The Sentient Botanics

I believe that the unconscious mind is the most creative part of our brain. So many amazing and surreal things show up in our dreams. In my artwork, I represented these surreal visions and even incorporated aspects of my own dreams. I used bright colors, multiple styles, and multiple mediums to represent the range of what dreams are like. I drew scary or creepy imaginings to represent nightmares or creepy dreams. I made cartoony creatures to show fun or interesting dreams, and I drew colorful abstract or surreal images to represent very loose colorful dreams. I drew with pencils, crayons, pens, and oil pastels. Giving the piece many different textures and styles. I used paint and paint pens to create interesting creatures, shapes, and plants that popped out against the rest of the piece. I also used two styles that were new to me, a style of printmaking that uses bleeding tissue paper and water to transfer color onto the page, and a style using salt and water to create a crystalline texture. My inspirations include surrealists like Salvador Dali and René Magritte, I also took inspiration from Picasso’s surreal work and Monet’s impressionism. I believe that my biggest inspiration was the creatures and stories that appear in my own dreams. My art represents the power of dreaming because its amazing and surreal elements can only be created in a dream.