Dreams Of

Dreams Of
2008 - 11"x12", Mixed media on wood.
www.ErikVP.com

Dreams Of
Life is always ulgy,
On the other side.
Neither true nor real.

Sometimes when I look.
There's no wind.
What are they tilting toward?

Speak To Me of Death
The trees lived.
I am in the sun, living.

Gaze at my smile.
Whenever I smile.
It was the end of everything.

This started off as happy, bright-colored painting. I looked through the newspaper collage and created the two poems above. You can see parts of both poems in the photo below. "Dreams Of" is by the pink house. "Speak To Me of Death" is vertical across the top of the painting and wraps around the edge. The first phrase, "The trees lived." was partially painted over with the black M&M tree.

Both poems have a darker feel and I didn't think they fit the painting at all. I kept thinking about a dream I had many years ago where I died in my dream. I revised the painting, replacing much of the color with black and white, and also some detail behind the black giraffe. I really like how the poems ended up influencing the artwork. This is another example of what comes out of the experimentation process, and will get incorporated into future artwork.