…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, The Caustic Mother/Daughter Routine, by T. L. Sherwood..
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 
There is something so aesthetically pleasing about that image! Great composition!
Thank you, for me, I like the pink-red/yellow color scheme (a favorite since I was young, I can remember combining outfits in these colors which then my mother told me it did not go together, but I did not listen, obviously.
Good thing you did not listen as the results are awesome 🙂
I absolutely love the colour palette of this piece. I like the way the two circular forms are alike but apart and confined within the inky black lines, forced to share a space and co-exist like the mother and daughter of the story.
Thank you. I’m very fond of this color combination and I think it shows that pink can be a strong color, as can yellow. Once again, they needed that black frame to make the colors stand out and to emphasize the circles which I think might have gotten lost otherwise.
I agree with tierneycreates that there’s a very lovely aesthetic to today’s illustration. The story is about a contrary mother-daughter relationship. Everything is right about the artwork: the palette with its pink and yellow often liked by young girls, the use of the black border which for me suggests the daughter’s perception of a strict home life, and the two ovoids representing mother and daughter. Wonderful that these shapes are slightly off balance as is the relationship. Just wonderful, Claudia, thank you.
Thank you. I love this combination of colors, red-pink/yellow, and have used it over the years in a lot of places. And once again, circles (in this case more ovals) give a feeling of motion, I think here, one chasing after the other, but there is the sense the balance could switch anytime (what I really like about circles). And again a frame in black encloses the figures and gives them definition that they need in order not to get lost – the pink ovoids are not that intense. I also want to mention the use of spatters or ink drops – I love using them as they give an instant extra bit of dynamism to the picture.
The colors are indeed lovely. (K)
The more I look at this image the more I want some pink/yellow/red fabric to make into a blouse or skirt. Nothing to do with anything, it’s just what I am thinking!
Cheerful!
What a sad title. But such an appropriate image for it.
Thank you. Yes, I agree, the story depicts a state of affairs that is draining and sad and something that isn’t uncommon, which is too bad. But I agree, I like the image, and I like the colors a lot.