What Influences Your Dreams

      What exactly makes your heart rate go up and your body tingle and no I am not talking about your partner either. Though my partner does this to me, I am talking about you personally. When I was a child a really good book could hold me enthralled until I finished the book, it did not matter what chores or friends were around. I had to finish that book, this often lead to me getting into trouble of course, but I didn't care because the book was that good. I still enjoy a good book today, however, it does not make my heart rate go up anymore and unless I am at the end of the book I can put it down today. What makes my heart rate go up is the process of a new project!

     Yep, I actually dream about my projects in great depth. Sometimes my dreams are so detailed that I can literally see how something came about. A television show or a movie could prompt a thought on a project especially if it is about something that was a book when I was a child. Many things have changed since I was a child and the things I remember most vividly are those things that I loved to do. Although I may not do those same things today, being reminded of those activities can still bring a smile to me, as well as, a warmth something akin to a hug from within.

     I remember watching birds fluttering about and wanting to be able to have wings to fly and the grace and agility that they had. I did not want to be a bird I just wanted to have wings. Even today, birds are still something that catch my eye and make me smile. Birds inspire me and influence my work. Butterflies will also inspire me, I remember thinking once that butterflies were lil fairies, they were the remnants of the fey folk that I read about. It was a very sad day for me when I was taught that butterflies were truly caterpillars. Aw well, there are some dreams that even against facts or opinions you must cling to and butterflies being part fairy is one I still hold onto.

     So for me I have a bird feeder and a bird bath and lots of bushes for the birds to hide in so that I can have a daily influence around me. So where I live I have Swallows, and Red Headed Finches and a Mountain Blue Jay, Morning Doves, Crows that seem rather big, so they may be considered Ravens I am not sure. And there are Rose bushes and an Orange tree and Grapefruit tree in our yard that attracts butterflies. Now I didn't plan our yard it was already created when we bought the house and yet when looking for our home it was the birds and flowers that attracted me it as well. What else influences me well, holidays will influence me.

     And my most favorite holiday is coming up and I have been very busy with a project that I am immensely happy with. Yep, Halloween is next month and the past few years I have been adding to my Halloween decorations and this year is no different. My husband and I have been wanting to find a life size body to put out in our yard for a few years. We never really found one we liked though and now I know exactly how to make one. I enrolled in a mixed media class this semester, and the very first project was to create a form using gesture as our thesis. We needed to create the forms skeleton out of chicken wire and then we would use paper mache and paper clay to create the body of the form. I knew immediately what I wanted to make as soon as the professor told us about the project. I still need to finish adding my glow in the dark paint to my brain, and add the blood, build the tombstone and lay it all out in the yard but yep I have the first body for my yard. Below are some of the pictures of my chicken man in various stages of construction, the wire frame, the paper mache, the paper clay and the near completion.

So what influences your dreams and what do you do to bring your dreams to life.