Arty Types...An artist in her ivory tower

Colourful Characters

Books which feature artists or arty types.

Over the years I've particularly enjoyed reading fiction about arty types, they're messy, they're temperamental, they're scary, they're moody, they're creative, they're brilliant loners, mentally challenging, they have silly ideas, they're quirky dressers. They shut themselves away for long periods of time to create their masterpieces, they sit for hours in front of a blank canvas despairing that they'll ever produce a thing again. They're narcissistic. They remind me of me!

Here they are, as I remember them or as I discover new ones. In no particular order.

A nice escapist read full of warmth and likeable characters, 'Beyond Indigo' tells the story of Nina, a lawyer who decides to make her lifetime dream of being an artist come true, but then goes one step further by hiding behind a fictional artist who takes the art world by storm.

I enjoyed this totally escapist piece of fiction immensly, it's a great comfort read for all would-be artists and romantics.

St Ives is one of my favourite places, and this book is largely set there. The opening chapters describing the artist's breakdown and subsequent salvation by a kind hearted man are extremely touching. I also love the way Patrick Gale makes you 'see' the imaginary artworks created by his neurotic artist.

A Wreath of Roses

I read this book many years ago, I only vaguely remember it, but as I was an art student at the time, I loved immersing myself in the world of this neurotic artist. I need to re-read it now to refresh my memory.

I read this book a few years ago. Like all of the the author's novels, it's a bright, luminously written novel, amusing and touching, colourful and literary. A great combination. And the characters are totally endearing.

This novel reads like a biography and so has a lot of credibility about the subject matter, the descriptions of the fictional artworks are enjoyable, and the overall writing style has a touch of the stream of consciousness about it, very flowing with a kind of restrained emotionality. The story seems familiar, perhaps because it is so believable. Although this wasn't a happy book I did enjoy it.

This is a serious book about anti-Semitism and the darkest and least sympathetic elements of human nature. At its centre is a sacred book, the beautiful Medieval Haggadah, and the mysteries hidden within its pages. Although its main focus is not an individual artist, the descriptive writing is so good that at times the book materialises visually from the descriptive passages. The chapter about the workshop of the 16th century Spanish book illustrator is both beautiful and depressing. The young girl artist, orphaned and abused, is literally saved by her artistic talent. And finds a form of immortality through it.

A funny, dark, satirical novel about the more pretentious aspects of fine art. I laughed lots at the portrait of the eccentric artist, whilst it's obviously a parody there's so much that rings true.

A gentle novel looking at family relationships which centres on a young girl who, through emotional trauma refuses to speak. The stresses this causes her parents are explored in this sensitive book. Instead of speaking Isabelle pours her thoughts and emotions into art, filling book after book with drawings as she attempts to make sense of her self-imposed silence.

I'm currently reading this dark and often comical, frequently sinister, novel which centres on the discovery of a heap of amazingly intricate drawings left behind when the artist, a reclusive loner, disappears. The stereotype is forgivable here, this is a wonderful, vividly written book full of mystery and tension. I especially like the female conceptual artist; 'a six-foot Icelandic manic-depressive with a boot-camp hairdo' who is portrayed with much wry humour.

Arty characters