Looking through Facebook I noticed a photograph, Nora Lago in Puerto Rico. Leaning against a wall on a stone lined street, one foot up on the wall, and no people as far as you could see. Dark glasses hid her eyes. She smiled ear-to-ear. I thought, How happy she looks, relaxed, at home in her parent's birth place. I asked Nora if I could have a copy of the photo to paint. She emailed it to me.
After I painted Nora, I sent her a photo of it. If she liked it my plan was to send to her. She loved it and when she received it she found a beautiful corner to display and sent me a photo and asked if I approved. Of course, I did.
A friend back in the Synanon days that I helped raise her daughter in a boarding school, asked if she could use the painting for the cover a book she was putting together. I asked Nora if she minded. It is her image on the painting, and I gave her the original painting so I felt permission from her was needed. She said of course.
About two months later my friend sent me a photo of a book. Lo, there was my painting. She sent both Nora and me copies. Mine got lost in the mail for a while, so Nora had time to read the book, rave about it, and she even read it a second time before my copy finally made its way to me.
The title of the book caught my interest, "Ekphrastic Workbook." I had never seen that word before: Ekphrastic - Greek for vivid word descriptions in poetry or prose inspired by works of art, thanks to Wikipedia and Oxford Dictionary.
Sandra Rogers-Hare edited this workbook from her San Leandro Writers Workshop in 2023. She provided writers with images of art from the famous to me, including an artist in the group and another friend. The writers were asked to view the various pieces of art over the year and write what the artwork inspires, mostly poetry but some prose. She timed them for fifteen minutes, so they were immediate, in the moment, no edited thoughts, just let the pens flow. She then place the art on the left hand page, the writings on the right.
She invites the readers to try their hand at this exercise by placing a piece of paper over the right pages, enjoy the painting and write for fifteen minutes, thus she calls this a workbook.
You can find this treasure on Amazon.com.
