Seven tips for using your dreams to inspire your creative projects
This is an extract from my book: Beyond Blue: Creative Approaches to Releasing Grief and Flying Free
Do you dream much? If so, do you use your dreams to fuel your creative practice? Here are some tips for squeezing even more out of your dreams and pouring the juice into your creative projects:
Tip 1: The second you awake, capture the first visual clues: colours, shapes, landscapes, movements, and symbols. Don't edit, just record everything in your notes and drawings and any other way you'd like to express them.
Tip 2: The narrative – something will have happened in your dream, so try to capture it as if you were writing a story. Start with the most significant images, describing them with your words and drawings.
Tip 3: A sense or feeling – you will have a general feeling or sense about the dream. Even if you can’t clearly put your finger on it, try to find some words or pictures that express this felt sense.
Tip 4: Sounds –If you heard anything in the dream, capture this too. Use your words to describe it. Try to reproduce it, too, and record it with your voice recording app.
Tip 5: Taste and texture – If you’re lucky, you might recall taste and texture. Try to describe them in your notebook.
Tip 6: Develop your dream body – bring any significant sensations from the dream into your physical life. You may wish to draw, paint, or sculpt any significant objects from your dreams thus bringing them to life.
Tip 7: Create – later that evening, before going to bed, do one single drawing, painting or sculpture that encapsulates your dream. You may need to think about it, but a spontaneous creation is usually best for keeping the creative energy flowing through you.
Do you dream much? If so, do you use your dreams to fuel your creative practice? Here are some tips for squeezing even more out of your dreams and pouring the juice into your creative projects:
Tip 1: The second you awake, capture the first visual clues: colours, shapes, landscapes, movements, and symbols. Don't edit, just record everything in your notes and drawings and any other way you'd like to express them.
Tip 2: The narrative – something will have happened in your dream, so try to capture it as if you were writing a story. Start with the most significant images, describing them with your words and drawings.
Tip 3: A sense or feeling – you will have a general feeling or sense about the dream. Even if you can’t clearly put your finger on it, try to find some words or pictures that express this felt sense.
Tip 4: Sounds –If you heard anything in the dream, capture this too. Use your words to describe it. Try to reproduce it, too, and record it with your voice recording app.
Tip 5: Taste and texture – If you’re lucky, you might recall taste and texture. Try to describe them in your notebook.
Tip 6: Develop your dream body – bring any significant sensations from the dream into your physical life. You may wish to draw, paint, or sculpt any significant objects from your dreams thus bringing them to life.
Tip 7: Create – later that evening, before going to bed, do one single drawing, painting or sculpture that encapsulates your dream. You may need to think about it, but a spontaneous creation is usually best for keeping the creative energy flowing through you.
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