Monday, April 15, 2013

Dream image - class demo 2004

Sometimes I'm asked which of my many class demonstrations were the hardest or most challenging to complete. I answer without hesitation this one that you see here. Here's the story...

It was 2004 and at the time my school was located in a large two story building just down the street from Warner Bros Studio in Burbank. Next door to me was a night club / bar that I was almost always having confrontations with.

I saw an image in a dream that morning and tried to paint it in class. Because of the activity going on outside I was constantly distracted and called away from class. I tried to complete the demo but messed it up. So I turned the paper over and tried again on the back with only 20 minutes left to the session. I drew the composition in black line and painted it in watercolor straight away. To my surprise and to the astonishment of my students I came up with a work that was actually pretty darn good.

Whenever I see it I recall the dream and also how pressured I was to complete this. What was at the time a troubled night turned out to be a happy and successful accomplishment after all.

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