Dream A Little Dream of Me on Illustration Friday

September 26, 2019

Dream A Little Dream of Me on Illustration Friday

“For in dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean, or glide over the highest cloud.”

-Dumbledore (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)

Happy Friday, everyone. Its the end of the week that has not only been really busy (in a good way) but has also been quite pensive as I worked on this week's Illustration Friday submission. The topic is DREAM and it has had me inside my head all week thinking about not only my dreams but the action of dreaming in general, if such a topic could be general at all.

An interesting Fact about dreams:

Adults and babies dream for an estimated 2 hours per night. during a typical lifetime, we will spend an average of six years dreaming.

I instantaneously had this image in my head after reading the topic last weekend and I very quickly sketched it out of my head the following morning. I'm not bragging. It's quite the opposite. This little image just blew right through me and so very quickly, it was almost effortless. Most of the time, even with the quick-turnaround-illos I do for IF Fridays, often involve some research and drawing reference. Usually, there's a couple of sketches to develop it to my own liking before I ink and color... Usually, right? But, not this week. This week it flowed very very quickly.

Also, I usually don't know exactly what I'm going to write about it on the blog until after I've completed it. OK. Granted I am now writing after I have finished the illustration. However, this week, the blog post has been writing itself in my head as I worked on the illustration and that never really happens. Usually, my focus is on one task at a time in a project's timeline. This week my mind was working on everything all at once; completely non-linear. I'm only making this effort to emphasize it because it's truly just so... odd.

The reason, I think, is not necessarily because I believe this week's project was just an easy one or that I executed it more quickly than usual (even though I had, really) but I think that because my mind has really been bending its thoughts around the topic of dreams. I have come to the conclusion that since dreams are non-linear, perhaps an exerted meditation upon causes your mind to also perform in a similar fashion. I can't say for certain but I have wondered if that is what may have been going on...

Anyway... So dreams, and dreaming...

An interesting Fact about dreams:

Everyone dreams, even people who claim that they do not. We typically have several dreams during each sleep with each dream lasting from 5 to 20 minutes in length.

The visual can go a few different ways. At least, in my own imagination, it did. First, he could be just a personification of a dream. What I think one might look like. It's a cute little cloud baby so I liked the idea that it's possible that's what a dream might be if it was a physical manifestation of itself. I liked imagining that dreams were sentient entities, creatures that grow and develop independently and outside of our brains. That eventually it would reach adulthood and manifest into some more mature version of itself with its own higher purpose of existence. It's a cute thing to imagine. It's also interesting to imagine what a dream's higher function or purpose might be. If our dreams are something manifested in its infancy, what would a "matured" or "grown-up" dream look like?

Secondly, it could be literally what it is as I drew it, A baby cloud that is asleep and dreaming itself. It's not a dream personified, it is just another "living" creature having a dream of its own. I liked imagining about that as well. What would a baby cloud dream about? What would clouds dream about if they could? It made me wonder about playing that game that we have all played (when your phone is on charge) where you look up into the sky on a relatively cloudy day and you begin to see the clouds form into objects or animals or faces or... well anything you see in them. I liked thinking that when a cloud takes the shape of something, that something is what it is currently dreaming about because, since the image we see in the clouds changes as the clouds move past us, dreams can change. It's like a river except with clouds and dream-stuff.

Film still from It's A Wonderful Life

Frank Capra, 1947.

The last thing that I imagined in regards to my illustration is a bit more abstract in nature. Obviously, I spend ALOT of time in my own imagination and this brainwave is certain proof. lol. If you have ever seen the film It's a Wonderful Life (One of my absolute Holiday Favorites. I watch it several times during the Holiday season and sometimes during the year outside of the Holidays.) At the end of the film, there is a very famous line, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings." I was imagining that maybe something similar happens when a living creature dreams. I'm not saying that every time you dream, an angel gets its wings. I was thinking more along the lines of the transference of energy. I was thinking that every time you dream, a cloud is born. And perhaps this cloud as it grows, it will eventually need to disperse it's energy back into the world, like a rain cloud. However, instead of water raindrops, it's thoughts, inspiration, ideas, brainwaves that get "rained" back down onto all the life on the planet. I just fell in love with that thought-thread.

