RE: The Golden Dragonfly.
Thanks so much @dreamstream. A few years back I had many dreams and experiences with owls. They just appeared from everywhere ~ In my dreams, in my backyard, in the surrounding streets, in posters.
After one dream of an owl with rainbow coloured wings, I incorporate 'the owl' into collage work I was doing at the time and embraced the owl as my totem creature.
I've always loved dragonflies and butterflies too ~ Who couldn't? They started appearing in a similar way at a very significant time for me: After not doing any art work for 5 years, I was accepted by Sculpture by the Sea (An international event held at Bondi, Sydney) to install an environmental sculpture. More about that in another article.
I took so many photographs of the dragonflies at the lake, but then had very little time to edit them. Going back to them now, it's like seeing them for the first time. And the symbolism is indeed very special.
I love that connection with owls (and later butterflies and dragonflies). It is a synchronicity that I was just having a discussion with someone about owl totems in relation to dreaming.
I also experience many connections with my dreams and waking life experiences , as well as my photography too.
I'd be interested to hear more about how you integrate photography with your dreamwork.
Great to have the chance to open this out a little more @dreamsteam as I never know myself what answers are, or will be there when asked something of this nature.
I recall being drawn to the imagery of the surrealists, in particular Magritte and Tanguy, as well as the dadaists, for the way they challenged the way we see 'ordinary' objects in different contexts.
I was introduced to the work of the Pre-Raphaelites by a lecturer who had photographed hundreds of their paintings at the Tate in London, and at the same time was intrigued by the work of Jung and the concept of archetypal imagery.
My early paintings were based on ordinary objects and painted realistically ~ With the idea of them being perceived as 'super-real.'
It seems like it's always been a popular topic for artists: Reality and Realism. 'Reality' being the object that's painted and 'realism' the way it's painted to represent the 'reality.' And what purpose does it serve if a photograph can capture the object?
My early paintings were based on ordinary objects and painted realistically ~ With the idea of them being perceived as 'super-real' and symbolic.
Photography came much later when I wanted to work with collage using my own images. Some of those works haven't been published and perhaps 'it's time' to do that ~ Sometime when I have time ~ Smile.
With my photography, I'm not always influenced by my actual dreams in a visual sense ~ But being 'open to signs' they can be most informative and instructional. If anything I work more from intuition: Where with my assemblages, I'll start off with one object and intuit what it wants and go from there until it literally falls apart ~ Photographing the different stages.
And I do have a liking for placing objects together that wouldn't normally be seen together.
I recorded a dream that I had when I was photographing the dragonflies ~ I'll include it in my next article on the Golden Dragonfly.
thanks @allyinspirit for sharing something about your experience. Looking forward to more posts!