Color and Dreams

Goethe’s last words were “Light, more light."Light creates color and watercolor is about Light.J.M.W. Turner said “Light is therefore color, shadow the privation of it.I love color.I love seeing flower petal colors wane from intensity of first bloom to the softening shades as its light fades. My favorite color is generally one I’m looking at in the moment. I love the intensity of color and they often visit my dreams. Color can shift moods, both expand and contract a viewpoint; appealing to eye and soul. Colors are alchemical that way, just as I find dreams create space for alchemy, providing a path to emotional and spiritual growth. Strangely enough, medieval alchemists spent some of their time creating art pigments.Most of my life was lived in almost always overcast central Ohio and now wonder if falling in love with SW Florida happened because I can almost always see blue; blue sky and puffy white clouds. When storm clouds fill the summer sky, shapes and shades of moving grays capture my senses. Contemplating this topic, I awoke this morning hearing a repeating mantra; “Save the primaries” (color)Traditionally Red, Blue, and Yellow are the 3 primary colors whose combinations create all other colors. Of the three I am most drawn to Blue. BLUEDream: I see a square set of 4 shelves open on all sides, supported by gold metal rods in the corners. Boxes partially full of small, cobalt blue, glass bottles are near the shelves on the floor. Each shelf is full of these bottles. Without any precipitating event bottles begin falling off the shelves onto the floor. Surprised not to hear glass breaking as the bottles continue to fall and the shelves are emptying. I make no move to stop it; don’t understand how it is happening.In the 1920’s artist Joan Miro said that blue was the color of his dreams. In the 12^th century, Abbot Suger of France believed all colors, and particularly blue, to be divine. In my dreamwork blue is also a holy color, representing Divine energy and in this dream, letting me know that even when things in life fall there is no damage, no breakage. This causeless event is an invitation, to appreciate what has no obvious cause, calling me to see that Divine Providence can happen in my life like this. Potential energy – bottles falling – whatever was holding everything in place coming apart – my energy begins to move in a new way, more freely, less rigidity, and greater trust in the Divine, however it may show up in my life.DreamI hold a large, thin book (like a kid’s book). Using a large italic typeface, I printed a letter to a friend on paper colored with blue sky and white clouds. I tape it to the inside of the back cover. I look at the last sentence that says, “In His name”. I feel the emotional and spiritual connection to her and know she feels it.Blue is associated with Divine energy in Renaissance art; the Madonna is always clad in blue. Perhaps because the blue of sky and ocean seemed as limitless as the Divine Source of life. It also happened because blue was an expensive, difficult pigment to obtain. Michelangelo’s “Entombment” has Mary in a green dress with the painting unfinished because he couldn’t afford more Ultramarine pigment. Divine energy is also associated with electricity, a current always flowing; dream of being pulled into an electrical socket filled with blue current. Awakening I felt the gift of being in that flow.When the dream came of the woman reaching into a tackle box, handing me tubes of paint, saying, “Here, you need these” I had two dreams: one of a lion, the other a field of blue, so I painted a blue lion. It is a color that touches my soul, just as the lion did. RED Ochre was the earliest color used in cave paintings; initially the only color available to create images of animals honored as totems of power and spirits that brought life through offering themselves for food. It was the primary color for a long time. I love the power of those ancient paintings, simple drawings that evoke both spirit and power of horses, deer, and bulls; showing their importance in the lives of early humans. I love that art, will probably never really love red.Dream: I see the green of the grass, blues of the sky and then everything begins to turn a bright, primary red. I’m fascinated watching the colors change. Reds of sunrises and sunsets take my breath away, a holy movement of color. Alchemical change as dark of night becomes oranges and yellows as an early morning sky begins to blue up for the rising Sun, and to take the Sun away as those same colors take their leave of the day. In waking life red runs to extremes; from anger, love, and life’s blood to filling the octagon of a stop sign. In dreams for me it is always an invitation to the passion and depth of life that sometimes I hide from.   YELLOWYellow is found in some of the oldest ancient Egyptian and Roman paintings and was always the color for Sun worshipers. In my dreams it is a happy color and generally brings delight as it invites and includes me in the rest of the color spectrum.Dream: Colors moving through, intense, saturated. Yellows spun with red threaded through, a darkening red, alive, then deep blues and intense greens. I hear sounds, like the toning of monks that change as the colors change and am pulled into the sounds and the colors; immersion. I feel like the yellow spun with red crooks a finger at me, inviting me into deep intensity, a spectrum of colors that enfolds me. I am enchanted with the power of these colors and the subtlety of tones, immersed in a sensory world.     Artwork by Leigh RandolphLeigh Randolph is a practitioner of Natural Dreamwork and works with clients in a program of spiritual, and personal  growth through the exploration of dreams though art, and art through dreams. If you are interested in experiencing a session you can contact her via email at LeighEndodoc91@aol.com. You can learn more about her work on the About Us page.