Thursday's Children - Inspired by Nature

I thought I'd focus this week on a positive source of inspiration: Nature. At least I find it so, because there are many majestic and breath-taking spots on this planet of ours. The photo above is Profile Lake in Franconia Notch, NH. Franconia Notch is right up there on my list with Acadia National Park and the white beaches and palms of the Gulf Coast.

I've been an avid nature fan all my life, ever since my mother kicked us outside to roam the woods and fields of rural Maine. We took occasional trips to the Maine coast and mountains, too. My artist's eye and poet's heart finds peace, joy, and nurture in the sights, scents, and sounds of the outdoors.

When I discovered that during the 1800s, traveling artists visited our nation's (and Europe's) famous beauty spots to work, I was inspired to write my Canvas & Corset series. In the White Mountains of NH, for example, we had many "grand" hotels that housed visitors seeking the peace and inspiration of nature and God--while providing three sumptuous meals per day, social events, and sporting excursions. Sigh. They knew how to take vacations during those days--all summer!
Several of these hotels remain. Here are two in the Whites: Mountainview Grand and Mount Washington Hotel

I love the contrast of a luxurious resort set down in wilderness. I also appreciate the philosophy of the late Victorian period that recognized the power of our great landscapes to inspire. This era gave birth to many conservation movements. The Sierra Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Acadia National Park, Yellowstone--all these were started by wealthy and/or cultured nature-lovers who recognized something worth preserving for future generations.

In my books, I hope to convey the beauty and power of these landscapes, providing the reader with a mini-vacation of their own. That's my particular challenge.

How about you? Are you inspired by nature?

Canvas & Corset Mystery Series

In 1894, Camden, Maine, is a quiet coastal retreat favored by rusticators and artists. Spinster Emily Driscoll faces another tedious summer—until she meets handsome Boston artist Charles Bartlett. They’ve barely exchanged flirtatious words when Emily’s best friend Abigail arrives with devastating news. Her father, Captain Coatsworth, owner of lime quarries and sailing ships, has been shot dead on a cliff overlook.

When the police decide the murder was by persons unknown, Abigail and Emily aren’t satisfied. For one thing, Caroline Coatsworth, the wife believed to have died at Abigail’s birth, has reappeared and laid claim to the inheritance. They also suspect Jonas Estabrook, the captain’s greedy business partner. He opposed costly expansion plans and is now pressing Abigail to marry him. When an employee with information for Abigail dies in a quarry explosion before their meeting, it becomes clear that she’s in danger. Fearing for her, Emily and Charles join together to solve the murder and answer the burning question: is that lovely, seductive woman really Caroline Coatsworth? Along the way, love and a new career as an artist blossom for Emily.

Death on the Cliffs is the first in the Canvas & Corset Mystery Series. In the late 1800s, half of American professional artists were women. During this period of intense creative expression, artist colonies thrived in cultural centers and near magnificent natural areas. Emily and Charles travel to a new locale in each book, enjoying the lavish bohemian lifestyle shared by artists and their wealthy patrons. Florence, Paris, London, the American West, and Bar Harbor, Maine, are possible settings. Emily’s growth as a painter provides a connecting thread through the series as do relationships with family and friends. Social issues of the day add texture.

Each Canvas & Corset mystery is an excursion to a time of unparalleled luxury, leisure, and romance. The second book, Death at the Villa, is set in Florence, Italy.