7 – The Sweet Smell of Roses – A Ghost Story Inspired by King Saul’s Art

Explicit content warning

08/11/19 • 25 min

I’m thrilled to be able to introduce you to King Saul’s art today. On his website he writes that his philosophy is: “to dig deep into the subconscious and build new worlds through art by tearing down the walls between beauty and horror, reality and fantasy, the hearing of pictures and the seeing of sounds. Intrigued?”...

[If your podcast app isn’t showing the featured art for this episode above visit rebekahnemethy.com/artink7 to check it out.

Castbox and Podcast Addict are both apps I recommend that do show episode specific art.]

Links from the Show at a Glance:

Artist: King Saul AKA Saul Bateman

Title of Art: Smell

Artist’s Website: https://www.king-saul.com/

Instagram: @kingsaulart

Art Ink Submission Guidelines: rebekahnemethy.com/artinksubs

Art Ink Podcast Transcript:

[Intro:]

What’s up everyone? Welcome to a brand new episode of Art Ink!

So, many of you may not know this about me, but I think I’m far enough away from my high school years to share it without getting too embarrassed. I used to be a gothic chick. There, I said it. There was a brief period in my life when I wore black lipstick, jeans that could fit my entire body in one pant leg, and one of those ridiculously thick ball chain chokers. Back then I was fascinated with all things horror.

I’m telling you this because when you go visit our featured artist’s Instagram page, you may wonder why his art is so different from the art I have been featuring. Lately I’ve been drawn to brightly colored abstract art, but there is still a place in my heart for creepy dark art too, and I thought you might like to know where that comes from before I introduce today’s artist.

If you’ve ever seen a book called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which was one of my favorites growing up, you might remember the epically creepy artwork. And today’s artist has a style reminds me of these illustrations from my childhood, which brings with it memories of slumber parties and readings under blankets by flashlight. I used to love to be scared. And I’ve often wondered why I stopping seeking the thrill of a good scary story.

Anyway, this introduction might be a bit anti-climactic... because it’s only as I’ve been writing this that I realized my story doesn’t exactly match the mood of the majority of our featured artist’s work, although a scan through his Instagram page will certainly give you Edgar Allen Poe and Nightmare Before Christmas type vibes, today’s story is not scary at all and I’m doing my very best not to apologize for that... because I have a horrible habit of being sorry for everything AND because inspiration works in mysterious ways and that’s ok.

The things that inspire us don’t always show up as perfect reflections in our work. That’s what makes art so awesome, because the trip this drawing took me on, may not be the same one it’d take you on if you didn’t have me here influencing you with my own perspective.

Back in my goth chick days I was very afraid of the unknown, and over the years, while my fascination with the so-called supernatural hasn’t died down any, my fear has transformed into awe and wonder. I still ask why, all the time, seriously, I’m kinda like a 5-year-old, but I don’t automatically jump to the worst-case scenario anymore. And, so I guess that’s just my long-ass explanation for why I’m not sorry for writing today’s story. Haha.

Well, I’m thrilled to be able to introduce you to King Saul’s art today. On his website he writes that his philosophy is: “to dig deep into the subconscious and build new worlds through art by tearing down the walls between beauty and horror, reality and fantasy, the hearing of pictures and the seeing of sounds. Intrigued?”

I don’t know about you but that’s a mission I could get behind, because, yeah, I am intrigued! Aren’t you?

Let me try to paint with words what Saul’s created:

[Art Description:]

I’m not 100% sure, but to me this sketch looks like it’s done in pencil and pen. A disembodied nose hovers in the center of the design. On the bottom left a rose rests just below the nose, and there are other flowers scattered all across the bottom of the page. Swirls of scent rise up from all of the flowers, but while most of the scents float midair, the rose is sending its swirls straight into each nostril of the floating nose. On the far left a stick of incense releases a swirl of smoke that intermingles with the steam rising from a hot beverage just behind it.

Saul calls this piece “Smell,” and it’s this sketch that inspired the following ghost story I’ve titled, ...

