my work space so he's never actually lived with me--my mother helped me bring him up in Cambridge. I've had to be very ruthless about that, which has been very painful for me and probably for my son, although I think he accepts it."
Whether or not you consider that a reasonable approach to parenting, it certainly is the kind of thing that immediately suggests a rich character for fiction. Equally interesting is that her son, Frank, has become an artist. She says, "I suppose you could call him a surrealist--he's a dreamer, really." Hmm, reminds me of a little girl who got into art because her parents sent her to boarding school." That's one of his paintings, "Mum," to the left.
If you ever need inspiration when you are coming up with characters, go to a gallery that features portraits. Pick a few to spend time with, to study, to imagine what they are like and how they might relate to your story. If you don't have any galleries nearby you can also visit galleries online, including London's National Portrait Gallery (at www.npg.org.uk) which has one of her etchings, a self-portrait, in its collection.
(I'm adding lots of tips for innovative ways for you to create powerful, unique fiction and screenplays to the online Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. The next session starts on Jan. 7, 2012. To find out more go to www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com )
