Rare Lucid Dream

20160802 Dream

Conditions: Last night was a Leo new moon

After about an hour of sleep, my reflux woke me up a little after 11:30PM.

I was up for about another 30 minutes watching YouTube as some of my sleepiness had dispersed.

Finally I fell asleep.

I dream I am looking at flowers from a distance. It is like someone else is there with me and I am talking to them, or perhaps only talking to myself, when suddenly I become aware that I am dreaming.

I say something like, “OMG! I'm having a lucid dream! Okay, don't blow it, just relax, find your hands,” and I look down and see the back of a hand, it might have been my dream companion or it might have been my own hand, only much older, 20-30 years older.

Then I look forward again and the flowers are still there and then I look back at my hands but when I look up again, half the dreamscape is gone, sort of crystallized. I either see myself or another dream companion half-crystallized and I realize I am losing the dream so I say to myself, “Okay, I'm losing the dream, I'm going to come out of it.” And I woke up rather easily, no fear, but a great feeling of energy. I decided to leave the dream because I thought it might lead to sleep paralysis if I didn't come all the way out of the dream and then I would be afraid.

Prior to sleeping, I did notice some activity in my root and sacral chakras and I did my best to let the energy flow without spasming, but I did spasm somewhat.

I also think the reason I was seeing flowers, and I seemed to be seeing them from some sort of covered bridge, an old fashioned wooden bridge, because we had watched a show on Monet on Netflix on Raiders of the Lost Art. This also put in mind to want to see the mini-series about the impressionists from 2006 and when I was reviewing the dream in my mind prior to writing this, I came to the supposition that I may have been soul traveling to Monet's garden that had been restored and open to the public in the 1980s.

Spider-man Silver on Black

Okay, not that almost everything isn't a first for me at this point but this is a first on several levels.

Last week when I visited the art store and was going through their clearance paint, I came across a tube of silver and suddenly mind mind was awash in visions of silver on black paintings.

I think the first vision I had was for Daredevil sort of three images with Daredevil facing in three different directions.

Also Spider-Man was another idea.

After I painted the painting paper black, I got stuck in what to do.  Other than the superhero idea, I thought maybe just having a partial skyline like that I observed in Chicago.  So I painted it black on Tuesday night and then let it sit to dry but then I got stuck on what to attempt.

Luckily, I was reading a comic book series at the time called Secret War from my Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars Battleworld Box Set and this particular series had different heroes set against a mostly black background.  I pretty much had decided on either Daredevil or Spider-Man and in the end, the Spider-Man seemed like the best one to go with.

So this is also the first action scene I have drawn or painted.  In some ways, I'm happy with this painting.  I guess for my skill level, it is recognizable and the silver paint ended up being harder to work with than I anticipated.  It was a bit thicker than the other colors I had worked with, but since I was going with a simple design, I could paint over lines or too thick of lines with the black.

Here's the cover art that was the basis for this painting:

Ego is Skeleton #2

Ego Is Skeleton 2

Well, my second paiting is almost done.  Who knows, maybe it is done.  I don't quite feel it yet. Maybe I want to do something with that tree?  Maybe I do want to add something that resembles cobble stones on the red path?  Maybe I just want to touch up the parts where the canvas still comes through.

Oddly enough, I like it much better when I see it in the smaller size.  It is much closer to the vision I have in my head.

In this version, I like the road side much better and I like the arch much better.  I also like the figure much better. I felt I got the effect of a wraith-like being while giving it some substance and a little more character.

I am going to post my pictures from my last blogpost just so that people who want to see all of the pictures together will have a one-stop.

Ego is Skeleton 1

Original source photograph

Original Self-Portrait #11

My First Painting!

Ego Is Skeleton #1

The seed has been growing in me for a while.

My Self-Portrait 11 had been placed on a wall where I saw it more and my eye kept getting drawn to it.

