Friday, April 6, 2007

Beloved Person in Bird Costume Painted from Memory / Be Loved (1993)

















On December 8, 1979, nine years to the morning that my boyfriend had returned from Vietnam, I began to record in my written journal some fleeting images (several of which were of sculptures) from a series of dreams that became increasingly complex and mysterious. Of course, it is very difficult to translate dream images onto paper because dream images are elusive. The recording of the dream images led to my decision to return to college to finish my degree in English Literature with a minor in Studio Art and preceded ten years of intense creativity and growth.

In October of 1990, feeling my inspiration slipping away, I went through my written journals and copied those dream images onto four pieces of 13" x 17" watercolor paper. Many of those images appear in my paintings in the 1990s, including the "beloved person in bird costume."

































































It was on December 8, 2006, thirty-six years to the day that my boyfriend had returned from Vietnam, that I decided to create this blog, which has led to a renewed commitment to myself as an artist and writer.

4 comments:

Loren said...

If it re-inspired your art, it's certainly serving its purpose, am.

I found that my blog has a the same kind of effect on my artistic aspirations, something I'd long since buried under the burden of raising two kids and teaching high school English classes.

Anonymous said...

wonderful images of the journal, the ideas along the way, the sketches, the work in process, lovely stuff.
kjm

am said...

Loren -- Your blog has definitely had a positive effect on me, reminding me that written poetry and visual poetry matter.

kjm -- As always, good to know that you keep coming back to visit my blog.

burning silo said...

Agree with kjm.... the journal pages are wonderful, and it's so good that you were able to develop some of these notes and images into paintings.