Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Flying Over The Great Wall of China Dream

When I fell asleep a couple of weeks ago I wished I would dream of visiting the Great Wall of China. And I did! I dreamed of walking along the great wall and becoming very weary. As I looked over the landscape I saw that the wall was changing into a painting. Suddenly it occurred to me to lift my heels and fly. As I flew up there were billows of silks, all colors and all patterns, almost like clouds themselves. I could look down and see the Great Wall and view it as a landscape painting. As I flew along I could feel the silk brushing my skin and I could hear it flapping against the wind. It was a wonderful dream and the best part was that my deliberate attempts to lucid dream worked, and wow how it worked! I have never dreamed of flying in my life and now I can't wait to fly again. Now, I'll be really, really interested to hear what you make of my dream.

While I am posting I want to share a blog I recently discovered that I absolutely love: The Orientalist Gallery where Enzie Shamiri features an Oriental painting every day. She is an accomplished artist and Orientalist herself, so be sure to check out her paintings too.

Deconstruction:
All using Adobe Photoshop. The woman, the "silk" all came from dreamstime.com ($2), the Great Wall of China came from wikimedia.com via mayflower search. There were 3 layers counting the background and a layer mask between the great wall image and the silk image. I used [filter,artistic,dry brush] on all layers. I also tuned the color via [image,adjust,curves] thank you Diane and Sue!

14 comments:

Enzie Shahmiri said...

Hi Bobbie!

The image supports your wonderful description of your dream. I used to think I could fly as a child and remember leaping from high places and jumping 5 steps at a time,, trying to add just one more step without risking a major fall.

I think we associate flying with a sense of freedom and unwordlyness. It's a place without bounds and constraints - total freedom....

P.S. Thanks for the mention and your frequent visits to my blog!

Bev said...

I hope you can will yourself to dream like this again! I love the silk sky (like oriental silks) and the silk sun, which looks like a rosette of scunched up silk. A euphoric picture of poeple feeling like they can do anything.

John M. Mora said...

Lovely and soaRING. Great effect. Congratulations.

My favorite dreams are flying dreams and for me, quite rare.

I think I folowed one old comment from Enzie to her blogs and was quite impressed. Academia and sumptuous portraits.

You know, I was born in China, just kidding....

Irene said...

"Oh my God," is what I said when I saw that image. How absolutely stunning!

You commanded yourself to dream about the Great Wall and you did. How inspiring that is, I must try that.

I often fly in my dreams and I love the liberating feeling it gives me.

The wall is a confining element and your flying is the freedom element. Maybe you have a secret wish to set free all the people in China and give them truly democratic rights.

Unknown said...

i can only remember one dream about flying in my life and i remember how liberating it was. after my initial sense of how stunning this image was, i was reminded of the movie "crouching tiger hidden dragon" and the beautiful choreography in that film.
teacher's note: don't forget to do your adjustments as an adjustment layer, so you can make further adjustments down the road if you want to. levels and curves adjustment are both good; curves gives you a wider range of adjustment possibilities.
i am in awe, bobbie. i love to watch you soar.....
~sue o'kieffe

Trijnie said...

Hello Bobbie I have to vistit you more, otherwise I will miss your beautiful posts. I link you on my blog, hope that is ok.
Posted the girls for you on my blog

The dream you posted is wonderful..

Fred said...

On dit que les rêves sont simplement une autre réalité… On dit aussi qu'une réalité n'existe que parce qu'elle a d'abord été rêvée… Donc tous les beaux rêves font de belles réalités ;))

dianeclancy said...

Hi Bobbie,

Your images are so powerful ... especially when they are connected to dreams!! This is fantastic!! Really beautiful!

I know you are teaching me to think about dreams in different ways! The main idea I get out of what you say, is your ability to liberate yourself!!

Wonderful!

The other blog looks interesting and I will go check it out more.

~ Diane Clancy
www.dianeclancy.com/blog

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful..I love the colors and the way everything flows together.

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

Wow. This is a very professional looking piece of art Bobbie! I can see it on a calender or poster.
Interesting dream too and interesting to hear how you were able to prompt your subconcienece like that!

Artists With Artitude said...

Soaring spirit just in time for the coming Chinese New Year. Simply (dragon)breathtaking!!

Rima said...

beautiful dreamer...

marianne said...

I fly a lot in my dreams, always have and I love it, the feeling of freedom. I also fall from buildings etc without ever crashing.......
I love this image of the wall! Wow you do magic , in drems and in images

Unknown said...

Hi
i frequently dream of flying above beautiful gardens feeling intense pleasure that i can feel whole day after waking. i always believed to be blessed having these dreams. happy to see there are others with me.
my love