An inner voice urged me to try something with the same image.  And then I went to see the Van Gogh's Bedrooms exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute last Wednesday and Thursday (March 9th & 10th 2016). And finally the breakthrough to try paints overcame me.

Yesterday, March 12, I stopped in the local Hobby Lobby while running the weekly errands and bought an acrylic paint set and some paper for painting.

I took the kit apart. Examined the paints. Watched a little bit of an introductory video and then just jumped in. I decided not to sketch out the design and as a result, it is lacking the otherworldly distortion I would have liked to capture more of.  I also would have liked to create more texture on either side of the path.  Other parts I am quite happy with.  Even though this is originally based on a photo and then on a drawing, I think it evokes something in my imagination that created a feedback loop.

Here are the original photo and drawing:

Basis for original drawing from March 2015

Self-Portrait 11 from March 2015

Figure It Out! A Great Drawing Book for the Fledgling Artist

Well, it's been several months since I have updated.  It has been a very hard few months as I had a protracted cold and work has been very hard in throwing up those petty little annoyances that make getting any meaningful work done.  I only did one or two drawings in the meantime, usually based on videos from a very good YouTube site called My Drawing Tutorial which has a variety of tutorials.

I also received a human figure manikin and a hand manikin for Christmas and I spent quite a few pages just drawing the figures in different poses just to let my mind build new neural pathways.  But I was not finding satisfaction in my progress.

It finally occurred to me to see what kind of drawing books our local Hobby Lobby has (I don't know why it takes so long to think of these things) and I found a great variety of books including one called Figure It Out! The Beginner's Guide to Drawing People  which is the opening photo for this essay.

One of the reasons I decided to get this book and another one called Draw 50 Famous Cartoons: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Your Favorite Classic Cartoon Characters is so that when I felt like drawing but didn't have a major project of my own to satisfy my urge, I could have some ready suggestions at hand.

So, starting Sunday, which was March 6, 2016, I drew my first drawing from Figure It Out! which was a male human face:

And I thought it turned out pretty well.  Yesterday, Monday, I had a full day off of work and no other chores to do so  I was able to devote several hours to drawing and drew these:

One of the main lessons I am learning from this experience of teaching myself to draw is the expectation of perfectionism.  Now intellectually, I know I shouldn't be able to draw perfectly right out of the bat, to kill a metaphor, but emotionally it is much harder because as an American who went through the public school system, we are psychologically damaged so that we are constantly measuring ourselves against our classmates and this causes us to devalue both ourselves and the work we can produce.  I think this kills our imagination and puts us into a low-self-esteem mode that makes us more manageable to government bureaucracies that enjoy managing our lives.  And we've been taught through experience that we aren't very valuable anyway, so why not let some controlling sociopath control our lives for us?

The other thing I've learned is that drawing can be very hard on the beginner, even though I spent probably 5 hours at the drawing table yesterday, most of the time is spent on the initial step of getting the oval shape of the head right.  But I have decided this is okay as you see, I drew the same image twice, once where I couldn't get the shape of the head right, or at least, to my satisfaction, but I decided I would draw it once to completion and then draw it again and I was very pleased with how the second attempt turned out.

This morning I was having the same problem trying to draw a head facing to the left and in that case I left my misshapen oval and decided to do a blog post.

So there's the update!

Self Portrait Number 17

Well, it has been months since I have produced a self-portrait.  Over the summer I had a greater interest in drinking a beer while reading from my Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars Battleworld Box Set after work, but as the end-of-day sunshine became impossible to capture and the  weather worsened I have taken refuge in my drawing table once more.

This picture is from a video I made back in October. I had been looking for another project to work with my water color pencils and this screen capture had the rays of sunlight at my head making it fun to try and capture.

After Self Portrait 16, I was anxious to work with color again but every attempt I made was unsatisfying.  I began to get frustrated with nearly everything I was trying to produce and eventually just took to doing the occasional practice drawing.

After the long summer break, I had enough time between drawings that I went back to using the drawing upside down technique for this project.  Much of the anxiety that presented itself after Self Portrait 16 had receded and I just started drawing as if I had never taken a break.