[If your podcast app isn’t showing the featured art for this episode above visit rebekahnemethy.com/artink7 to check it out.

Castbox and Podcast Addict are both apps I recommend that do show episode specific art.]

Links from the Show at a Glance:

Artist: King Saul AKA Saul Bateman

Title of Art: Smell

Artist’s Website: https://www.king-saul.com/

Instagram: @kingsaulart

Art Ink Submission Guidelines: rebekahnemethy.com/artinksubs

Art Ink Podcast Transcript:

[Intro:]

What’s up everyone? Welcome to a brand new episode of Art Ink!

I don’t know about you but that’s a mission I could get behind, because, yeah, I am intrigued! Aren’t you?

Let me try to paint with words what Saul’s created:

[Art Description:]

Saul calls this piece “Smell,” and it’s this sketch that inspired the following ghost story I’ve titled, ...

Previous Episode

6 – Beautifully Broken – A Short Story Inspired by Alisa Burke’s Art

Alisa Burke is the kind of artist I want to be when I grow up, because she just doesn’t limit herself creatively... yet her work is still so unmistakable that you know whose work you’re seeing at first glance...

[If your podcast app isn’t showing the featured art for this episode above visit rebekahnemethy.com/artink6 to check it out.

Castbox and Podcast Addict are both apps I recommend that do show episode specific art.]

Links from the Show at a Glance:

Artist: Alisa Burke

Title of Art: untitled IG post

Artist’s Website: https://www.shopalisaburke.com/

Artist’s Blog: www.alisaburke.com

Instagram: @alisakburke

Art Ink Submission Guidelines: rebekahnemethy.com/artinksubs

Art Ink Podcast Transcript:

[Intro:]

Hello, my friends! Welcome back to another episode of Art Ink, I’m so grateful that you’ve decided to share your ears with me today.

The story you’re about to hear was sparked by another great artist I discovered on Instagram. What I really love about her art is that she works in so many mediums, and what I really love about her is that she’s so open to sharing her process with her fans. If you scroll through this artist’s Insta page you’ll find art journaling, watercolor, black and white doodling, hand-painted pottery, mandalas, photography, and even enormous murals that cover an entire wall. I haven’t even mentioned the many hand-embellished items you might scroll past... seriously I’ve seen everything from shoes to refrigerators on this artist’s feed.

With so much gorgeous art to choose from I found myself having decision regret while working on this episode... it’s not that I didn’t still love the piece I picked, but there’s just infinite beauty and inspiration in a lot of her work and every time I see a new piece it’s my new favorite.

But the reason I was inspired to write today’s story didn’t just come from looking at Alisa’s art, the caption is what solidified the direction I’d be going in. But before I share the caption with you, it’ll just make more sense after I describe today’s featured art.

[Art Description:]

With a quick glance you’ll see a yellow and red flower, but upon further inspection you’ll see that this flower has been pulled apart and then put together again, in fact, this one flower is a mosaic, you could even call it a flower mandala, that’s made of at least 3 different flowers.

In it’s very center is a yellow mum (at least I think these are mums), and it looks like about half of its petals have been evenly removed from the outside. There is a faint orangey tint to the outer rim of this yellow centerpiece. Surrounding this yellow middle are 3 rings of plucked petals, all carefully placed so that they appear to be spreading outwards. The first ring around the center is made of red petals, the petals surrounding those are white at their inner points and transition to pale pink on the wider outer parts. The last, and largest ring is made up of yellow petals that transition to red, and this outermost ring is just a tad messier than the rest.

The remnants of the flowers used, and some loose petals are scattered to the left and bottom of the image. In the bottom left corner a half-opened pair of scissors lies among them.

And the caption Alisa used along with the photo? She wrote, “One of the most important things I’ve learned is that things can beautiful even when they fall apart. #beautyinbrokenness”

I call this piece of fiction, Beautifully Broken. Enjoy.

