WRITING A FICTION NOVEL

Not About Art, But my other passion

Every night I would write up my diary, which to be honest was all rather depressing, when I re-read it. You know the sort of thing, raining again, hard day at the office etc., as if anyone would want to read that. Then out of sheer boredom I started trying to be funny, and to my surprise I opened up a side of my character that was not actually just amusing to me, but to my friends when they read it. I was never any good at telling jokes, could never get the timing right, but with writing it seemed to go along easily, I was actually laughing my way to my first book without even knowing it. I often type whilst giggling to myself over what’s coming out on the paper.

The following paragraph that comes from my first book was written just as it came into my head at the time. Here the Art Teacher is trying to get out of a difficult situation, after he was heard swearing in class.

“And the swearing?” responded the Headmaster.

“Male menopause,” replied Brian.

“Good grief, what next, said Mr Redbone.

“It exists you know,” said Brian, warming to a possible escape route from his dilemma. “Recent studies have shown that men try to pass it off as just stress of overwork, or something. But it has all the same symptoms that affect women.

Fatigue, hot flushes, severe headaches, and you can add to that male aggression, and sexual dysfunction.”

The headmaster was by this time slumped in his chair thinking that this teacher had far too much creativity for his liking.

“Stop right there Mr Wilson. I hope you are not suggesting that you should be given some time off because of male menopause? Good grief! we would have half the staff off complaining of severe mood swings. And the Department of Education would have to supply all its male teachers with free patches.”

“That’s very funny Sir.”

“Shut up,” said the Headmaster

I don’t claim to be a great writer and you don’t have to be to develop your ideas and get them down on paper. Not everyone will share your sense of humour, or like your serious writing, but many out there will empathize with your characters, what a great thing to share.

WHY CREATE

Every single object around us was designed, either by nature or the hand of man. The shape and composition is created to fulfil some purpose. Creativity is what has dragged us from the primordial slime, to a position where we are considering visiting other planets, or obliterating ourselves. Could you imagine a world devoid of design, well actually there would not be one.

We leave the movers and shakers, the real brains and those with overriding passions for change, to do their best. The rest of us have far less ambition and use our creativity for more modest ambitions. The world is full of Designers, Artists, Musicians, Poets, Writers, etc. The internet has provided a fertile base from which there has been an explosion. It provides not only a platform for people to show what they can do, but also a vast audience at the tap of a few keys.

Some will point to lower standards, in the past only a minority got to publish or have high profile exhibitions, those with exceptional talent, or the right contacts. But the upsurge can only be good for us as a whole. It brings forth new talent, ideas and schemes. It fosters the inner urge to create, even at basic level, and it puts people with similar interests in touch with each other.

My art and ideas may not be important beyond me, but if you are reading this then at least you now know what I do and think. Multiply this across millions of people expressing themselves online and the effect on developing new avenues of creativity is staggering to think about.

When I was a teacher, most of the creative subjects such as Art, music, drama, domestic science and others were considered of secondary importance to Maths, Science and English. I do not doubt the value of these three stalwarts, although I hardly use two of them on any regular basis. However it would be a very boring dull world without creative subjects, they make us who we are.

MY THOUGHTS ON ABSTRACT ART

Contemporary art in the forms we would recognise as abstraction, has been around a long time . At the turn of the 20th century,the world was becoming increasingly modernistic. Steamships, cars, and trains allowed international travel,  telephones, and radios gave access for conversations from opposite ends of the world.
 Art journals thrived; in Paris alone, some 200 reviews of art and culture appeared before  World War I. Subscribers came from across the cultured world, allowing people to stay abreast of the latest developments in art. It also saw the beginning of  traveling exhibitions, one in particular by the Italian abstract Futurists.

While Kandinsky is today hailed as the founder of abstract painting, he was not the only one in the development of non-realistic painting. Czech, František Kupka was the first to display paintings that were a complete break from representational art.

At the time,French Impressionists were considered childish daubings, but we now consider them as beautiful and atmospheric. Although artists around that time such as Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh are not total abstraction by our eyes, they were all breaking new ground,away from the stale art of the salons.

I find it difficult looking at Contemporary art, when all it consists of are a few streaks of colour, or texture, or a real unmade bed or pile of bricks. I am not going to knock this form of personal expression, just because I don’t understand it. However when an artist has to produce reams of explanation, it makes me wonder why they don’t just leave the artwork out and write instead. I suppose in time the good, groundbreaking stuff will survive, the rest will fade away. The big business side, and the incredible prices paid at auctions for modern art has done much harm to general creativity.

I suppose that all art is just a false depiction, just a representation, and thus is an abstraction.  So even Rembrandt and John Constable were abstract painters.