Dream Time for Artists (Online art lesson #21)

Illusion / Transformation - Is it valuable to your creativity to let your thoughts drift away?

The little boat sits on the window sill loaded for departure with a thick twig pencil.   It floats on gauzy waves while out the window sunlight slips through the leaves and illuminates the distant shore.  It’s June in the garden, and I’m lulled into dream time.   Ideas evolve; it can be hard to find balance between the need to stay rooted in our goals and the need to go with the flow of new ideas.

I was loaded right up with goals when I sat down with my notes beside me, but somehow I’ve been transported into the garden.  The waterfall plays my favorite songs, as usual, and I watch fish swim amongst the iris, and, yes, those iris are only reflections.

Mind floating free on a June morning.

What is this enchantment and where is it leading? I won’t find out if I keep to my plan.  In gardening terms, I need to decide whether to weed out this new concept or to water it.  I will follow my impulse for dream time and put the other ideas back in the pond.  I can fish them out another day.

Am I slacking or stilling the water so as to be aware of what bubbles up to the surface from the unconscious?  Please share your views.

Hammock, waterfall, garden, and a sailboat tilting in the wind on the foundation wall; perfect for swaying off course.

Join me in the garden next Sat., June 11 for Plein Air Without Fear (watercolor and gouache). $75.  Call Stephen at Open Studios for more information 303-444-1862.  We will also go out into the Open Space.

All photos from our garden on June 6.