The Year Of Drawing Adventurously – Week 10: Be Inspired

~ Meg

Following the chart to 52 drawings this year.

Be inspired is pretty vague and wide open for a theme. Choosing a subject that inspires me was difficult because I’m inspired by a lot of things: music, art, books, nature, architecture, film. And so the subject I finally settled on requires a bit of, er… well maybe a lot of explanation.

I am an only child. My parents were older when they had me (surprise!) and with a twenty year age gap between them, Papa was 55 when I was born and had come of age during the 1920’s just before the Crash and subsequent Great Depression. One of the things that came into his possession during those years, was a book, given to him by his father (my grandfather – the one I lost as a little girl). That book was Tales of Mystery and Imagination, by Edgar Allen Poe and illustrated by Harry Clarke, published in 1923.

The book fascinated me even before I could read. Those gruesome, intricate illustrations were the most amazing and terrifying images I’d ever seen. (Obviously unsuitable for the young and impressionable but Mom and Pop weren’t paying close enough attention.) The artwork perfectly complemented the dread of Poe’s tales and the combination of the two surely sowed the seeds of nightmares I experienced after a late evening’s read.

The book is mine now and I still pull it out once in a while when I’m in the mood to be thrilled and chilled. I’ve used two of Harry Clarke’s illustrations as header images for my poems: Night Work and Preserved. In doing a little digging, I even found out the book is rare and collectible. Pristine copies list for as much as $3,000. Alas, mine is well worn and no longer worth much monetarily, even though its priceless to me. And so to make a long story short…. I chose to copy one of Harry Clarke’s illustrations as my ‘be inspired‘ drawing. I had to look for something achievable so rather than fail at one of the Poe illustrations, I copied one from Goethe’s Faust published in 1925. Voila:

To see Harry Clarke’s Poe illustrations, have a look here.

Published by Meg

Easily amused, never bored and constantly distracted. My creative pursuits include writing, drawing, painting and photography.

26 thoughts on “The Year Of Drawing Adventurously – Week 10: Be Inspired”

  1. I do like these drawings, Meg. The blend of real and imagined works well. I have been amazed at how your art has developed over the time I have followed your blog. Ah, the artistic inspiration of us “only and born lonely” children …

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      2. Yes, you do have some pretty country around you! Did you ever read the book My Side Of the Mountain? I read that as a kid and I swear it changed my life. It made me want to run away to the woods and live in a hollowed out tree!

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      3. Hahaha! That’s hilarious! I haven’t read that, but I’ll try to check it out. I love being out. I have to. Even when we were city dwellers, we’d go somewhere rural, alone, camp and hike. It’s as necessary as air to me. 😃

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      4. Oh my gosh, Beach! You should read it! 🙏 And your boys are about the right age for it too. It’s still really great reading for an adult too. 😃

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  5. I love this post Meg. We can find inspiration in anything and everything. I like the way you adored a book before you could even read it. That image above is strange yet beautiful in its own way.

    And your comment above, that is the life of an only child, yeah you are right. That does fuel one’s imagination and creativity.

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