Spooky Summer
I painted these two pieces one after the other in the fall of last year (2022). Almost a year later, I present myself as powerless, letting you in. May you enjoy the journey as much as I do.
In the painting, The Cleanup Party a botanical darling sits with her back to us, with a tree growing out of her spine (a humanoid persona with a tree, bush or other variety of plant growing out of their backs).
The tree is wrapped in its deep brown bark. Leaves in clusters. Her hands gradually red to the fingertips, operating a celly meticulously to respond to incessant calls and text messages.
A ghostly figure sits behind her, using waves of soothing and also watching you closely as they work. A fluffy turkey vulture sits in the tree, waiting to devour. Kind of cute, really. Those hungry eyes, aw. The moonlit sky melts all into harmony. The heat crisped them up good. You made a mess and you’re lucky this crew exists. Sssh! Listen.
In the artwork. Waiting with You a young person relaxes in the grassy landscape. This is the waiting room. Don’t be fooled, there is nothing risqué involved. It’s an illusion and if you’re able to get passed it, you will be safe and sound, darling. Let’s just wait in peace, while we wait for the Cleanup Party to help you. Who is she? Just a simple spirit. An apparition to let you know you’re safe. You can be vulnerable. The tsunami in that episode spared you.
These paintings are summer themed. I’ve also created a sketchbook series called Spooky Summer. Check it out and come along for the ride.
Dream Log
This might get personal. The summer passes thru, stupefying. Have dreams of sleep been a little more than unsettling? I don’t mean daydreams nor fantasies we imagine in our waking state. More like, when brain & spirit retreat from one’s meaty vessel and do the ring around. When you’re really sleeping.
We’re always ramping, up & up.That hot-spicy irresistible, yummy-yummy adventure; it must be the heat of the season. Who am I kidding? Dreams are always bizarre; at times plain berserk. Those are the best! What’s your say on the matter?
Dreams have the power to elate. Most of the time they spook me, and I’m forced push thru, other times I’m spooked awake. Do you remember what you dreamed about last night? Make haste and write it down! This log might still be here when you return.
I’ve also woken up and been thankful it was “just a dream”, for sure.
Growing up in NYC, you grow strange to survive. If you’re one of my New Yorker friends, you know this. (REPRESENT! Love you!) I can’t blame it on the city. I’ll take accountability for my opinions & actions. Though a 24 hr, 7day/week city might not be conducive to healthy sleep.
These days I’m living under a dissected plateau. If you’re able to sleep thru the sounds of gunshots, hollering and sirens throughout the night (not to mention mocking birds, incessant car alarms, innocents being tased by some ignoramus-maximus on the sidewalks, screams for help 20 stories down below… through the night.) I’ve learned there are times and places where face-offs don’t work, but at least it keeps the shady characters at bay.… You learn to be your own flavor of creepy. Anyway, true quiet of the countryside gets to you. I mean, it can straight keep you awake, all night.
My days in the forest I have become experienced in reading, exploring & dreaming. I should be a paid philosopher. That’s not true. I had so little time to think and ponder about all I’ve read, dreamed and experienced. I do have a base for theorizing, tho.
Some days, in my free time, I was summoned by the dream spirits to take 3-5 hour naps during the day and 8+ hours at night. I cannot begin tell you how evolved the worlds have become. Yes, you read that correctly. Perhaps, this phase has come to an end.
Not to mention having a little one has brought an extra level of fascinating challenge to the table. Being present as a parent is lifetime work. We’re always on adventure, us parents, you know! There’s no way our children are not at the forefronts our our minds, whether we think so or not. I was welcomed to the dark side. Did your birthing witnesses do the same for you?
Which brings me to realize, I have not been theorizing why we’re all here and what we’re to do next over the year (& beyond that? O my #$%^&*(.! But mostly, in my dreams, I’ve learned to be careful in cramped bathrooms or busy fitting rooms, which can be a challenge in REM. Have your partner (lover, soulmate, best friend, cat, rosary, what-have-you) with you, leaving you feeling needed before you fall asleep every night. Maybe you have a guardian angel. Either way, knowing you’re loved before bedtime definitely helps. It will keep you guys safe. I’m also a fellow guy; didn’t you know?
What on earth am I talking about? The worlds of dreams. The world of sleep. The world. The sleepy worlds in dreams… So many have not uncovered their mega-power-up, because of obsession with the waking state. What a loss!
Landslides black, and suspicious waters. Dense forests with vernal pools and river leaks running wild; trying to stay afloat while crocodilians brush past bare thighs. In stark moonlight, you see each shining scale. No bites. Yet, there is often disaster looming in the background (landslides, tsunamis, alien invasions, anonymous bodybags… etc.).
Do you believe in ghosts? In friendly spirits? Give me a reason they should believe in me and you. Has this become too personal?