[Story:]

She looked into the mirror, ran her tongue over the bloated crack, tasted the coppery blood, felt the familiar sting as the dried salt from her tears mingled with salvia and slid over the wound. How many times had she licked at her wounds like this? She’d lost track. Countless times.

She ran her fingers under the eye she couldn’t open; the left eye. He was right handed, so this was normal. She winced, not at the pain so much as the thought: when did this become normal?

“How was your day?” He’d said when he walked in the front door an hour earlier. He didn’t have his uniform on, so obviously he wasn’t coming from work, but she knew better than to question it.

“Good.” She gave him a practiced smile, so practiced that she almost convinced herself of her happiness.

“How were your mentees today?” he asked.

“Oh, ...

Next Episode

8 – Bonus Conversation with Artist and Author Ellie Jalbert

Today’s episode, is not your typical Art Ink episode. And... I’m going to be honest with you... experimentation is definitely in the cards for the future of this show, so get used to it. But, before you go anywhere thinking you got screwed out of a story this week, I want you to know that you're getting two episodes today...

[If your podcast app isn’t showing the featured art for this episode above visit rebekahnemethy.com/artink8 to check it out.

Castbox and Podcast Addict are both apps I recommend that do show episode specific art.]

Links from the Show at a Glance:

Artist: Ellie M. Jalbert (She wrote, AND painted the covers for, the Storm of Ages series!)

The first 2 books are available as audiobooks via Audible and narrated by yours truly (and you can get them for free with a 30 day trial on Audible)!

Listen to Storm of Ages: Nightmare (Book 1) for free

Listen to Storm of Ages: Metamorphosis (Book 2) for free

And if you want more when you’re done with those, the third book in the Storm of Ages series is available to read on Amazon.

Read Storm of Ages: Origins (Book 3)

Follow Storm of Ages on social media:

Instagram: @storm.of.ages

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StormofAges/

Art Ink Submission Guidelines: rebekahnemethy.com/artinksubs

Art Ink Podcast Transcript:

[Intro:]

Welcome back everyone, I’m your happy pappy host, and I’m so excited to let you all know that I finally have my elevator speech down. Go ahead ask me what I do for a living?

::in robotic text to speech:: What do you do?

What? I don’t have a co-host and my boyfriend refuses to get behind a mic.

Anyway... the next time I have someone trapped in an elevator with me and they ask me what I do for a living I’m going to say: Well I work in a padded room and I talk to myself all day... can you guess what I do for a living?

Then they’ll either move to the farthest corner of the elevator assuming I must be schizophrenic, or they’ll be intrigued and ask me for more.

Oh, what am I if not schizophrenic? I’m an audiobook narrator.

I know, I crack myself up... and I don’t often find myself in elevators talking to strangers so I just felt the need to share here. You’re welcome.

But yeah, it probably shouldn’t surprise those of you listening that I’m an audiobook narrator, the truth is reading another writer’s work is so much more fun and less stressful than writing my own books. But I’ve also been a writer my entire life; journaling, blogging, and dabbling in fiction here and there.

So far all of the stories you’ve heard have been written, and obviously, performed by me, but today that’s going to change a lil bit.

In just a few minutes I’m going to dive into a conversation with an author friend of mine, and then you’ll get a chance to listen to the first chapter of book 1 in her Storm of Ages series, narrated by yours truly. And I’m telling you this because after editing our conversation I noticed that there may be a few spoilers up ahead - so before you move on, you might want to pause this, listen to the next episode (episode 9) and see if Nightmare pulls you in, and if it does go download the audiobook, listen, and then come back here for some behind the scenes about the inspiration behind the book! The best part is you can get it absolutely free by signing up for a 30-day trial at Audible and as usual, you can find that link in the shownotes.

Ok, now that you’ve been warned... or are returning after you took my advice and listened to the book (wasn’t it awesome!?!) I can now lead you into our conversation.

It’s been almost exactly a year since I met Ellie Jalbert, and it’s taken me nearly as long to learn how to pronounce her last name (did I get it right Ellie?!). Ellie was one of the first authors I got the chance to work with when I impulsively quit my day...