…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, Preserved, by R.M. Francis.
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 
Preserved by R.M. Francis is set in Britain’s Black Country (a part of the West Midlands) and written in the local dialect (for anyone who’s wondering). The story gives the impression of a gritty urban area and I think the illustration reflects just that. The blocks, for me at least, represent inner-city living, and I love the muted palette with little light. Thank you, Claudia, for another beautiful artwork.
Thank you. This image has a muted palette, as you said, and to do that I mixed colors more than I usually do (I admit to painting right out of the tube and letting the layers and juxtapositions do a lot of the mixing color work). Usually, if I mix colors I seek a brightness, using a lighter color or white. Here it’s putting together colors with grays or browns, or choosing colors that mix into a grayed out look, that forms this image. I think it gives a whole different atmosphere to the image.
Indeed this artwork has a whole different atmosphere. Although the colours are muted, the work is striking.
Thank you. I have been experimenting with different colors (sometimes just mixing them up and seeing what happens). I’ve enjoyed the expanded means of expression I am kind of stumbling into.
The harshness of the story is evident in your art. (K)
Yes, these grayed out colors are interesting to me and they have their own voices all right, it’s something new to me to listen for these colors.