• Flower Acrostics
• Sculpted Poetry and Triolets
• Free Writing
• Word Association
• Poetry Appreciation
• Virtual Museum - Imaginary Lives
• Virtual Gallery - Who Am I? (Part 1)
  • Introduction
  • Who am I? - Part 1
  • Step 2 - Create a three-line poem
  • Step 3 - Explore the painting
  • Step 4 - Create your prose (piece of writing)
  • Suggestions - What next?
• Virtual Gallery - Who Am I? (Part 2)
• Recipe For a Good Mood

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how authors come up with stories? One starting point is to create a character. In the following exercises we will show you some techniques for creating characters and stories inspired by paintings of people.

 

By the end of Who am I – Part 1 you’ll have created a short poem and a piece of prose. 

You can then choose to follow ‘Who am I? - Part 2’ which encourages you to explore the character you have created in greater depth.

 

You will need :

• Paper
• Pen/pencil
• Print-off of chosen painting (or view online)

 

What might these exercises offer?

Writing about characters in paintings:

• Gives us a way into studying art
• Encourages empathy (to imaginatively ‘step into someone else’s shoes’) – builds on our skills of connecting with others
• Gives us practice in the key writing skill of developing characters
• Increases our powers of observation

 

Looking at paintings :

• Can be relaxing or energising
• Can stimulate our imagination

 

How long will the exercises take?

You can spend as long or little time as you like on each exercise.

All exercises are split into stages so you can complete them over a period of time, whether that’s a morning or afternoon, or a week or longer. We suggest you make yourself a tea or coffee and enjoy the time to yourself, immersed in the exercise of your choice. Take as many breaks as you need. Remember it’s a good idea when doing a creative exercise to have a break from it and come back to it with fresh eyes.