I think Self Portrait 17  took at least two months from start to finish which points out to me the need to record the start date just so I know my own progress.

I did get some wonderful new tools for my drawing for Christmas, a brand new drawing table.  A nice LED light that stretches across the table, some flesh tone pencils, a male form drawing manikin and a male hand manikin. So since Christmas I have been practicing action shots with the manikin.

Now that I am at the end of the year and have produced 17 self-portraits and a variety of practice sketches, I am very glad I started on this last year.  I still need a lot of practice but I have drawings that I have drawn.  The idea that I cannot draw has been vanquished, it is only to figure out how to sketch certain things or control the ratios and perspective of what I am attempting to draw.  I look at the world differently now.  When I look at a person or an object, my mind starts breaking the basic shapes down and I am constantly asking myself, 'How can I draw this? How can I bring out the color in this?" so that this has been one of the most successful New Years Resolution-type things I've ever attempted.

Harry Potter and the Fourth Chakra

Story opens in the town of the Riddle family years after the Riddles are all found dead.

There is a pub called the Hanging Man which is a reference to the 12^th card of the Major Arcana and can also refer to Odin hanging from the World Ash Tree in order to learn the meaning of all the runes.

While there were no snakes in The Prisoner of Azkaban, at least not that I recall, in the very first chapter a very large snake makes an appearance as an old man eavesdrops on Voldermort and Peter What's-his-name, the traitor who lived for 12 years as the Weasley's pet rat Scampers.

The snake tells Voldemort the old man is listening outside the door and Voldomort has Peter bring the old man in and then murders him.

Then Harry Potter wakes up with his scar hurting, he has just dreamed all of this.

Harry thinks of who he can talk to about his scar. He rejects Hermionie and Ron after imagining what their advice would be and decides to contact his godfather, Sirius Black who is still on the run.

Since the third chakra is all about the heart, we find Harry's home life improving somewhat because he has discovered Sirius and the Dreasly family, knowing that Harry has a relation to such a person thought to be a murderer, treats Harry better.

Again, just like in the preceding novels, Harry's home life imrpoves based on lies. Not that it matters so much because the Dreasly family has no desire to know the truth

For the first time in the series we see Ron becoming jealous of Harry after Harry's name comes flying out of the Goblet of Fire.

First task involves dragons and the acquisition of a golden egg

Second task deals with with water and mere-people

Third task involves finding a way through a hedge maze to claim a kind of cup.

When Harry and Cedric both clasp the cup, I am assuming the cup is a loving cup with a handle on each end, they are transported to the Riddle estate

Cedric is murdered right away.  Cedric means "kind and loved"

So the Tri Wizard trophy is  a loving cup one handle grabbed by Harry the other handle grabbed by Cedric

Cedric's murder strikes me as a human sacrifice, that Harry led Cedric to be sacrificed so that Harry could escape Voldemort. This point seems to be proven when Harry can't accept the winnings from the Tri Wizard winnings. It's blood money that Harry finally gives to the Weasly twins so they can start their joke shop. So the sacrifice of Cedric, of “Kind and Loved” is transformed or transmuted into a joke.

So, how is my thesis going? Do the Harry Potter books align with the main chakra system? So far they seem to but in this book, the heart is blown up, in a matter of speaking. Kindness and love are sacrificed.

The serpent makes a reappearance at the start of this novel as Voldemort's pet snake.

Just to recapitulate from memory, there is a boa constrictor Harry releases from the zoo in the first novel.

There is a basilisk in the second novel that lives in the Chamber of Secrets.

I don't recall a serpent in Azkaban.

And Voldemort's pet snake is introduced at the start of this novel.  Voldemort's pet snake is named Nagini and while looking for an image for this set of notes, I found that Nagini is Hindu for the female snake gods.  A naga or nagini is also a person in possession of the Kundalini, or serpent life force.