Category: Dreams

Categories
Drawing Dreams Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

AM PM Sketchbook

2-20-07

Espresso pen, Handbook Journal

A woman from Scotland wrote to me and said she’d come upon my blog my accident and that I’d inspired her to start adding drawings to her daily journal. Her email inspired me to start a new sketchbook project that I’ve really been enjoying. Each morning before I get out of bed I write a few sentences about my dreams, the weather and/or how I’m feeling that morning and do a quick little drawing. Then in the evening I do another brief entry about the day or something I’m grateful for and draw something of the day. These are drawings from memory or imagination so they’re pretty goofy, not at all realistic.

Before drawing in it, I dated each page in the sketchbook in advance. It’s a square Handbook Journal Co. sketchbook that I didn’t like too much for watercolor so now I have a good use for it.

The drawing on the left is supposedly me (I don’t really look that terrible, even in the morning) and Busby doing his silly morning snuggle where he sticks his head below my ear and kneads his paws on my neck, purring madly and half choking me. I drew it while he was doing that, holding up a little mirror. The one on the right I drew tonight after a lovely Thai dinner with my dear painting group friends as we celebrated Judith’s birthday (she’s supposedly blowing out a candle stuck in a big blob of coconut ice cream surrounded by chunks of fried bananas). If you think these are funky drawings, you should (or shouldn’t) see the hilarious cars, bus and boats I drew yesterday!

Categories
Cartoon art Dreams Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Stage Fright (Dream)

Dream-Stage

Ink & Watercolor in Aquabee 9×12 sketchbook
(To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes)

I woke this morning at the apex of a terrible anxiety dream…but with a slightly different take than usual. First I should say that I have terrible stage fright and cannot sing to save my life. My family used to slam doors shut and turn on the radio to avoid hearing my awful singing along with my pretty bad guitar playing when I was a teen and it never really improved.

I’ve had this dream many times, where I find myself on stage, about to sing or play guitar or both, and realize I’m completely unprepared. In last night’s dream I’d been selected to perform as “Jana and the BlackAttack” and was supposed to be leading some sort of soul/hip-hop group at a very prestigious and large theatre. I was calm and relaxed about the whole thing, trusting that the event organizers knew what they were doing in selecting me. I took a seat in the theatre, watching the opening acts. Then it was time for me to go on stage and the MC was stalling and worried since I hadn’t yet appeared backstage. I walked out onstage, noticing there was a steaming pot of potato-leek soup available for performers and stage hands. I picked up the mike and then…

I realized I didn’t know what songs I was singing, what the tunes or words were, where my band was….basically I realized I was ME. I didn’t want to let the organizer down or ruin my reputation by walking away. Then I realized I had no reputation to lose: I’m not a singer, I’m an artist and I woke up, heart pounding.

Gee, do you think I might be having a little performance anxiety about my painting…(I was struggling with oil painting before I went to bed) or even more likely, about the one-woman show of my watercolors in March that will be held in the lobby cafe of a newly restored art deco THEATRE?!!!! I thought I wasn’t worried about the show but the sleeping mind never lies….or does it?

Categories
Dreams Outdoors/Landscape People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Watery dream

Watery dream

Ink & watercolor in HandBook Co square sketchbook
(To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”)

For years I used to get up every morning and sketch my dreams before I did anything else. I have volumes of dream journals full of weird, amusing or x-rated drawings, depending on what the night had in store for me. I often painted the images too. I’m not sure when or why I stopped but I recently discovered an artist who works primarily from her dreams in monotype, Denise Kester, and got inspired to explore my dreams again.

My dreams are often humorous (to me anyway, but then I’m easily amused) or insightful — sometimes I wake up having invented something important and funny, as I illustrated here (one of my very favorite posts) or just quirky, like this one.

In the quickly sketched image above from last night, I dreamt that Sharon and I were canooeing down a pretty river when I realized that we had sunk up to our necks and that I was still wearing my fanny pack containing all my electronic gadgets (cell phone, digital camera, PDA) and they were all ruined. There was more about trying to put on ill-fitting overalls after nude sunbathing but I always hate it in novels when writers go on and on about a character’s dreams so I won’t bore you further with this one.

One last thing, this image of a river with tall banks is the same one I tried to make when I was 10 and convinced my father to let me paint with his oil paints. Unfortunately he gave me a piece of waxy palette paper to paint on and I remember it being so terribly frustrating to not be able to capture the image or anything at all, really, on that horrid paper. It kept me from trying to paint again for another 20 years.

Categories
Drawing Dreams Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Jennifer Aniston’s life-jacket party outfit

I dreamt Jennifer Aniston was giving a party dressed in a life jacket and matching mini-skirt–another new fashion trend seen first in my dreams? First Bling Bling suspenders, now life-jacket party wear. Meanwhile, my blind neighbor sent her German Shepherd out for a chicken sandwich. (I don't have a blind neighbor.) Amazing what those guide dogs can do! I have no idea what this dream means (other than don't eat popcorn at bedtime).Dream of Jen