The Artist’s Dream

I had the best dream last night about being an artist, one as unknown as I am today. Here I am, awake at 4:30am, writing about it. For some reason, a woman was organizing my mass of art into an archive, assigning names and other details. Others she was selecting and placing on the gallery walls of my large studio. I could clearly visualize the pieces as she noted them – The Imaginary Henri Poincaré, Study of a Red Pheasant, Study of a Troupe, and many others that have already faded from memory. The pieces were on large, tattered sheets, reminiscent of a prolific artist who scratches out art on whatever paper or canvas is available at the time.

As I write this, I find it interesting to remember and note that there was a time when I had three women that found my art interesting enough to approach me about it. One was an elementary school teacher who had me come to her class a few times to present my Mandala artwork, another who was a director and presenter at Queen’s House of Retreats, and another who had me illustrate two booklets for her, and was interested in finding places to sell my art.

The time spent in the classroom was the most rewarding, for it provided a nice platform to share my work and even share my vision with a classroom project. The class project was such that I prepared a number of circular cards, one for each child, and had them create a symbol of something that defined them as a person. I placed these all on a large circular sheet to represent their small, but unique community. Gosh, it was fun! Other years, I simply presented my Mandalas to the class, read some of the accompanying bookwork and we had discussions about it.

My Office with Mandalas (2019) – Photo by Don Cheke

The woman at the retreat center had me come twice to their artist retreat to share my Mandala series. Although I was supposed to share, much like I did for the classroom teacher, the director in this case cut me off short both times, for reasons that appeared to be selfish. In other words, she liked it better when she did all the talking. Whatever, I probably thought to myself – if you can imagine that.

My Mandala series seemed to have hit a chord out there in the world, as I did have at least one other show some interest. As it happens, it was a university professor in the United States who wanted to share them with her class. I thought that was pretty cool!

As for the woman who wanted the illustrated booklets, well, she was a Reiki practitioner and the booklets I illustrated showed a number of human positions for, 1. Reiki self-treatment (one person) and 2. Reiki by practitioner (two people). I created a stickman character that I thought worked well. This woman also became interested in a series of bookmarks (pencil drawings) that I created. I believe she approached one or two small book/spiritual nicknack shops but found no interest. Good thing I wasn’t all that interested in selling my art, otherwise I might have been disappointed.

Below is an image from my 20 Stretches to Better Health booklet which used a similar character. I especially liked the stylized feet I came up with. Weird. I know! 😊

20 Stretches to Better Health – Page 8 – Created by Don Cheke

Below are two images of the bookmarks I had created. I am my own worst critic, so I can’t say whether or not anyone would have been interested in purchasing them. They were just handmade, so they were not the best quality.

Bookmark Drawings – Created by Don Cheke

Bookmark Drawings – Created by Don Cheke

As another point of interest, if I am not mistaken, I think that the Queen’s House of Retreat had me supply a piece of art that they would try to sell – that was at a time when they had a small book/spiritual nicknack shop. The drawing never sold, as far as I know, and I never got it back when they closed their shop. Keep in mind that this might be pure imagination, but it has niggled at me for many years, so maybe it was true.

Sadly, or perhaps not so sadly, I have never been a proponent of my own art. Sure, I have shared it with my wife and daughter, and with visitors to my website. I have even shared it on a few social media forums, but I have never taken big steps to get myself known and to sell my art. I am not really sure why, but mostly I chalk it up to fear – not being good enough, not worthy enough, stuff like that. Although I can imagine selling prints of my art, I cannot envision selling my originals, as they are part of me, like my children who I have given life to, if that makes sense. Well, that is what I imagine as I have only one child, and we adopted her – not that that doesn’t make her my child. 😊

Speaking of my child, she (Emma) has promised me that when I die, she will take all of my art and place it in a gallery, even if she has to build that gallery herself. That is a very nice thought, but I won’t hold her to it. Knowing that she appreciates my art is wonderful enough. As for the world at large, I am certain that I will remain an unknown, as far as my art is concerned.

What was the dream representative of, you may ask. Well, I don’t think it has any great significance, psychologically speaking, but perhaps it came because I had recently been reflecting back on my recent artwork, and the joy it brings me. Perhaps, on the other hand, I still have a desire to be recognized as the artist I am, a desire I have no intention of working toward. Really, to get there sounds like too much work, and what would be the point!? I am better off remaining mostly among the unknown, as that helps to keep my ego in check.

Thanks for letting me share my dream, and my few wins I had in the art world.

What are your dreams? Do you have any burning desire to be famous? Do you have a book, or some art, in you that is bursting to be freed and released to the masses? Let me know in the comments.

Donald B. Cheke – Saskatoon, SK