51 minutes of India and Arabic Music

The Journal of Dreams 02/05/2010

This is what I have discovered about my health and the entry from yesterday.  There was a “Life Stress Scale” I learned about in nursing school.  Things which cause major life stresses are marriage, death, moving, divorce and a new job, and secondary stressors are diets, quitting smoking or other addictions, financial problems (if not major), buying a home, car, etc…  I am starting a new job in 10 days so it is not wise to change my life in a way that I have control over like dieting and quitting smoking.

I will start the job and give it 2-4 weeks, I am very adaptable.  Then I will start the diet for 2-4 weeks, then attempt to quit smoking.  In the interim, I will subtly decrease calories and start drinking water.  Sometimes I despise water although we as humans are 70% water.  I have never really understood my diversion of water when it is so important.  Slowly increasing it by drinking a bottle a day, then two, until I am at a minimum of 4 a day (20oz) is good.  Historically I have been known to jump from the frying pan into the flames so I will be conscious of change.

Today I cheated a little on the painting and jumped to Scene V-The Devil.  It is said that he was a beautiful angel, a dragon, serpent, so I definitely know he had/has wings and he is “beautiful”.  I had started him long ago with his seven heads and ten horns.  The halting of my progress was trying to discover how 10 horns fit one 7 heads and which heads are affected.  I still have not figured that out.  When I have problems with the painting I try to dream of the solutions.  Long ago I dreamed that 3 heads were larger and primary and had 2 horns each.

This has become a waste of very expensive paint.  How I originally painted The Devil was by placing dabs of Golden (the most expensive paints) Acrylic approximately 6mm high.  After time I developed a strategy where a certain amount of time passed where the paint became almost dry and I would smash the dabs as flat as they would go.  When they flattened, they would be about 2mm-3mm high and irregular in shape resembling lizard skin.  It was perfect and an exciting technique for the texture of the serpent or dragon.

I had even learned to shadow the dragon by placing 1/2 red and 1/2 brown in a single dab which caused a darker and lighter side to each “scale” of his skin.  Currently there is an estimated $800.00 worth of paint creating what is completed.  The wastefulness is the change I am contemplating although I may be able to save much of what has been created.  It is the color (of all things) I am thinking of changing.  The good thing is red and green make brown and the brown is determined by the ratios.  Changing from red to green may not be too harsh because of brown.

The heads were like snakes but now I want them to look more like dragons, powerful with flared out necks like a raptor dinosaur.  The image is fresh in my mind but the transition is not.  Definite sketches will have to be done in order not to waste the paint already used. It is estimated that nearly $2000.00 or more will be required to created this “beautiful” beast.  It seems ironic that of any character in the painting, he will need the most attention which is typical of his attributes and somehow expected.  It will be interesting to see the outcome.

The Journal of Dreams 01/19/2010

Worked a little on the pale horse and provided him with a coat of translucent green; a green wash-according to the Aramaic bible and the original translation from Jesus’ language.  I was going to paint a skeleton rider since the his name is death but quickly found he need more research and pre-sketching.  I put that section up for now.

I went back to the sky and highlighted it to match a little better in its transition from light to dark.  I began work on the Locust over six years ago.  It is difficult to work on them by hanging the canvas on the wall, I have to stand on a step stool and the detail of their faces is hard to focus on when your feet are not well grounded.  I will have to take it down for that work.

Thinking about what was originally named The Woman and the Beast which is actually Babylon, I decided to rename that scene to Babylon.  I had not thought much about this scene, had not really sketched it or measured it.  I have decided to use a form of art I used to use quite often for the making of Babylon.  I will have to work out some kinks.

I used to paint murals on the walls in apartments I lived in.  I spent a lot of time and money on those really beautiful works of art, then I would move and leave them behind.  The last few I painted took up the entire largest wall in the living rooms.  I had mastered them so that it had the illusion that you could walk into it.  Most were cities-big sparkling cities.

The windows were made from rhinestone which sparkled day and night.  They really added a lot to just sitting in the room.  I had found myself in the middle of watching television, starring into the city instead.  The most attractive rhinestone were the rich, dark colors of Emerald, Red, and the rich, dark golds.  Sometimes the corners of the rooms would transition to forest and work around the room.

Once the forest were done, I would place real trees in big, colorful pots in strategic places to make you feel as though you were sitting in a rainforest looking at the city in the distance.  That kind of art is good for the soul and leaves the imagination free.  If I had every gotten settled, I planned to have Macaws for my forest.  I fancied the Green Wing and Hyacinth.

That is the one thing about art.  If you dream it, you can create it.  I dreamt of a fantasy place that does not exist (as far as I know), and I created it as I envisioned it.  Art is wonderful for just that purpose.  Once I lived where the steps going upstairs were suspended on poles and through the steps I painted a huge, colorful, cartoon snake with big, playful eyes…he was great.

There are 3 murals on the walls of a critical care unit that I painted with nature sounds piped in.  That is a nice effect!  I painted them 7-8 years ago and now and then I call to see if they are still there.  It would be interesting to see how many people felt that those murals inspired their health and wellness in any way.  I once wanted to travel all over painting “healing” murals.  Maybe someday…