Earlier this month the Portrait Gallery had multiple writing sessions using the portraits as inspiration for our stories. The theme for the session I attended was "Understanding Others". This is a wonderful creative exercise for anyone and anywhere! The assignment was to concentrate on two different portraits and write a story of how these two different people could have met.
Writing prompts:
- Write down all the details you see that tell you something about who each person is.
- Mimic their postures one at a time. Hold each person's for a moment. What did you learn? Write that down.
- With all the insight you now have about these two, look at their faces carefully. Combine what you've observed along with their expressions in your mind. Now, write a few sentences in his or her voice about your first subject's highest aspiration.
- Now do the same for your second subject.
- Begin a story with one of your chosen portrait's settings as your location and your two subjects as the main characters. Imagine a reason for each being in that location, why are they there? How are they each feeling in the moment that they meet? What will they think of each other?
First few sentences of my story:
Moria squealed in delight as her mother drove her to school. It was field trip day to the farm. Her second grade classroom learned all about the farm and was excited to see it in person! When Moria and her classmates arrived at the farm they were greeted by the owner, Ms. Mae. Ms. Mae was a proud woman who took pride in sharing the joys of animals, nature, and farming to others.... -JM
I chose these two portraits as my subjects:
More portraits located
here.
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| "Woman with Rooster" |
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| "Mavis in the Backseat" |
