Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Writing For Writers #4

I'm a fan of children's illustrations like Where's Waldo and Richard Scarry where there are a gazillion things happening on the page. I'm also a fan of paintings that have a big landscape and some little itty bitty thing happening in the corner:

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

incidentally also a William Carlos Williams poem.

Or: Virginia Lee Burton's illustrations for The Little House.

So write a scene that shows a big landscape with something small in the corner. Interpret that how you see fit.

Feel free to post any results in the comments if you like.

1 comment:

Emily said...

Not an actual written response to your exercise, but just some comments. I also love the busy-ness of Where's Waldo and Richard Scarry.

And Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts" is also about that Bruegel painting -- which is a painting that I love (hmm ... anything by either Bruegel makes me happy,incidentally. And Auden always makes me happy,too.) I didn't know about that WCW poem, but I'll have to incorporate it next time I teach the Auden.