Four watercolors, framed together 24×32″ (Larger)
This week’s Illustration Friday challenge is “Leap” in honor of leap year, this February 29, 2008. But the paintings and sketches in this post were actually made twenty years ago. They were inspired by two dreams recorded in a 1988 dream sketchbook (below) and a class in color theory I was taking at the time, based on Joseph Albers work. The images include references to the seasons; times of day/night; the elements of water, fire, earth, and air; and tarot symbols.
The dreams that night were showing me a choice I needed to make in my life. Then as now I was fascinated by computers/technology and art (a perfect combination for an art blogger, no?). But my dreams pointed out how the time and energy I was spending on the computer tied me in knots and stole from my creativity.
Here is the image from the first dream that night: A computer tech “boiler room” full of electronics, miles of wires, computers, monitors, and icky nerds frantically, obsessively, working non-stop at their computers with no time to even look up. It was a nightmare really…full of tension.
In the next dream I left that scene and I was running free in a field and it felt really good.
And then, from a quote I’d heard somewhere, this image and words.
When I awoke I knew I had to make the choice for life, freedom, and art, and quit spending so much time at my computer.
I guess like anything else in life, it comes down to a matter of finding balance and making choices about what’s really important. If I remember to ask myself whether I’ll feel happier at the end of the day if I’ve spent my time drawing/painting or working on the computer, I usually know which to choose (Art!).
14 replies on “Leap (year) * Illustration Friday”
wonderful drawings! I totally agree about the computer thing! I just bought a timer to keep at my desk so I stay on the computer for only an alloted amount of time!!
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I love reading your blog, you are so open about your feelings and experiences… I just closed a show for an installation I did in a little annex gallery that speaks to just this theme of modern technology vs creativity…
If you have time it is at http://www.anythingbutants.blogspot.com
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What you have said is so very true, Sometimes the end of the day comes and I have achieved very little because I have been on the computer so much. I love those four stamps and I feel that you have capture the problem and the solution in your sketches.
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What a wonderful posting. I really love the 4-some – the colors and seasonal variations are wonderful. But I’m most impressed that you could return to a sketchbook 20 years old! I’d love to have records of what my angst was due to in 1988.
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Thanks for sharing your story and illos! I love the different colors and themes.
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It’s really interesting to read about you’re experiences of trying to balance all the different aspects of life.
I’ve really only just discovered this whole world of blogging and It’s expanded my world so dramatically It’s fantastic, but incredibly time consuming. The timer idea in an earlier comment is a very good one.
Caroline
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Powerful dream imagery that works on you for 20 years! Since I’ve been seeing your dream imagery on your blog it has impacted me in remembering more dreams I think.
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Awesome! Your painting for the four seasons also corresponds with the four suits of the Tarot! Swords, Rods, Pentacles and Cups! I can definately appreciate this. 🙂 Have you ever thought of illustrating a tarot deck? It would be a lot of work, but totally worth it.
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I like those four stamps of the Brazilian running woman!
Oops, sorry, but my house is shaking with the demotion going on next door!
w.
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Sorry again, demolition, not demotion. The poor house – it’s a hundred years old and now a pile of junk.
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Was the woman leaping really from 20 years ago? Yikes, time flies when you are having fun. I remember loving them then and it is great to see them still leaping through time and color.
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The 4 watercolours look great together! I’ve had that dilemma about art and computers going on for a while now and had to make a decision. It’s hard as it can be so inspiring looking at other’s work but then it can go past the point of being useful and need managing like an addiction.
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Great illustrations!
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Really like these, although I’m afraid the fact completely passed me by… oh well, maybe I’ll remember in 2012 🙂
– Lee (Editor, Drawn in Black)
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