They say that these days we are all having particularly vivid and sometimes alarming dreams. I read an article about this in National Geographic and won’t begin to attempt to summarize except to say that it’s really a thing and some of it may have to do with lack of stimulation in our lives.

I can attest to being one of these people. The other morning I woke to learn that my subconscious had married my girlfriend off to Burt Reynolds despite her (and her boyfriend’s) dismay and the fact that Burt Reynolds slipped this mortal coil many years ago. Nonetheless it sure seemed real to me, so much so that I kind of had to shake my head like in an old cartoon to send the thought bubble flying.

Maybe that’s the reason I have had a hard time settling down in the studio and painting.

I did pick up a project I started last year and hadn’t finished. It should have been a piece I’d be able to get lost in. It’s still on my easel giving me that same look my mother did when I hadn’t cleaned up my room, again. Instead I picked up pencil and paper and began my random abstract drawings I’d started a few years ago.

I’m not surprised what poured out on the page. It seemed totally logical. Eyes and mouths and bits of genetic material. Organic and inorganic morphing from and into each other. We are living in a surreal world right now, after all.

I have seen images of an empty Manhattan and a smog-free Los Angeles. Playgrounds without children. Beaches without surfers.

When I leave my house I see eyes, not noses or mouths. And when I read the news I hear about fear and anger in one story then courage and sacrifice in the next. Life juxtaposed against suffering against triumph against death.

Though I am alone, and sometimes lonely, I am at the same time reticent to resume my “normal” life.

Am I dreaming all of this? Sometimes it feels like it. Oh, if I could just pop that thought bubble! Instead I think I’ll just draw.

Drawing: Veyerus © Lissa Banks 2020