daydreams painted on a prairie sky: a meditation on beauty
This series of paintings began as a clear intention to deepen my commitment to myself and my creativity.
For me they reflect the beauty and the freedom I discovered on a pilgrimage home –
intimate moments glimpsed – a shifting of focus
les rêves des jardins d hiver ( a winter garden dreaming )
Dreams fascinate me. They play a large part in my work.
These paintings began in a dream. I saw a visual image and a title, as well as a clear direction and understanding of what I was going to do. As the work progressed however, I became unsure. Months of uncertainty and frustration passed until one day while meditating in my garden, I saw the bigger picture with greater detail.
What I saw was that I was creating one large painting, not 5 separate ones. Each 5′ square panel was a very specific aspect of the winter gardens’ dream. The last painting in the series was both the beginning of the sequence and the end of it. It went like this:
the dream of commitment and completion
the dream of intention
the dream of desire
the dream of possibilities
the dream of full potential
The entire piece was suspended from the ceiling on a semi-circular tapestry bar over a pool of water or a reflective floor, making the painting and its’ reflection one continuous image/experience.
More than anything in this piece, I feel the earth growing, growing towards the light, dreaming itself into being.
This is a beautiful dream, a visual metaphor for life and the process of growing.
a 5 min unedited video talking about how the meaning of this work came to me
seeing breathing dreaming
We see, we breathe, and we dream as part of everyday experience, you could even say that is how we create our lives.
Seeing, breathing, dreaming….universally shared experiences, privately felt.
Most of the time it all goes unnoticed.
This painting however urges you to notice, to pay attention.
It invites you to pause, to breathe deeply and to dream….
For me this painting is deeply personal in a way that I find difficult to explain.
I find myself humbled in the presence of its beauty and awed by its mystery.
Louise
Okori
All images © 1994-2007 All rights reserved
born on the 263 