Dreaming Art

I must admit that I don't always GET how my mind works, but sometimes my quirky brain can be pretty darn fun. Like last night --- I had such fun dreams! I can just hear some of you out there groaning "Oh no...nooooo, my gawd, the woman is telling us her dreams now. She must be desperate for subject matter." Well no, Smartypants, as a matter of fact I'm NOT. Not today anyway. I just think this dream was really interesting and even kind of relevant! So....in the dream I was taking a walk on my usual path. Only, in the way of dreams, the path wasn't exactly like it is in real life. Parts were the same, but it was greatly expanded....longer, more twists and turns, and included some features that aren't really there like a truly SPECTACULAR small lake with a waterfall on one end. I wish that WAS really on my property. It was gorgeous. However this was no ordinary walk. The whole route had been turned into a juried and judged art exhibit. There was art hanging from the trees. There was art set up in clearings. There were installations where some of the trees and rocks became part of the artwork itself. One of my favorites was a piece that had somehow been arranged to hang directly inside the small waterfall, with the water washing over it and changing it. I somehow had a copy of the judge's worksheets in my hand, so that I was able to read their notes as I looked at each piece. (The judges were one of my former art profs and the Korean man from "Lost". Um, yeah.) Their comments were often snarky, and even occasionally cruel, but also pretty dead-on accurate. It had moments of comedy, like when I was looking at a "sculpture" that was simply a half-grown cedar tree. No embellishments, no creative pruning a la bonsai.....just a tree, as it was growing in nature. Which, ok, yeah...could be perceived as a work of art by the Divine, but that wasn't the name on the artists' list! I kept looking around me and protesting "But....it's a tree...just a tree, not a sculpture...a TREE, people..." But no one would listen. People around me kept doing pretentious ArtSpeak about it instead. It felt very Emperor'sNewClothes-ish. I don't remember a specific ending to the dream. It just sort of faded away into other dreams, as they tend to do. I DO remember that the next one involved me riding a many-stories-tall wrecking ball and laughing gleefully as it smashed into whatever it was it was smashing, while not injuring me at all. But I digress. I woke up feeling very inspired from the art-walk dream, and keep thinking about some ideas I took away from it --- ideas about finding art and/or inspiration in unexpected places and incorporating unexpected things. Maybe I can work some of those ideas into my real-life work in the coming months. Hhmmm.... Virtue Report Those of you who have been following my Virtue progress the last couple of days will understand perfectly why I thought today's "Cathy" comic strip was hilarious. Yesterday went fine. I don't think I was quite so glowingly virtuous as the day before, but I stuck with the plan. I still haven't had the nerve to try on the too-tight pants again though. Joshilyn and Mir have both talked about their pants feeling looser already, but I really, really don't think I'm there yet! But that's ok. It's a lifestyle change, not a race.