right side of canvas

When I begin each blog entry, I always feel like a writer with a bad case of block. Maybe it is just a natural part of the writing process, I don't know? Do I just dive into my conversation? Or, should I open with an image? Perhaps a clever joke? Quote?.............Arrgh.  It is enough to make me want to pull my hair in frustration. 

The 'huge ass painting' as I have begun lovingly and somedays not so lovingly entitled my work in progress is developing. Slowly.  With some painfully inadequate images I will document them for you in this blog update. 

Lets do a little background on surrealism, I have only expressed my interest and some of my favorite surreal artists. But, before I begin I would like to say that unreal and surreal do not share the same meaning. I hear these words misused a lot. Before I learned about surrealism, I didn't really understand the difference myself.

left side of canvas

surreal: having an intense irrational reality of a dream: odd, bizarre quality

unreal: lacking in reality, substance, genuineness: artificial, illusory

"Surrealists feasted on the unconscious. They believed that Freud's theories on dreams, ego, superego and the id opened doors to an authentic self and a truer reality. The idea of skill from training was understood. Their philosophy was to let go of the constraints of learned skills and traditional methods of making art. They sought out children's art, naïf art, primitive art and outsider art (ie: art made by patients in mental institutions) to stoke the fires of their almost incoherent inventions."

Surrealism has its root IN realism; it's a portrayal of reality, but in a light that makes it....Like a dream. Surrealism usually appears as three dimensional, and realistic. Upon closer inspection, however, it becomes dream-like things that may have appear normal, but are actually not. 

End Lesson.  

Peace,

Valerie