Between Dreams

Between Dreams

Mixed media on canvas (100 × 100 cm)
Spray paint, textured gel, textured paste, acrylic paint, acrylic inks, oil paints, liquid gold, acrylic markers

“Between Dreams” is a large-scale mixed media painting that inhabits the delicate space between the conscious and the subconscious — a threshold where thoughts blur into feeling, and reality dissolves into reverie. Through a symphony of layered textures, radiant hues, and expressive mark-making, the artist creates a world that feels simultaneously intimate and expansive.

At the centre of this layered landscape rests a partially concealed feminine figure, her face washed in soft shades of blue. She does not command attention through clarity, but rather through quiet presence — emerging gently from the surrounding layers, as if glimpsed through a drifting dream. Her gaze is veiled, her features only half-formed, as though she exists in a liminal state: between appearance and disappearance, between waking and sleep. From her head, energetic bursts of line and mark-making radiate outward, echoing sparks of thought, imagination, or emotion escaping from the subconscious mind.

The colour palette plays a crucial role in shaping the atmosphere of this piece. The figure’s blue complexion carries emotional weight — a symbolic echo of introspection, stillness, and vulnerability. Blue here suggests the quiet depth of inner reflection, the kind of emotional space one enters in the privacy of dreams. It is a cooling counterpoint to the bold pink hues that surround her — hues that infuse the canvas with vibrancy, warmth, and playful energy.

This interplay between blue and pink creates a dynamic tension, but also harmony: the blue evokes inwardness, a contemplative core, while the pink acts as the dream world itself — a playground of marks, textures, and luminous gestures. Together, they mirror the way our emotional landscapes often intertwine with our subconscious imaginings, blending vulnerability with wonder.

A winding, wonderland-like footpath stretches along the lower section of the canvas, inviting the viewer inward. This pathway acts as a visual guide through the layered terrain, much like the familiar yet surreal pathways that weave through our dreams. As one’s gaze follows it upward, the marks and textures begin to loosen, colours shift, and the sense of place becomes fluid — as if the viewer is journeying deeper into a subconscious realm.

The creation of Between Dreams was both methodical and intuitive, unfolding through a rich combination of materials. Textured gel and paste were first applied to the canvas, building a tactile landscape that shaped how subsequent layers would flow and catch light. Over this, spray paint and acrylic inks were allowed to pool and settle, seeping into the textures and forming soft atmospheric veils. These early layers evoke the misty, half-remembered quality of dreams.

Later, acrylic and oil paints were layered to create moments of contrast — areas of opacity against translucence, control against spontaneity. The oil paint adds a depth and stillness, while acrylic markers and delicate touches of liquid goldtrace highlights across the surface, shimmering like fleeting memories. These gold accents shift with the light, transforming the painting throughout the day, much as the meaning of a dream can shift upon waking.

The feminine figure at the centre emerged organically during this layered process, not through pre-planned depiction but through intuitive mark-making. Her presence became the emotional anchor of the piece: a quiet dreamer within a vibrant, shifting world. Her blue hue suggests an internal emotional state — contemplative, perhaps vulnerable — but the surrounding pink playground of marks and textures transforms that introspection into something hopeful and alive. It is as if her thoughts are taking flight, becoming the world around her.

The scale of the painting (100 × 100 cm) allows the viewer to step into this dreamscape physically. Standing before the work, one is enveloped by its depth, drawn into the interplay of textures and hues. The longer one looks, the more details emerge — subtle gestures, hidden layers, fragments of forms — echoing the way dreams reveal themselves slowly, in glimpses.

Ultimately, Between Dreams is a meditation on the spaces we inhabit internally — those quiet, in-between moments where emotion and imagination meet. It reflects the artist’s own introspective process, where painting becomes a language for thoughts too complex for words. The concealed feminine figure embodies the dreamer within, while the radiant marks and luminous pathways represent the boundless worlds that arise when we close our eyes.

This work doesn’t simply depict a dream; it invites the viewer to enter one, to wander through a landscape where colour, texture, and emotion intertwine — where a hidden figure becomes both guide and mirror.