April 12, 2005 A
"Analyzing the Drawing"
6:35am
Floating, alone in peaceful reverie...
At first, I thought this:
"If I were to illustrate 'alone', how would I do it? I think of that scared teenager, with ideas that seemed foreign to what everyone else was thinking... yeah, that was ALONE, thinking no one else could ever think thoughts like those. Me hiding books, yet still with this shred of hope, thinking if this or that author thought and wrote X, then maybe I wasn't so alone..."
Then the next day I thought:
"I was thinking again about that Friday Illo theme, 'Alone'. Okay, I'm not going to do it as 'lonliness', for aloneness doesn't imply lonliness. . . . [I would rather] think about 'aloneness' as one's uniqueness in solitary reflection, as a good thing.
Maybe an idea of a person sitting on a big rock, alone in nature, enjoying her own thoughts might be more suitable. Yes, I like that idea."
Then last night, I thought I'd just play to see what would happen. I let the 'subconscious' guide me, just to see what would happen with the theme of 'alone'. It's fascinating that I can do that, give the subconscious a subject and see what comes up.
I like the peaceful feeling it has. That's what I'd hoped to convey, that being alone can be pleasant.
There's some symbology in this drawing, for the subconscious mind thinks in symbols. It's obvious (I think) that the floating lady used the floating planet ball as a springboard. This represents using Objective Universe as a springboard for our reflections in solitude. The fact that there is another planet ball falling shows someone else did the same earlier, with their 'Objective Universe'. Also it shows each person has their own perception of what makes up the objective universe.
Does this explanation help in your understanding, or does it just confuse? In any case, this was my route to the results.
© Joan Lansberry