The In between

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Creative Challenge Project

Dreamscape: "The in-between"

For the summer of 2023 I decided to challenge myself by joining my first amateur painting competition, as part of the Huygens Festival (https://www.huygensfestival.nl/nl/). The theme was 'Dreams', as inspired by the poem of Constantijn Huygens:

Dromen

Ik denk overdag alsof ik droomde, ik droom ’s nachts alsof ik zag.

Was het ‘s nachts zo donker niet, en niet zo licht bij dag,

ik zag moeilijk uit de droom van deze droom te komen:

of mijn droom denken is, of mijn gedachten dromen.

Dreams

I think during the day as if I were dreaming, I dream at night as if I were seeing.

Wasn't it so dark at night, and not so light by day,

I found it difficult to get out of the dream of this dream:

whether my dream is thinking, or my thoughts are dreams.

Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687)

The result (acrylic painting) is illustrated below, and was one of the 4 winners! the winning works were exhibited at Artibrak Voorburg for 2 weeks.

The dreamscape was inspired by a visit to Clingendael park in the Netherlands, where some giant Rhubarbs were growing. Using these alien looking plants as an example I tried to portray the moment between a daydream vision and reality.