About that dream...

I got up this morning - reluctantly, as I usually do - shuffled to my Wii and did my yoga with my virtual trainer - who I am beginning to love. She tells me "your doing great" and "you have great posture" even though I have just completely fallen over and off of the balance board. I grabbed my morning bowl of cereal and sat down to my email and right off, first thing, found a link to collage artist and sculptor Margaret Conte. I love the whimsical nature of her work but the thing that hit me like a ballbat is her artist's statement - right there - staring me in the face:

“My sculpture is about making a word, a phrase,a part of a song, or my thoughts into something tangible using discarded pieces of wood as well as designed elements. “
Margaret Conte

Why the big deal you ask? Read on...

Those of you who follow my blog and writings already know that I had an unusual dream on Jan 6th, (which is by the way my husbands birthday). It came complete with "smell-a-vision" sort of (if you are new to the blog just scroll back to Jan 6th if you want to know). Yesterday morning (Sunday) we went to church for the first time in months and months and months. We really have never connected to any churches here since we moved here from Dallas area - where there was a multitude of churches we loved - not so much here in San Diego. The kind of churches we attend seldom, if ever, sing classic hymns. They are much more contemporary, but we walked in and they were singing "Joyful-Joyful We Adore Thee" - one of the maybe 3 classic hymns I know - it was a contemporary version - but it was the Hymn nonetheless. They project the words to the songs up on screens to make it easier to sing along. I immediately went on high alert, got goosebumps, and instead of seeing lyrics I saw painting titles on the screen, almost as if the titles were in bold letters, but I know they weren’t. It was that clear and strong though. I went home, Googled the lyrics and there they were - 45 titles for the paintings in this series. So - this week I will wrap up all the loose ends I can and buckle down on creating the 40-45 paintings in what I am calling the "Joyful-Joyful" project. This is a DAUNTING task - how in the world can I ever put such abstract thoughts and phrases into something visual that evokes an emotion in the viewer? and in me? I mean really - I sit a person, a pear, maybe a photograph. or on a risky day a flower, down in front of me and paint it. Can I do this? How? I have no idea right now ... but I can't really remember feeling so confident and excited and CLEAR about something - at least not for a very long time. Now read back to Margaret Contes quote - get the connection? Encouragement! Confirmation. Bright and early - first thing in the morning. Coincidence? I don't think so...

And now for your viewing pleasure - Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee as interpreted by Hollywood in the movie Sister Act 2





(or go here to see it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_c_MHkba5c)

By the way - having the title to these paintings before they are even painted is like having the hardest, worse part over with already - in a way - I am the WORST - absolutely the lamest - at titling my paintings! It is the hardest thing ever - that's why I number them so often.




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