Painting again.

Last week I re-joined the RQAS ( Royal Queensland Art Society). I didn't go to the workshop but I did stump up the cash and became a member.

Now what I like about this place is that each month they have a theme for the paintings and so it sort of sets a bit of a task and gives some direction if direction is lacking and as I haven't painted in a long time, direction was definitely lacking.

March's theme is DREAMING. Now as I have whinged previously, I am not getting much sleep at the mo, so dreaming is something that I am very keen on. I would love to spend a week just dreaming and floating along and waking up refreshed and rested. When I think of dreaming I think of flying gracefully and swimming elegantly. I think of being weightless and naked and svelte and lovely.

I blotted out an old painting and set to making my dreaming a canvas reality. I love playing with paint and watching it morph into unexpected designs and so the background became a wonderful splodge of blues and pinks and whites and purples with bubbles and smudges.

I was happy with how it looked. It seemed hopeful and inviting. Then I found some photos of Belly learning to surf and the images were so sculptural and flying-like that I thought I would use them as inspiration.

Well paint and draw and doodle and fiddle I did, and now every time I step back to have a look I am a little more concerned about where my head might really be. The images that I can control are sweet and calm and relaxed and wonderful, but what is appearing is hostile and miserable and confronting and violent. Steve looked at it and wondered if it was a murder scene. I don't dislike what I have made but it's just not what I had in mind.

But maybe what is in my mind while dreaming on these hot sticky nights, is not even close to what I would like to be dreaming, so I reckon I might just leave it as it is.

It certainly makes you wonder what was in the mind of Munch or Charles Blackman to propel them  to make some of their little bits of misery.