Dreamcatcher, WIP

Everything starts on blank surface - a letter, a resume, a book, a painting. The blank surface stares back at you and demands to be given a meaning that is locked somewhere in your mind, it demands that you leave your mark be it good or bad. There is nothing more inhibitive for blank surface than a spark that it stuck behind layers of worry, unable to express itself. The mind is an intricate lattice work of creative sparks that hold beautiful words and images all of which are locked behind iron gates of fear, doubt and failure. But every now and then a creative spark creeps through a chink in that gate and is able to manifest itself as something on that blank surface.

I found myself staring at a blank canvas a few weeks ago, Now, for those of you who know me really well, know that painting terrifies me. I find it difficult to express my mind with a brush where a pencil flows so easily. This canvas had the ghost of an image flitting across its pristine white landscape. A creative spark had crept through the chink in that gate and was manifesting itself in a way that my fear could no longer squash. I put the idea down as the blank canvas had requested, and I dusted off my paint brushes. The end result of actually listening to the spark instead of pushing it back through the iron gate is of something I hope can make people smile and wonder.

I have been asked a few times during this process what exactly was the meaning or what was being represented by this piece. Here is the honest answer to this question: I don’t really know. As I stared at this blank canvas each element presented itself, as if it was intended to be there in that location. And at the end of the day, I have had more joy in listening to what others see than what I see. Just today I showed the almost complete piece to a friend of mine. What he saw was Adam and Eve and the temptation and danger of woman. Another friend saw a gypsy blessing, another saw the hands of a witch. Now, as the creator of the piece I can sit here and write a story for this piece and make you all see something I want you to see… But really, see what you want to see. Enjoy it for whatever it evokes inside of you. For that really, at the end of the day is what art is there for. Those sparks express themselves and you as the viewer experience it in your own individual ways.

Please stay tuned for the final piece, and I look forward to hearing what it is this piece shows you.