These digital illustrations were created for a teacher who wanted a visual representation of “the old way of learning” vs “the new way of learning,” referred to as Project Based learning. These illustrations became a key part in their Project Based Learning presentations, and played an instrumental role in the presentations success.
With this collage I wanted to represent how this series provides just a glimpse into my subconscious and mind as an artist while I’m asleep. While I do have plenty of dreams, sometimes there is a blurred distinction between a dream or a nightmare, as some of my paintings in this series portray.
In this dream I was in the woods in the middle of the night and was lost; it was so dark I could barely see anything. I wandered through the darkness until a blue light orb appeared before me. It lead me to the middle of the forest where there was a giant tree, where dozens of light orbs were dancing around it’s branches.
In this dream I was wandering in the forest until I came across a part that was glowing blue. I walked cautiously towards it to satisfy my curiosity, and when I parted a bush I discovered a beautiful faery sitting gracefully upon the grass. The blue aura that engulfed the surroundings was coming from her, and orange light orbs were floating all around. She looked completely at peace while she played and cooed to the orbs, and her demeanor and aura put me to ease.
In this dream I was in the woods in the middle of the night and was lost; it was so dark I could barely see anything. I wandered through the darkness until a blue light orb appeared before me. It lead me to the middle of the forest where there was a giant tree, where dozens of light orbs were dancing around it’s branches.
This “dream” was actually more like a beautiful nightmare. I was lost in the woods and time and space was flying past me. I witnessed the seasons within the woods change within seconds, cycling over and over again. The whirring and whispers that I could hear were both barely audible and deafening at the same time. I finally clapped my hands over my ears and cried out for it all to stop, and just as sudden as it started, it ceased; the woods frozen in transition of all four seasons.
In this dream I was in the forest and I sensed something calling to me. I followed the feeling in my chest until it led me to this beautiful nude woman standing in the middle of a stream. She had branches for hair, and birds began to fly towards her and perch on her branches. She was speaking in a language that I felt but didn’t understand, and I watched as she gathered aura from the nature that surrounded her, until she held an orb of energy to her chest.
In this dream I was sitting in a window sill watching the rain come down from the sky. I saw some snails make their way towards some leaves for cover, all with white shells. At that point I had noticed some rainwater was coming in from the window; a small part of it broken and missing. No sooner did I see that did I see a small snail trying desperately to make it inside. I stood up on the sill to reach and help the little one, and once I brought him down I realized that he had a beautifully painted shell that looked like starry night. I placed him on the window, and he touched up his shell with a little paintbrush he had in his mouth.
This “dream” started out as a nightmare. I was in complete darkness, trying to find any source of light, and I heard footsteps and demonic laughter following me. I started to panic, so I began running until I found a clearing lit by the moon peeking through a cloud covering. The earth was barren; all the trees were dead. Everything was monochromatic; including myself. From behind a tree stump another monochromatic person emerged cautiously, and waved me over to him. He was kneeling on the ground, covering something with his hands. My curiosity urged me forward towards him, and as he smiled at me he moved his hands to reveal a beautifully vivid clover that was growing from the barren earth.
In this dream I was wandering around in the forest. I came upon a stream that was filled with beautiful stones and gems with healing properties. I sat down beside it and stuck my feet in the stream and watched as light orbs floated down with the water, as I was filled with a calming and rejuvenating energy.
In this dream I was running through the forest, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature. A monarch butterfly drifted by me, and I decided to follow. Bobbing and weaving through the trees, the butterfly finally lead me to a clearing, where there were several monarchs and a small baby fox playing with them. I watched from the edge of the clearing for a while, until the fox pup finally noticed my presence and wandered up to me. I petted her head, and as soon as she looked up and made eye contact with me, she disappeared, leaving me with astonishment and the monarch butterflies.
In this dream I was sitting near a clearing in the woods. Part of the clearing however, was just in black and white, like a line drawing, while the other was in full color like normal. Before I could even begin to ponder this I started seeing butterflies come into the clearing, dissolving of color when they flew between the divided sections of the clearing. It was both astonishing and perplexingly beautiful.
In this nightmare I was lost, trying to find my way out of the forest. The wind was making a cacophony of deafening whistles and sounds, and the leaves that it was whipping around were razor sharp and cutting my legs and arms. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the trees began to crackle, and red eyes suddenly appeared all around me. The crackling sounds got louder, and demonic looking owls began to emerge from the trees and started flying towards me. I screamed, and I woke up in a cold sweat.
In this dream I was in a world where the plane I was walking on was vertical as opposed to horizontal. Gravity did not apply, and the sky looked like a sun was setting, just without a sun. I was walking on water that was like a sheet of glass, and I was trying to walk to the single tree that was ahead of me, but no matter how much I walked, I never moved from the spot I was at on the water.
