I have been having recurring dreams lately. I love that this phenomena exists - how long-term long-distance relationships with places, people or experiences can be cultivated in the dream realm. How peculiar is it to be able visit the same place in different dreams? It starts to have some realness to it.
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One of my recurring dream spaces is a secret art studio. Each time in the dream, it is a place I have completely forgotten about for a long time, and so I go to visit. It’s hidden on the top floor of some random unsuspecting downtown building somewhere. To get inside, I have to get into a small square-shaped rickety elevator (rickety elevators have been a dream theme for me lately, that’s a whole different story). The elevator requires a small brass key with a deliciously minimalist oblong geometric shape to it. This same key is required to get into the door once I arrive at it, so I must be quick and nimble to remove the key from the elevator before putting it into the door.
I stepped inside my dream studio last night and rediscovered it. Surprised that it was still there, still mine. It felt like returning to an old home. There’s a vibe about the whole thing that feels like these studio spaces are rare, so I feel guilty about forgetting about it for so long.
The studio is small but magical. The interior feels like a cabin, with dark wooden beams, but it’s situated in the sky on a high rise. The top-floor-ness means there are large windows with sun shining through them. For whatever reason, in the sky outside one of the windows, there is also an ocean with brightly colored ochres making marks on the surrounding boulders as dark waves crash around them. I haven’t found the door to enter that sacred place yet, only the window. Maybe next dream.
Dream Studio is growing. It has two levels now. A main level, and then in the little kitchen where I make tea there appeared a secret pull-down staircase that takes me to a second level. It is filled with a variety of things, including more sunlight. Last night I also discovered a skateboard there…
Strangers appear in the dream studio. Last night I was greeted by a friendly woman who for whatever reason made sense to be there. As I began sorting out some plant and mineral materials to make paint with, this beautiful stranger lady with long brown ringlet curls and bright eyes, some sort of dream goddess in my midst, looks at me and asks “Don’t you want to teach this to others?”
An invitation that could only appear in a secret dream room, to be answered over time.
Fast forward to right now, after real life tea in my real life kitchen, I’m opening my phone to check the dates on photos to see when it was the last time I finished a painting. I made a lot of hand-painted journals for Worthwhile’s holiday market season (still just a few left!), but the last photo of a finished painting was, I gasp, October.
Sometimes life looks like this for me. My priorities, where my creative energy is directed, the spaces I occupy, they ebb and flow like seasons and cycles, responding to the calls, to the winds, to the invitations.
Like when a dream hands me a key. My real-life studio is calling for me to spend more time there. It’s not as dreamy as the cabin in the sky, but it enlivens me in the very same way. I know it’s time to spend a lot more time there, which I am desperately yearning for after a season of prioritizing everything regarding the business side of my creative work. (I re-did the Worthwhile branding, re-launched & updated the Worthwhile website, designed some new products, taught 4 Risograph workshops, appeared on a podcast…)
This is all to say that not finishing a painting in 4 months does not make me any less of a painter or artist. Working away from my studio for a bit doesn’t mean I’m not filling my creative well elsewhere.
Sometimes it’s not a bad idea at all to trust you will be summoned to the right parts of your practice at the ripest moments. In a dream, or elsewhere.
P.S. My painting sale is live! ◯
My real life studio contains some paintings from the last few years that I’ve recently listed for sale at around half off my original price. Out with the old and in with the new! Help me make space and treat yourself. I rarely, if ever, do a sale on originals.
I hope you are finding ways to connect with your creativity in this late winter season. Thank you for connecting with me here.
♡ - Kristen
The title of this post got me dreaming up my own version of an ideal studio...then I read the piece and realized you meant a studio in your dreams, not the studio of your dreams! What a wonderful place to return to over and over as you sleep. It sounds so restorative. I'm going to picture this as I'm drifting off tonight. Even if I don't dream about a studio, it should inspire some good dreams!