Artemis Draws

I had intended my little collection of short stories to comprise only 5 stories, but the total length is only about 70 pages which is insufficient for a ‘proper’ book, I feel. So I’ve decided to add one or maybe two more stories to this collection to flesh it out. I have no shortage of ideas about paintings to use, but then weaving a story around the scenes is another matter. I’ve been fascinated by some of Wyeth’s paintings for years, particularly the iconic “Christina’s World”, but perhaps that is a little too iconic for my purposes. So I’ve settled on this painting, ‘Winter, 1946’ for my next story. I finally worked out the broad outline of the story yesterday, after mulling on it off and on for a long time. It will be something of a ghost story.

Winter 1946 (Andrew Wyeth)

There is something haunting about the image of the adolescent boy, looking as if he is fleeing something. At first glance, one might think he is a pilot, with that hat, trying to evade capture after being shot down. But this painting has an interesting history; the boy is apparently running in sight of a railroad, where Wyeth’s father, the painter N.C Wyeth, had been killed only the year before he painted this. Of course, my story will have nothing to do with this.

Through some research on the web, I’ve just been learning of the difficulties of getting published and marketing one’s work to the masses. I suspect I do tend to write and draw stories for people who do not usually read graphic novels; so that is my main hurdle to overcome – how to get their attention? People are still dismissive when it comes to ‘comics’ and do not see it as any vaguely serious artistic endeavour. Perhaps I am just fooling myself about the merit of this sort of work, perhaps it would have been better to write a novel after all, at least one might be taken a little more seriously?