Wanda and Marie

…is the name of today’s story at Fictive Dream.

Throughout the month of February 2023 I will be showing you illustrations I did for Flash Fiction February 2023 at Fictive Dream, an online magazine devoted to the short story.

Here’s the image editor Laura Black chose for this story, Wanda and Marie, by Jude Higgins.

And here is the artwork with the banner. Take a look at this image. And then…

Read the story at Fictive Dream.

9 thoughts on “Wanda and Marie”

  1. humoringthegoddess

    I always find the selection of art to go with literature fascinating. I do not understand modern art very well, but I do enjoy looking at it. And this painting is just wonderfully unique. Thank you for sharing.

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      Thank you. In my art I generally want to have something sort of representational in it, but for this fiction event, each image is to be abstract, colors, shapes, lines. So I try to create a feeling with each piece using these things. I am surprised over and over again that so much can be conveyed this way, And in the end I try to make images that people will like looking at (or at least I do and I feel others might). It is a process of exploration for me that I like very much and I am happy that you enjoyed this image.

  2. Fictive Dream

    Today’s flash Wanda and Marie by Jude Higgins is a most moving story about love and ageing. It may appear understated but, in fact, it’s a powerful piece of writing. I was drawn to the illustration for a number of reasons. Firstly, the shapes to the right are suggestive of lives which have become subject to limitations. Secondly, the beautiful palette gives a feeling of warmth and tranquility, as does the moment that Jude explores in her story. A perfect match. Thank you, Claudia

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      I loved this story. It is so full of feeling, and focuses on the kind of emotions that reinforce bonds. This image to me is a series of layers that either go inward, or spread outward – are boundaries or are expanding. It sort of seems to me that this story illustrates that even as worlds shrink, they also move beyond the old confines, they get pared down so that what is left is infinite.

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      I love this story and I love the way you express that about the heart. Sometimes things getting smaller really is an expansion or a view into another level that expands once you enter it.

  4. Laura (PA Pict)

    I think your illustration is perfect for the story, which was moving and poignant. I read the layering of the shapes – the boxes within boxes – as both the layers of history and experiences this aging couple have shared in the span of their lives together and also the hemmed in limitations they are now experiencing as a result of that aging process. I love the brightness of the orange-red square and the fizzling sparkles of the yellow spatter. I interpret that as the love at the centre of the story.

    1. Claudia McGill Post author

      Thank you. I love this story and the feeling that though life might get smaller, love does not have to. Maybe it is just more concentrated. And I also like the idea of there being an opening into which to step, and experience another level of love.

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