All Saints, Langport

Photograph by Joseph Casey

I'm always curious as to where inspiration comes for things that I end up creating. This explanation is as good as any other. I'm certain that it's probably not how it all works, but it is curious and romantic to imagine that it could happen that way. I just may start a religion based on it and open a church. The Cloud Baby Baptist Church, where we go to church and sleep and dream. Rows of pews are replaced with rows of beds. When everyone is awake, we all testify about what we dreamt about and take turns baptizing each other in really really soft blankets.

So, when you are talking to me and I end up having to ask you to repeat yourself, my mind was probably off imagining things like that. lol. jk... maybe.

An interesting Fact about dreams:

Up to 95% of all dreams are quickly forgotten after waking. One theory is that, due to the changes that are occurring in the brain during sleep, our brains cannot support the information processing and storage needed for memory formation to take place.

Aside from what my little cloud baby might actually be, my mind has also been off on its own pondering the real dreams I dream about when I sleep. Many years ago, on my own personal quest for dreaming knowledge, I read an article about how most people never have pleasant dreams. That all dreams are usually unpleasant. Perhaps this is where the common phrases such as, "pleasant dreams," and, "sweet dreams" originate from. Like making a wish for good dreams this time around because they are always bad, or like speaking an incantation that would speak into reality good dreams that would push all the bad ones out of your head. I'm certain that this is probably not the case, but then again, I spend a lot of time in my own imagination.

Bad Dreams

Illustration by Tianhua Mao

I can say this for certain: I have NEVER had a pleasant dream. All the dreams I have ever been able to remember are always unpleasant in some way. I'm not saying that every dream I have is a nightmare. That would be awful. lol. I do have nightmares occasionally that wake me up in the middle of the night; ones that were scary enough to make me race to the light switch and then, later on, leave a lamp or night light on when I go back to sleep. They are not all that horrible, no, but they are all unpleasant. There is always some negative element to them. These are, of course, the dreams that I am able to remember after waking. Ever since I read that article, I have been more cognizant of the nature of my dreams and realizing that they are, in fact, quite unpleasant. I was relieved to know that it wasn't just something that was wrong with me. This is something that many people in the world experience as well. It made me feel slightly better about it.

An interesting Fact about dreams:

People do not always dream in color. Many people dream in Black and white. Those that do dream in color often dream in mainly pastels.

Previously, I have only told a very small handful of people about this place that I go to often when I dream. I call it the dream city because it is literally exactly that. It's not ever a recurring dream, but the dream itself takes place within this same city. Sometimes it's in the same area of this city and I tend to recognize the location or sometimes I get to see a new part of this city, but somehow my mind is aware that I am in that city, even if the location itself is new to me. Sometimes there are variations of the same location, but I can still tell that it is that same location.

Roman Colosseum

Photo credit unknown.

I'll explain such an example. On the outskirts of the city are these infinitely expanding fairgrounds. It's just an empty manicured grass field that seems to go on forever. I've never really gone the distance in any dream (or at least in any dream that I can recall) where I tested the theory of how far the field does indeed extend. There are no trees with which to border it, it's just open and seemingly infinite. Sometimes there are things that are in the field (such as a fair or carnival, hence as to why I call it the fairgrounds) and other times it is empty. It has only one architectural structure at its head. I call it the Colosseum as it is an organic-ish structure that resembles the shell of the Roman Colosseum ruins. The architectural details are not there so I know it isn't supposed to be the Colosseum, but it does vaguely resemble it; that is if the Colosseum were created in a similar fashion to that of the Grand Canyon. It's a structure that was created by years of natural erosion that eventually configured itself into something that vaguely resembles the Colosseum. This structure is ALWAYS present when I visit the fairgrounds. Sometimes it is hollow, like just another naturally created wonder. Other times it is filled with shops like a commercial street in most NYC neighborhoods. I can recall one dream where it was supposed to be part of the Universal Studios theme park in someway. One dream it was an outdoor-ish assembly hall for a Summer Camp I was attending. I visit the Dream City in all various ages of my life: my current age, as a young man, as a child, even at an age much older than I am now. I'm not necessarily saying that I can see my own future, I am just saying that the city is completely non-linear in relation to me.

Oglethorpe House, Savannah College of Art and Design

Photo credit unknown.

