Art Inspires Words

Famous French impressionist Edgar Degas said, "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." With that sentiment in mind, Crazy Ink accepted submissions from numerous authors who choose from two dozen paintings in the public domain. From the painting each one picked, the writer was to develop a short story for this collection. They could use the painting as inspiration for their story in any fashion they wished. Authors could take a scene set in medieval times and create a story set in the twenty-first century; writers could have the painting stolen or destroyed and write a mystery; or they could simply reflect on the colors, shapes, or mood of the painting to decide which direction their stories would take.

Writers take inspiration from their experiences and those of others. They also harvest the colors, tastes, smells, tactile stimulus, and sounds around them, and the world in which they reside or wish they could to write their tales. Henry David Thoreau wrote, "This world is but a canvas to our imagination."

For this anthology, Art Inspires Words, we literally gave the writers a painted canvas to spark their creativity. The only limitation set on each author was that the famous painting he/she selected must be the muse for the story. That's how the stories you are about to read were created. Art inspired more art, this time in the form of words. Relax in your most comfortable space and enjoy.