Inspired

People often ask writers where we get our ideas from. It’s a tough question. Ideas come from anywhere and everywhere — our experiences, our environment, people we know, places we visit. Mainly ideas simply come from our imaginations. An easier question is: from where do we get our inspiration? For me, it comes from two primary sources: art and other writers. I particularly love art from the Renaissance through the 18th century, but there’s also artists’ work I enjoy who lived much later. As for inspirational writers, of course, I love my fellow historical, contemporary, and erotic romance peers. But here in my Inspirations gallery I’ve chosen to highlight three writers whose inclusion may surprise you. Click around and read the stories. I hope you’ll be inspired, too.

Marie Antoinette - Vigée-Le Brun

I have two paintings in my gallery by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, an 18th century painter who was a portrait artist for Marie Antoinette. Le Brun painted over 30 portraits of the French queen and her family and came ...Read more...

The Marquise de Pezay and Sons - Vigée-Le Brun

This painting by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun and another I've included in my gallery of Inspiration, by Artemesia Gentileschi, are here for two simple reasons: one, I just love the actual paintings themselves. But two...Read more...

Bindo Altoviti - Raphael

This painting is by far my absolute favorite portrait. I could stare at Raphael's masterful technique for hours. I'm especially struck - as my friend will testify since I point it out every time we go to the National Gal...Read more...

The Crowning With Thorns - Caravaggio

Caravaggio is one of my all-time favorite artists. His work has been hugely influential on a number of well-known artists, including Rubens and Rembrandt. He's known for his incredible talent of depicting light, a techni...Read more...

Primavera - Botticelli

As you study Renaissance art, it helps to know some mythology. If you look to the far right of Primavera, you see a woman with flowers in her mouth being pursued by a man who's flying above her. The man flying is the dep...Read more...