…is the name of today’s story at Fictive Dream.
Throughout the month of February 2022 I will be showing you illustrations I did for Flash Fiction February 2022 at Fictive Dream, an online magazine devoted to the short story.
Here’s the image editor Laura Black chose for this story, Profile Picture, by Steven John.
And here is the artwork with the banner. Take a look at this image. And then…
Read the story at Fictive Dream.
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
Richly textured story. The MC feels so out of touch with reality! Claudia, your artwork on this feels right. All of these thoughts are neatly compartmentalized but there no communication between them. The dark portal with stars is the one the author needs to walk through 🙂
Thank you. I feltsorry for every person in this story. Everyone is in a box, either they made it or someone else did. And I do like making grid patterns, as I have said. I like the idea of these as portals as well. Choose the one you want and go through it.
You’re welcome, and I agree none of them seem very happy.
Author as in the main character in the story.
Yes, I know, sometimes it is hard to deparate the two in your mind, as a reader, even though I know from my own writing, so many times I think I am more of a stage manager than ever an actor?
Another vibrant illustration, this time for Profile Picture by Steven John. I love the variety of colours and patterns; they lend an air of optimism to the story. At a more representational level, they suggest the many photographs to which users of online dating sites have access. Thank you, Claudia, for another marvellous piece of artwork.
You’re welcome. I could do images like this all day – I love patterns and filling in and elaborating a grid, and also, it is important how the neighboring boxes look with each other. Shuffling them would change the whole feeling. I guess that is maybe similar to situations where people have known each other in one context and then things change, altering the balance.
Before I read the story, I looked at your illustration and saw it as a map of fantastic fields. Now I see the story is more about the potential for “playing the field”. I like the way your illustration is suggestive of all the profile pictures on the website but also of the way people are compartmentalized and kept separate through that.
Thank you. I like your idea of “playing the field”, what a great way to put it. I enjoyed making these little enclosures and filling them in. When I did the painting I did one at a time, so each one influenced the next.
That’s so cool that even your methodology fitted the themes of the story.
I am always amazed at on how many levels art operates inside my head, and what emerges – and then at the same thing I see it happening in viewers.
I like the way the grid abstracts the idea of dating profile photos, the way the commodify a person. What a strange world we live in. (K)
You know, every time I think that, I try to think of something from the past that might be sort of equivalent in terms of the time they lived in. For some reason the idea of debutantes and the tradition of coming out into society is what I come up with here.
Debutantes! Yes another strange one.
Beautiful piece you did for the story!
Thank you!