…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, Family Night, by Jacqueline Doyle.
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 
I love the illustration for Jacqueline Doyle’s Family Night and for me it’s a perfect for. Firstly, the central square outlined in black is a reminder that the narrator is feeling trapped by her marriage, and a family life of ‘three against one democracy.’ She’s in a situation that’s difficult to break free from. Secondly the palette alludes to the Taco Bell logo colours. And thirdly, still on the subject of palette, the violet is suggestive of the emotional bruising she has faced. Wonderful, Claudia, thank you very much.
Thank you. As I have mentioned before I like using geometric shapes, here a rectangle, in combination with random colors and spatters and so on. In this image I like the feeling that the shape might decide to move around and frame different sections of the image. What is important, the frame, or the elements that were there before the frame? That is what I think this image shows. And once again I used this grayed out purple blue – I really like the monochromatic color palette with a bit of yellow to play it up.
I too really like the framing. There are so many different ways to frame relationships, a marriage, a life. (K)
Yes, when I make an image with a frame like this I am always reminded of how people hold a frame of matboard or some such thing up to the scene and move it around to figure out what is included and excluded.