Fantasy travel

I think it's time for a bit of fantasy travelling, a bit of escapism - so let's go!

Below are three postcards. You can use one of these as a starting point for a story or imaginative piece of some kind - or you can use a picture of your own and simply write about the place.

You might want to start by describing what you see, but it's entirely up to you!

The Torre Guinigi in Lucca, Tuscany

Tenerife, from a painting by Marianne North

From a painting by James Lynch

Picture Post

One of the books I'm reading at the moment is about the French Impressionists. It's very good, but it doesn't have many images of the paintings in it, so this morning I hunted out some little books about the Impressionists that I've had since I was a teenager.

In one of them, I came across this picture. It's called The Balcony Room, and it's by a German painter called Adolf Menzel. It was painted in the second half of the 1840s, so before the French paintings with which we are more familiar.

I've always remembered it, though I had no idea till today where I'd first seen it. I'm not sure what it is about it that was so fascinating; perhaps it's that it's empty of people - there's a sense that someone has just left: perhaps that enables you to fill the space from your own imagination. Or maybe it's the light, the simplicity, the spaciousness of the room. Whtever it is, I still find it evocative.

Task

• If you'd like to write a story prompted by the picture, ask questions. Where might it be? Who might it belong to? What is happening in their life? (Remember for a story, you probably need this to be a moment when things are changing for the main character - a moment of significance.)

• Or, choose a different room - one you've known. If it's a room you once knew well, you could draw a quick sketch of it, and brainstorm the memories you associate with it - of people, of things that happened there. Then go in whichever direction you choose - you could write about your memories of the room, or about why it's significant to you. You may wish to start with a description of it.

• Then again, you could write about a room you've seen, but which isn't part of your personal history. You could write about it, and why it interests you; or you could set a story in it.

View from a window

Well, last week's challenge, concerning an object, brought in some wonderful work from the Cheddar Writers. (That's not their official name. They started off as the Write Class, then they morphed into Riverside Writers (see here for a recent anthology of their work), because for several years we met at a very hospitable pub in Cheddar called the Riverside. The room we had there became a bit too small for us, so we recently moved to Cheddar Baptist Church, which has a lovely big airy room. Where, of course, we can't meet at the moment...)

We were all fascinated to read about a bohemian artist relative called Joy, who lived and continued to work well into her nineties and lived in a wonderful house in Salisbury by the river. The object was a diamond ring, which she passed on to Sally, the writer of the piece. There were also pieces about a music box, acquired many years ago on a childhood holiday to Sorrento; a journal from the 1930s, childhood games which included a glorious dressing up box, a chair passed on from a father, a dictionary which had belonged to a much-loved grandfather, and my own piece, about an old chocolate box which holds the letters and photos my father chose to save.

This week, we start from a picture. I'm very fond of doing this, as the group knows.

This picture is in the Tate collection, it's by Pierre Bonnard, and it shows a view from a window. I don't know where the view is of - somewhere on the south coast of France, perhaps? But I do know I'd love to be there right now.

So to the task. Here are a few options:

Simply describe what you see in the picture, and if you like, take it on from there. Imagine it's your room: why are you there? What do you feel about being there? Does this place have some particular significance for you? Are you waiting for something to happen - perhaps to meet someone for some significant reason?

Describe the view from one of your own windows. Let your thoughts wander: is it a view you're fond of? What does it mean to you? How do you feel, looking at it now, in the time of the virus, in this extraordinary situation?

Think of another view from another window, a view that was important to you. Why was it important? Where were you? What was happening in your life at that time?

As immediately above - but make it all up!

Have fun! (And if you've just dropped in and decide to have a go, it would be lovely to hear from you in the comments.)