Art inspires me. It’s part of the  reason I manage to write at all some weeks.

Take last week. After many false starts, I came to Saturday and didn’t know what I was gong to write in this blog or in my story. I found a piece of art I wanted to use. (Sometimes I find the art first and write a blog post that goes with the art.) The mermaid art also inspired the story I turned into Dean last night.

In addition to finding inspiring art, I also create my own art as a way to enter my subconscious to find writing ideas. Which is what happened yesterday. I created a mermaid picture inspired by a friend and their former lover, a beautiful dancer, whose picture I’d once seen. My art was to be the deadly dance of mermaid and prey. But as I worked on it, it became a love story.

The story it inspired is far from a love story. The origins of the art (mermaid and prey) created the short story’s backstory. The resulting story is the first Argosy story without a joke at the end.

I shared the art with the friend who inspired it. They shared it with their ex-lover. Who loved it. She said all sorts of nice things. She wants a copy.

Oh my!

No one aside from my mother (who posted my kindergarten scribblings on the refrigerator) ever wanted my art. Much less a stranger. It feels strange and thrilling. And, because I’m not that far from the art’s origin in my emotions, it also feels dangerous, like dancing with a mermaid.

The art for today’s blog is that piece of art.

I hope you are inspired this morning. I’m curious about your ways into your subconscious. Do you do art as I do? Run? Take bubble baths? Something else? Let me know.

Be well, friends!