Another structure that I see from time to time is a structure that is based on a residence hall that I had lived in when I was in college. (Other SCADies will know what I'm talking about.) This structure is a version of SCAD's Oglethorpe House on Oglethorpe Avenue in downtown Savannah, Georgia. It is a converted hotel that is in the shape of a capital letter "T." The only exception is that the three branches of the residence hall converge into a central very very very tall tower. I want to say that in one dream, I had visited the 280-something floor but that was not the highest floor you could go to. The structure is a pale yellow as Oglethorpe House is a pale yellow building. (We dream in pastels, right?! lol.) It's always storming very badly when I visit Oglethorpe Tower. One might say that perhaps I was scared by my experiences at O-House. However, the exact opposite is true. I can't think of any bad memories I have of living there outside of the experiences I had with 2 of the 3 O-House ghosts (a tale for another blog post most definitely.) I've met so many good friends living there etc. etc... So I am neither certain as to why it is the towering and menacing Goliath in my dream nor why it is always surrounded by massive lightning storms. It's an intimidating vision. I might paint it one day so that others can see what I'm describing. To be honest I have thought about trying to make it a long term goal to make a map of the city. To know it's geography in entirety. That might be folly, but I do think about it. Several people have suggested I begin to keep a dream journal. I think I may begin doing just that.

An interesting Fact about dreams:

It is possible to control your dreams. When a dreamer is aware that they are in a dream, it is possible for them to their dream content. A lucid dream is theorized to be a combined state of both consciousness and REM sleep.

I have never achieved lucid dreaming. Perhaps, if I learn to lucid dream, I might be able to make them more pleasant for myself. Lucid dreaming may make my dream cartography goal a possibility... who knows? Dreaming is such a strange and curious thing. Humans create, write, draw, paint, film so much about this particular subject and even with all that collective meditation, Dreams and Dreaming still remain in most part a mystery to us. They are a constant source of fascination and imagination. Something that has wandered in and out of my mind all week is the film Waking Life (well, excerpts from the film.) If you haven't seen it, it's a must. It's a beautifully rotoscoped animated film from writer/director Richard Linklater. I think he is a master of writing intriguing dialogue for characters in his films. You can find yourself getting lost in the conversations that his characters have, particularly in Waking Life. The film is basically about this traveler who runs into a series of characters that the traveler may or may not know and they discuss the difference in the waking and non-waking life. Dreams and the subconscious state of being are heavy topics that get discussed. Which is more real: your waking or non-waking life? What exactly is it? What does it mean if it means anything? etc. I make it sound possibly boring with such a flat description but I assure you that you will be sucked into each and every conversation that the traveler has with magnanimous interest. I highly recommend seeing it if you haven't already (it is a pretty old film.)

Film still from Waking Life

Richard Linklater, 2001

I bring up Waking Life, because there is one conversation in particular that takes place in a cafe between two women. They are discussing the possibility that when we dream, we are actually having an out of body experience and it could be possible that we all go to the same place to dream. This is how we see each other in our dreams. This is how we have the same dream. This place we are astro-projecting to is also the same place we go to or return to when we die. This is also the reason we see loved ones that have passed away in our dreams. It's truly a fascinating film to watch and to listen to. It gives you much to think about and meditate on afterward.

Anyway, I mention this film and this segment in the film, because I began to wonder if my dream city wasn't in fact "my" dream city. What if it was everyone else's dream city as well? What if this is the place we all go to dream in? It makes me think of another film, What Dreams May Come. When Robin Williams' character, Chris, finally finds his way out of his on solitary heaven, he discovers the city that all other souls go to commune with one another. But in the city, there has to be a "common vision" that all the souls share and experience together. It made me wonder if the dream city was a "common vision" construct that we all have created and continue to create every time we go to sleep. Since none of us all sleep at the same time, it's almost as if we may be building the city on "shifts."...

An interesting Fact about dreams:

Blind people can see in their dreams. Researchers have found that certain people who were blind from birth have experienced visual imagery as they dream. Their eye movements correlate to visual dream recall.

image credit unknown.

...Honestly, as you can see, this week's topic has had me pondering quite a bit. I still am pondering, actually. However, I think I will kind of leave things on that note since it's almost time for my "shift." I hope you all have enjoyed a little field trip into my head and into my imagination and I hope that my little cloud baby inspires you to meditate on your own dreams and dreamscapes. I, again, encourage you all to watch Waking Life this weekend, even if you have already seen it. Its a good one to watch more than once. It covers a lot. you can pick up new things on the next go-round. I put the trailer below. Also, I have provided a link to where I found these fun facts about dreaming. I only shared a handful so the article is worth the read (click on the photo above.) Maybe we should all start a Dream Journal this weekend. What fun. ;0)