Believe in Dreams

Jacked up on buzz beans, I finished my entry for an art exhibit I've entered entitled "Dreams." The show is at Launch Pad Gallery in Portland and here is what the gallery has to say about the show:

Dreams: A Salon-Style, Open-Call Themed Group Show featuring one piece each by over 100 artists. This October, in the liminal month between summer and fall, Launch Pad Gallery invites you to delve deep into the subconscious and the private worlds of sleep, hope and the darker corners of the mind with Dreams our sixth open-call themed group show!

Nearly a third of your life is spent sleeping, inhabiting a world visible only to your mind’s eye, bounded only by the firings of your synapses. Naked dreams; flying dreams; falling dreams; fever dreams; prophetic dreams; sex dreams; dream lovers; dreams of the dead; day dreams; dreams of glory; hopes & dreams; nightmares; “I have a dream”; a dream within a dream….

What happens to a dream deferred? How different really is dreaming from being awake? Where do you go when you dream, and who do you become? Where does the dream end and reality begin? What are your dreams and aspirations and how do they affect you today and shape who you will be tomorrow?

OPENING PARTY - First Friday, October 3rd
6pm-12am
FREE! ALL AGES! OPEN TO EVERYONE!

Show runs October 3-31, 2008

This is the second time I've entered a show at Launch Pad Gallery, the first was in February when I was in the Love Show, with my entry entitled "Sixty-Four."

So, I've been slowly working on my entry for Dreams, mainly with the encouragement and companionship of my friend Destree, (who also entered the show). We've gotten together a couple of mornings to cheer each other on - and to get something onto our canvas before the deadline (this weekend!).

This is what my canvas looked like for about three weeks:




Then last Wednesday, Destree came over and I glued some collage elements onto my canvas to form a base, because I had the snippet of an idea . . .

Somewhere between then and today, I started to add paint and texture:

Yesterday, Destree sent me an e-mail expressing that she was feeling all "flutter-gutted." Well, I didn't know the exact meaning of that fabulous word, but we decided we needed an art date. So, Destree came over this morning. I encouraged her and then we "conferenced" about my piece. I had a couple of ideas, but couldn't decide which way I wanted to go. With her help, I decided to glue on my chosen embellishments (which I've been doing all day now). Early in the day, this was what my piece was looking like:

As I progressed on my piece, I began to play with the idea of adding melted wax. Yikes Almighty! Melted wax?!? I've taken encaustic classes, but I have never fired up my own crock pot (no pot roast tonight!) with molten wax. But that is my plan. Here is my piece sans the wax, but with embellishments:


My husband, Howard, said he really likes the painting and even the objects I've glued on, except for the baby. My babies creep him out (could it be that I have too many babies?)! Would these babies creep you out?

Today, beautiful Destree finished her piece and left it in my care to take to Portland on Friday. Here she is holding her "baby":

This is Destree's finished piece:

And here I am, late this evening adding some finishing touches and futzing with my piece:

And here are photos of my completed piece, Believe.

The big and the little dream pieces got together and nestled in the chair:





Yes, I do believe in dreams.