I’m still sleeping. Back in the city, architecture has taken on advanced construction. Grand halls with perfect air conditions. Ceilings running up to gargantuan heights, submerged in thick cloud on the inside, held up by lacquered, rosy-mauve walls; so shiny you could smell it.
A heavy set fog up above you and out of the way. What’s up there? Elevators for the well-to-do (I’ve snuck on a few times and the ride is smooth), stairwells for the poor, escalators for whoever will ride them, of course. Let me tell you, I have been to some insane movie theaters in my dreams and I don’t ever recall having to pay for anything. What! You can do that when you sleep, I suppose. Everything is free in dreams!
Restrooms galore (the very nice kind, you might find at the Time Warner Center mall or the Oculus in NYC; clean, all mirrors, a hallway of metallic and worry-free walls dividing the stalls. Most importantly there are few, if any patrons. If you’re a real night-dreamer, you’ve encountered a bathroom horror, don’t be bashful.) & who doesn’t love a nice bathroom? Let’s get real here. Vast, mirrored, well-lit, clean and patron-empty bathrooms are the best.
Have you been wondering what’s up in the clouds inside all those lavish skyscrapers and shiny jewels in the sky? A few months back, I explored the clouded areas of the building. What I recall is many walls reminiscent of transparent glass and overlays of holograms with women wrestling. It made me uncomfortable and sent an neural signal to brain to learn how to win a brawl, but hope to never have to use the skills. Know how to protect what you love.
The area on the upper levels of some of these buildings is advanced. Nails upon nails, manicured fish scales. Not metal pins; fingernails. Literally, wall linings (inside of your walls, between floors and rooms), layers and layers of nail beds with the keratin so smooth; the human kind. You can hear the smooth crackle as they’re polished and brushed to perfection.& then they start of into endless clicking. klik-klik-klik. a million fold. Such as bones cracking in quick and rhythmic succession.
The colors of the polish were your favorite colors. A manicure for the gods, who possess sheets of millions upon millions of polished & manicured nails. Sheets of this nonsense, I say! Torture. The sound of brushing over all these keys becomes familiar and soothing. klik-klik-klik. You learn to ignore pain.
I’m trying to promote healthy sleep here. Tick-tock, us Americans pretend to count our sheep. If you sleep enough, you can go on crazy adventures that keep you sharp in the waking state. But who believes in that, anyway? Energizing and something to look forward to, darling. You can do what you like, of course. Right?
Otherwise, you end up a melted snowflake in the hurricane. The world just eats you up and digests you; autonomy lost.
Sleep is a necessity, not a privilege. If you really wanted to you could fall asleep in a flash & when you discover its benefits, you stick to the program. & if you’re a little more curious, you’re going to discover worlds, that possibly only you can secretly discover. (However, I am hoping to find a way to co-dream someday, perhaps. If you’ve been able to successfully do this? Holy demons! Send me an e-mail! hello@diazee.art).
I’m still dreaming. Late night bus routes out of the city to transport me to a hovel. I’ve been spending some nights at a time with numerous roommates who have shifting faces and tend to tomato & cabbage gardens. The buildings are simple, quaint & clean, single-floored structures. The inhabitants remain generous & anonymous while I travel & explore the landscapes of a dreamer’s galaxy. I’d love to spend some time telling you more about them (someday). Do you want to know more? Let me know and send some Love my way, darling.
I’m still dreaming. I’m always making my way between the countryside and the city. There I meet a character who has been a beacon in my dreams for at least two years. A fellow artist; a musician. For weeks, I tried to text, and call them on my celly, but the symbols on the screen kept shifting; indecipherable. Finally, I decide to travel to the show.
There were occasions where we shared a tea and cigarette in flickering & artificial city lights after midnight in the city. The venues usually crowded, dim and the faint odor of too many spirits spilled on the dance floor shooting up into my nostrils.
Dreams have a living landscape. Just like what we encounter with our landscapes and cityscapes on a regular basis. In dreams tho, it’s moving and shapeshifting around you at a faster rate (your brain is a fantastic processor). The wild even more vast than anything I’ve encountered in the waking state. I have traveled over the years and have encountered a good little bit of the Earth’s beautiful wonders and I am so thankful for it. In dreams, I get to drive the car.
In my last sleepy dream I was nestled in a flying jet, swaddled in grey-blue-almost-white blankets, with my kin to the left of me. Three cocoons. My partner adjusted position and the aircraft went spinning, spinning… My blood pressure was probably quite low. Thanks for the rescue! We landed safe and sound.
Perhaps, the heat has stupefied me — as the heat has reached 100F this summer and I barely noticed (such as the frog in boiling water). I have not used air-conditioning in a year and the muggy heat has slowed me down. Not to worry; slow and steady.
By sharing these thoughts and these paintings with you, I present myself as vulnerable. As an artist, what else can I do?
xx diazee