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Paula Bonilla
Paula Bonilla

180 Followers

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Writing Fiction? Description: Shining Details Light Up the Whole Picture

Fiction Writers Can Choose Shining Details That Spark Settings, Themes, or Characterizations in a Flash — Stand back from the frame: a thousand pastel dots merge into a rainy street scene or a sunny romp at the seashore. Pointillist painters build worlds by layering multicolored strokes. The dots blend. The picture pops. What’s a Shining Detail? Likewise, fiction writers build worlds through well-chosen, particular details. You don’t need a thousand…

Art

5 min read

Writing Fiction? Description: Shining Details Light Up the Whole Picture
Writing Fiction? Description: Shining Details Light Up the Whole Picture
Art

5 min read


Pinned

The Woman Raised Her Voice: Artist Marie Bashkirtseff

A Bold Painter and Outspoken Diarist Who Left Her Mark — “I know that I should become somebody; but with skirts — what can one do?” Plenty, as it turned out. Marie Bashkirtseff (1858–1884) made her bold voice heard during her short lifetime. Art … is as much a source of happiness for the beginner as for the master. One forgets…

Art

3 min read

The Woman Raised Her Voice: Artist Marie Bashkirtseff
The Woman Raised Her Voice: Artist Marie Bashkirtseff
Art

3 min read


Published in

ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR

·Pinned

The Woman Made an Impression: Artist Marie Bracquemond

A Painter of Searchers and Speculators Who Gave in Too Soon — Fruit and flowers were all very charming, but Marie Bracquemond (born Marie Quivoron in France’s Brittany in 1840) didn’t want to paint them. Instead, she populated her outdoor scenes with individuals. Their searching, speculative expressions betray far more sophistication than she got credit for from the art establishment, then and…

Art

5 min read

The Woman Made an Impression: Artist Marie Bracquemond
The Woman Made an Impression: Artist Marie Bracquemond
Art

5 min read


Published in

ILLUMINATION

·Pinned

Writing Fiction? Novels “Read” Life

Novels have a purpose: They are written to be used. One use of the novel, for writer and readers, is interpreting life. Novels Don’t Want to Teach You Lessons Novels aren’t written to teach you lessons, like those gruesome cautionary tales where children who break rules or tell lies tumble to their deaths or are eaten by…

Fiction

5 min read

Writing Fiction? Novels “Read” Life
Writing Fiction? Novels “Read” Life
Fiction

5 min read


Published in

ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR

·Pinned

The Woman Knew Her Worth: Artist Louise Breslau

An immigrant found breathing room in Paris as a portraitist with an empathetic eye for intimate connections. — A portrait painter who exposed connections between souls, German-born Swiss painter and pastelist Louise Catherine Breslau (1856–1927) evolved from the asthma-ridden daughter of a Jewish doctor to a self-supporting artist in demand during a time when women artists were discounted. …

Art

5 min read

The Woman Knew Her Worth: Artist Louise Breslau
The Woman Knew Her Worth: Artist Louise Breslau
Art

5 min read


Published in

ILLUMINATION

·Mar 10

Writing Fiction? Guilty Pleasures

Part Three: Entertainment and Escape Many novelists write hoping to share a glimpse of what it is to be human. But what about just kicking back with a great story? Entertainment and escape from the ball-and-chain sameness of everyday reality are perfectly good reasons to read novels. And many novelists write them for that reason. A Bad Reputation …

Writing

4 min read

Writing Fiction? Guilty Pleasures
Writing Fiction? Guilty Pleasures
Writing

4 min read


Published in

ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR

·Mar 8

Writing Fiction? What Novels Do

Part One: What Makes a Story? — Look at yourself in a reflective surface — a pool of water, a car’s side mirror, the bowl of a metal spoon. Do you see yourself clearly, or is the image blurred or even upside down? Shakespeare once wrote that an actor holds a mirror up to nature. A good…

Reading

6 min read

Writing Fiction? What Novels Do
Writing Fiction? What Novels Do
Reading

6 min read


Jan 8, 2021

The Woman Meant Business: Artist Alice Barber Stephens

Her illustrations highlighted class distinctions between women — The illustrations of painter and engraver Alice Barber Stephens (1858–1932) featured women who stepped outside the domestic sphere at their peril. Creating from the traditionally male business sphere, she helped other women artists thrive. “Stephens [has]been marginalized in scholarly texts and museum exhibitions…which tend to centralize the contributions of male…

Feminism

5 min read

The Woman Meant Business: Artist Alice Barber Stephens
The Woman Meant Business: Artist Alice Barber Stephens
Feminism

5 min read


Published in

ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR

·Oct 25, 2020

The Woman Had Swagger: Artist Amélie Beaury-Saurel

Her work was tough and bold, and so was she — Barred from Paris’s top art academy because of her sex, Barcelona-born French painter Amélie Beaury-Saurel (1848–1924) joined the Académie Julian as a student and ended up running the place. A talent called manly by male judges, she embodied women’s strength in her art and example.

Art

4 min read

The Woman Had Swagger: Artist Amélie Beaury-Saurel
The Woman Had Swagger: Artist Amélie Beaury-Saurel
Art

4 min read


Published in

ILLUMINATION’S MIRROR

·Oct 9, 2020

The Woman Looked Out: Artist Eva Gonzalès

Her Women Evade the Male Gaze, Find Their Own Viewpoints — French painter Eva Gonzalès (1849–1883) spent her artistic career shrugging off the male gaze. In her work, she expressed her own outlook. Early on, exposure to a certain manly stare nearly derailed her career. Édouard Manet, perhaps to please her literary father, painted the young artist’s portrait. Awkwardly posed at…

Feminism

4 min read

The Woman Looked Out: Artist Eva Gonzalès
The Woman Looked Out: Artist Eva Gonzalès
Feminism

4 min read

Paula Bonilla

Paula Bonilla

180 Followers

Follow your art! I write about artists, rebels and outcasts at flash points in history.

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