Echoes from a Dream --
Dreaming is a great source for impossible ideas. An interesting thing happens when you permit an obvious impossibility to exist in your active imagination without judgement. Instead of dismissing it for being illogical, let it linger. The longer you permit this to exist, the more you begin to understand it. And, sometimes, you realize it's not impossible after all. It's just not what you expect or accept as reality.
I've been exploring a series of ideas - illogical, impossible, unreal, other worldly, not ordinary ideas. The project began as a storyboard. I wanted to create a series of watercolors all centered around a central narrative. It began months ago with the understanding that this could take months or years to complete. So far, I've painted a half dozen character studies. I carry on conversations with these characters. I try to understand who they are. Where they've come from. What they need. What archetype they represent. Who they want to become. Then I try to paint them into a scene for the storyboard.
I'm in no hurry. It's an interesting journey that has brought me to a higher awareness and appreciation of my dreams. The characters appear nightly to audition for a part in my grand plot.
At some point, hopefully before the Open Studios Tour next month, I will take a few characters and scenes I've created and assemble them into a short animation. Experiments to date have altered my perception of how this story is going to unfold.
It's a journey. I don't know where it will end. But, I'm enjoying the impossibilities. I don't always understand what I'm painting. I have an idea. The paint and paper each seem to have their own ideas. The characters have ideas. Somewhere along the way is a negotiated outcome. Sometimes, it's controlled my me. Sometimes, I simply follow and respond. And a few hours later, the painting seems to have finished itself with me acting as a witness more than a creator.