Creative Friday #12: What is the Artist Thinking?

Good morning everyone! It's time for another Creative Friday!

Have you ever wondered about what an artist was thinking when they created a certain piece of art? I know I have - I wondered what inspired the subject, the mood, or if there's some hidden meaning. Then there's where someone completely misses what the artist was trying to convey and tells you, "Oh that's really sweet" when in fact it wasn't meant to be sweet. Today, I'd like to step outside my comfort zone, make myself vulnerable, and delve into one of my paintings.

I struggled , no wrestled is the better word, with the idea of this painting for several years. It would come knocking on the door of my mind, I'd think about it, then promptly put it on the back burner as too difficult or just not ready to go there yet. But it kept nagging at me. Then one day, it could no longer be ignored. I was struggling. Struggling with creativity, struggling with feeling blocked, wondering if I had any dreams left.

Where were my dreams - where did they go? What were they? It was from these very ponderings this painting was born.
As I thought about my childhood hopes and dreams, I realized I had either lost them, laid them aside,  or they were stolen from me somewhere along the way. Now to me, being an artist is being able to connect to those dreams and hopes - to feel like they were gone was severely affecting my creativity. So I came up with "The Battle For Her Dreams".

I started with a girl - she gazes out the window towards a distant and misty castle, separated from her dreams of the past and although they remain, they are shrouded and she cannot reach them.

The great dragon threatens to burn them all up, destroying everything she once dreamed of for her future:

(The dragon represents Satan, the destroyer)

Her fondest childhood dreams are threatened:

(The pony represents childhood dreams because yes, I wanted a pony just like this)

Sometimes, those dreams are stolen from us :

(The unicorn represents innocence and purity)

Often we pretend to be fierce when the fact is, we are hurt and vulnerable on the inside and the fierceness is just a mask we hide under:

Then we find Courage and start to fight back:

(God is our weapon. Notice how the flames are deflected)

And Hope rises and we dare to dream again:

So yes, it may look like a fantasy piece and could even pass as one, but the meaning I created it with is so much more.

Hopefully, this will make you think or at least look more closely.
(Nope, not all of my paintings are this deep). 😊

("The Battle For Her Dreams" copyright by Cecilia Bramhall. All images are the property of the artist and may not be used without permission)

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