Dreams of Art. Art of Dreams. Sometimes one appears first. Other times, both appear together.
What is a Dream? What is Art?
Welcome to my website created to share my art and provoke thought and conversation. What is a dream? A dream can play out while sleeping; sometimes, I think about an especially vivid dream while I paint. But a dream can also be what I want to do or achieve, people or places to visit, or a vision or purpose for my life. So with this meaning, my dream has also been to create art.
I collaged this mixed media art, Innocence, while reflecting on when I was a young girl who loved making things with fabrics. Sewing was not only a practical craft, but it was a fun creative outlet using woven or knit solids or prints plus thread, zippers, buttons, elastic, and other notions. I also learned the language and process of sewing with tissue patterns and how to operate a sewing machine, fortunately without sewing through my fingers!
Going to the fabric store with my mom and getting lost in the dreamy yards of smooth, rough, silky, and sheer colors and textures was heaven. I spent hours paging through pattern catalogs, often with sisters or friends, trying to envision wearing the garments pictured in the fabrics I liked or designing my own styles.
One of my first wearable creations was a simple dress, made from red cotton with bright blue and white flowers. I felt wonderful in it because it poofed out when I spun around fast and I had made it mostly by myself. I also loved the creative feeling I had while wearing that dress.
Although I have shifted away from wearable art, my media today continues a process of combining materials. I now layer wax, paper, paint, fabric, and other materials to create contemporary art paintings. I am inspired by nature or other topics of the day that capture my attention, in addition to the curious content of dreams. Having spent more than a decade exploring my and others’ sleep-time dreams, I find visual representations of themes, characters, and settings to be an energizing way to interact with this dream imagery.
Much like pursuing a dream has twists and turns, so does the path for my art. I enjoy where the creative process takes me and I usually like the resulting painting, too.
I hope you enjoy my website and blog as much as I’ve enjoyed and learned by creating it.
Thanks for visiting. I look forward to your comments.
How are you pursuing your dream? If you are not, is there something holding you back?
⇒ For information about commissioning a similar artwork, contact Janet Fox.