Friday, March 16, 2007

"Dwell in Possibilities." - Emily Dickinson

Yesterday, my mom and I traveled out to western Mass to visit this woman's home: Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Emily Dickinson! My next book illustration project revolves around female writers, and though I don't know her as well as some of the others I chose, I felt I needed to include her because she and I share a love of nature. My mom and I got a private tour (just so happened no one else was around!) of Emily's house and then her brother Austen's house, which is right next door. It helped me get to know her and I feel very excited and much better prepared to create an illustrated environment for my portrayal of this Emily Dickinson. Image Hosted by ImageShack.us an enormous and beautiful tree outside her house. Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Her house itself. Her bedroom is in the top left corner. Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Austen's house through the trees. I love small, scattered woods made up of tall and slender trees and the patterns their shadows make on the snow, like stripes. Image Hosted by ImageShack.us ..and me in the cemetary where Emily is burried. Right where that mural is (Emily is the lady in the daisy) is where one of Emily's old houses used to be, but they tore it down to build a gas station. This cemetary is right through the woods past her house, and when she died they carried her white casket through the trees and to the graveyard. It was very beautiful, and a shame the area has been built up so much. People have left many little animal figurines atop her grave. It was a wonderful day! I am still on the mend but almost 100% better now. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Love, Amanda

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

YOU LUCKY DUCK YOU!I bet that was outstanding to be there where she lived. Thank you for sharing these pictures with us! How wonderful!
Glad you are almost 100%! :)

Amanda Laurel Atkins said...

Thank you, Angela!!
Yeah, it was amazing to walk the same steps that she walked. And thank you for the well wishes. :)

http://afancifultwist.typepad.com said...

Oh Amanda. As a new etsy user I found you in hearted places. What a wonderful blog you keep. And how lovely for me to stumble upon your lovely self after such a magical visit....Vanessa

Amanda Laurel Atkins said...

Vanessa,
Thank you so much! Such sweet things for you to say..I'm truly honored.
Amanda :)