The infiltration of my dreams with Art is welcome. It might be fueled by assembling found objects, my new amusement. The process is instinctive without a real goal. It’s fun without the pressure of making Art.
The last project included hanging pearls on an old stool and covering the little seat with rabbit fur. When I was writing a Lunar New Year post, it occurred to me that I had subconsciously assembled the perfect Water Rabbit sculpture. Water is Yin. Yin is deep, dark and cold. Pearls not only come from the water but are created by the soft flesh of a creature that lives in that dark environment. Pearls are so extremely Yin that they are the turning point where delicate Yin becomes Yang, a hard pearl. Rabbit fur because I had it and pearls because they are beautiful with the fur. Abracadabra. Happy Lunar New Year of the Water Rabbit.
I took these ideas about dreams and intuition on a snowy New Year hike. The glistening snow wouldn’t last long. The ground was warm, and I could feel soft dark slushy footprints form with each step. The impermanence added to the beauty. I looked for an image in the forest to illustrate the apparent wizardry informing my dreams and inspiring the creative process, but my mind wandered.
What inspires these odd and wonderful impulses? Is it what we feed our brains, the things we read, listen to and ponder? Maybe that information dances and twirls until it explodes like the images of my daughter in my dream. If we are emotionally and spiritually free and our minds are open, those glimmering pieces might land in a fertile environment and conjure beauty in our sleep and in our waking life, too.
What if we immerse ourselves in things we love? Dive deeply into topics that interest us. Live, breathe and bow to those things that whisper our names, even if the calling doesn’t make sense.
It made sense to choose a Nature picture from a hike, but the photograph of Diana’s, from Castello Papadopoli Giol called loudly; it didn’t whisper. And I didn’t resist. It truly captures Magic.
Diana and I were related by marriage. The marriage didn’t endure, but the connection of our kindred spirits did. I’m grateful for that connection, her positive influence on my daughters and her permission to use this beautiful image. Diane Bedin is a photographer, born in Venice and living in Spinea, Italy.