Where Do Ideas Come From?

Writers are often asked the question: “Where do you get your ideas?”  My answer is -- everywhere!

I just attended a yearly genealogical conference in my area and again found not just genealogical help, but inspiration for my writing. Genealogy is, after all, made up of the stories of past families, and families’ lives are made up of many stories.

I always find the workshops of ‘Photo Detective’ Maureen Taylor compelling. She is an expert on the ‘intersection of history, genealogy and photography’, specializing in preserving, dating and identifying photographs and the subjects in them. The Smithsonian asked her to choose a photograph from their vast collection to analyze and write about. Her choice was a copy of a daguerreotype taken in 1839 or ’40 (the original had been damaged during an attempt at restoration). It shows a well dressed lovely young woman in a flower trimmed bonnet. The young woman was Dorothy Catherine Draper, who was photographed by her brother John W. Draper on the rooftop of New York University. He made the camera himself out of a cigar box within months of Louis Jacques Daguerre’s invention of that process of photography. Her face was powdered with flour in order to accentuate contrasts in the photograph. The likeness of Dorothy Catherine is now considered to be possibly the first family photo.


I found the story of the young woman in the picture to be intriguing. I had found nothing about her when I was researching my book about a female painter in the 1830s but apparently Dorothy Catherine Draper was well known in the 19th century. She was an independent and industrious woman who, in England and America, supported her mother, sisters, brother and his family by teaching art. She put her brother through medical school at a time when it was difficult for women to have careers, and she appears to have been quite successful in that career. Her brother went on to be an eminent scientist, educator and writer.

There are many such stories to be unearthed in the genealogical records of families—a treasure trove of ideas for writers.

Women’s History Month + Cats on Wednesday = Women Painting Cats

Artists have included cats in their paintings since the ancient Egyptians. These influential 17th-20th century women artists all found inspiration in the elegant, mysterious and elusive cats who served as their muses and their models.

Judith Leyster - Dutch, 1609-1660

She was a leading 17th century painter who was successful and famous in her lifetime. She belonged to a group of courageous women who tried to break into the male-dominated art world. In 1633 she was allowed to join the previously male-only painters’ guild.








Sophie Gengembre Anderson - French, 1823-1903

Married to an English painter, she gained fame as a pre-Raphaelite painter and had a talent for painting children and animals.

Berthe Morisot - French, 1841-1895

As a woman, Morisot was not allowed to join art institutions, but was noticed and respected for her talent. She joined the Impressionists and exhibited with them. She continued to paint all her life but was never a commercial success.

Mary Cassatt - American, 1844-1926

Discouraged by society and her father from pursuing a career as a painter, she moved to France where she found success in the Impressionist movement.

Suzanne Valadon - French, 1865-1938

Daughter of a laundress, Valadon worked as a waitress, circus acrobat and model (posing for Toulouse-Lautrec and Renoir). Learning to paint by watching the Impressionists, she became a well-known, respected painter in her own right.





Paula Modersohn-Becker - German, 1876-1907

At the turn of the 20th century she was an influential avant-garde artist and an early German Expressionist. She was more interested in art than domesticity despite pressure from all sides to marry. She did marry, and died giving birth to her first child at age 31.

Women's History Month -- Artists, Known and Unknown

I want to start my web-log with a celebration of Women's History Month -- particularly women artists in history.  My mother was an artist and Art was her passion and her profession all her life.  When I was a child her portrait of me was exhibited in the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, but in the adjoining rooms of the museum I don't remember seeing any paintings by women artists hanging among the Peter Paul Rubens and the Vincent Van Goughs.  Because of my mother I knew talent wasn't dependent on gender, so where were the women's paintings in the museums?  Eventually I discovered the Morisots, Cassatts and O'Keefes, but the famous women artists seemed few and far between.  You can go through an entire book of famous paintings and not find even one.  So here's to women artists of the past, including the many women folk artists -- those who are known and the many who never signed their names.  This subject has been close to my heart for years -- especially in the last year while I worked on my picture book, Signed, Abiah Rose.  And here's to today's women artists (not history yet!), especially my fellow illustrator and painter pals.