The art of Creative Writing: new competition

Ever since Miss Fisher (P4) got us to write a story 'about something scary' I've been fascinated by creative writing. Funnily enough my story involved a man giving a speech. Some people do find that scary. Miss Fisher had a problem with my description of the man 'throwing his arms and his words out towards the audience'. Later on I discovered that this odd manoeuvre was called a zeugma. I also discovered that I am probably more intrigued by the process of writing about something, than the actual outcome. In other words I should be an English teacher...

However, like a lot of people, I make up little stories all the time in my head.

Look at the photograph above. What does it you think of?

A withered leaf from a single rose that has been thrown away by someone perhaps...

For the less imaginative or more scientific perhaps you're thinking of Gardener's Question Time: what is that fungus called?

Anyway I came across this competition which might be fun:
Creative Writing Competition.
The competition is open to everyone, and simply requires that you write a short poem or piece of prose in not more than about 1,000 words inspired by a piece of art, taken from the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland . You can view many of the works online at their site.

Prizes? Well it's art for art's sake, the prize being free entry to all National Galleries exhibitions for two people for one year. The winner also gets published in the Scotsman newspaper.

I am happy to read over anyone's ideas, and make encouraging sounds.

Oh, go on. You know you want to...