Sketchbook Prompt #2 - Dreamscapes

Dreaming is something we all share, of course remembering our dreams is a different matter.  I am an active dreamer, in my dreams I'm often battling large animals, crossing large terrains for an adventure or just re-living my daily life with more anxiety.  I am also someone who actively day dreams.  I will turn things I see in daily life into imagery that is more surreal.  For instance, the first image of the peacock was during a time where I was thinking of what my spirit animal would be.  I was looking at a lot of peacocks and peahens and did this self portrait near my 41st birthday.  The image of the stacked critters was based on a walk I took and the animals I saw, I saw some silly garden statues that I thought would be even sillier on top of each other.  The other two are from actual dreams, where rain was falling and fire was burning so that there was a perpetual burn/ rain.  And well the other, that horse had a powerful companion wrapped around it's neck to attack the prey, still not sure what that is saying about me.

Let's Get Started-

What I want you to do is think about a dream that you might have had.  It could be one from when you were 8 or one that you took notice of last week.  Think of how you could recreate it in your sketchbook.  Think about the iconography, the colors, was it sparse or dense, should it fill the page, or remain small in the middle of paper.  Then start to detail what you imagine it was.  Don't be constrained to only let the dream imagery exist, if your imagination wanders and allows for other imagery to enter, let it.  

If you don't remember your dreams, think about something you saw in your life that seemed surreal, unexpected.  Try using that as a starting off point for your drawing.

Materials:

• sketchbook (I love Kunst and Papier, but any will be good)
• I love to use Acryla gouache, but I recommend anything that you are comfortable with.  We will explore different media later.  This prompt is more about getting your imagery down so you might want to stick with something familiar rather than new so you don't have to worry about getting use to something different.
• suggested materials, brush pens, colored pencils, markers, graphite, pens - I prefer micron pens.

*If you are having a hard time with this, consider a brainstorming session where you write down words that you associate to dreaming.  Put that list in your sketchbook and there maybe some exciting imagery that bubbles forth.