Life is but a Dream - an oil painting

"In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die;

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?"

Excerpt from a poem by Louis Carroll from The Hunting of the Snark

Artists often give great importance to dreams; I know I always find them fascinating. It appears we all lead double lives.

In many of my paintings I depict people sleeping. This is because they are in a moment of total surrender and sincerity, a condition which has its own beauty. They are inside themselves and travel to unknown worlds.

And now the recent research on the holographic universe theory tells us that it is quite possible that our daily lives are also a form of dream. Food for thought.

As in all of my paintings, there is a collage effect here; a melange of natural forms. A bit of drapery, microscopic cellular view of a fragment of nature, a Bocklin inspired landscape, a piece of drapery, a lily, and of course, a lovely Indian lady. Painting executed in the Mische technique taught to me by the wonderful artist Brigid Marlin. Mische technique is an oil glazing procedure described in detail on Brigid Marlin's website for those who are curious.