Terra Somnia (Earth Dreaming) combines various techniques and colors to create an abstract composition. The power of this piece lies in its complexity. Geometric shapes and organic textures combine in a richly layered and colorful pattern that emits a sense of ENERGY.

  
The texture of the piece is rich and varied, with thick impasto areas, splotches, and drips. A vibrant eye motif with a pupil detail is surrounded by an explosion of color with clusters of reds, blues, and purples, giving it a dragon scale-like appearance. Hexagonal shapes mimic molecular or geometric structures, surrounded by sweeping horizontal strokes and chaotic pointillism. The use of negative space, particularly in the lighter sections, separates and defines the various elements within the artwork. 

  
The overall impression of the painting is one of energy and fluidity, with the eye being naturally drawn around the canvas by the interplay of color and form.

  
**My questions...**

Does the earth dream?

Do we dream Her dreams?

  
What if dreams don't just happen inside us - what if dreams are a more collected and interrelated experience? What if our dreams cross over, between humans, animals, and the rest of nature? What if dreaming is not the separate activity we think it is?

  
**The story behind this painting...**

Dreams are a significant source of wisdom and guidance in my life. I taught myself lucid dreaming as a teenager as a way to deal with nightmares. Later, I studied Dreamtending, as well as psychological and traditional approaches to dreams at Goddard College and Pacifica Graduate Institute. I created this painting while listening to books on lucid dreaming by Charlie Morley. As I painted, I thought about The Deamer. According to Morely, The Dreamer is the origin of dreams. 

I also thought about the Animae Mundi, or soul of the world, and the idea that it is not only humans that dream, but the Earth Herself. 

  
Before painting, I danced to raise energy and directed that energy into the canvas, and I believe that energy is reflected in the vibrant color and motion of the piece.

  
**The intention...**

The intention behind his piece was to support both lucid dreaming and lucid living, i.e. being fully conscious in our lives. 

Terra Somnia (Earth Dreaming)

Urban Honeycomb blends the natural world with city aesthetics in a reflection on wildness in urban environments. The vibrant color palette includes bright yellow, neon pink, deep purple, and turquoise, along with various shades of gray. The 36 by 48-inch size allows for a larger-scale exploration of pattern and gives room for the intricate 'beehive' graffiti to come to life. 

  
The influence of graffiti can be clearly seen in the intricate patterns and edgy design that outlines the beehive pattern, giving a nod to urban art styles. The artwork balances the chaos that often characterizes graffiti while maintaining a gentle rhythm and structure in the beehive pattern, evoking a sense of both calm order and rebellious freedom.

  
**The inspiration behind this piece...**

\~ Urban beekeeping

\~ Nature in the city

\~ Community and interconnectedness 

\~ Coexistence of city and nature, wildness and stillness 

\~ Graffiti meets modern art minimalism

\~ The importance of honeybees to the survival or our ecosystems

  
**My creative process...**

I wanted to combine a geometrical beehive pattern with graffiti style and white space, for a modern art, urban feel.

I combined instinctual movement with minimalism to allow this piece to come into being. 

Hexagons and beehive patterns are significant to me, representing interconnectedness and community, both in the bee community and our human community. 

I loved the image of the beehive to allude to the city as the human hive.

The beekeeper represents how humans can contribute and tend to the rest of nature.

Urban Honeycomb

Dive into a world of flowing colors and textures with this triptych. Each canvas panel features its own distinct composition, which together create a cohesive theme. A stream of moving water in marine blues and greens carries the viewer's eye across the canvas. Floating bubbles contrast with the crisp white background and bold strokes of black, green, and gold. Overall, the artwork employs a vivid contrast in colors and a dynamic use of textures, to evoke the movement of water, while inviting the viewer's interpretation through abstract form. Panels can be hung perpendicularly or at different heights.

**The inspiration behind the piece...**

I created this piece while receiving the assessment that would lead to my autistic diagnosis. I had always thought I couldn't possibly be autistic because autistic people are portrayed in the media as unfeeling and robotic. One of the diagnostic criteria is actually lack of empathy. I discovered that the autistic diagnostic criteria are based on how boys present and that many autistic people, especially women and girls, actually have hyper-empathy. I had always known that I'm sensitive, but now I discovered that my sensitivity has a name; I'm autistic. For the first time, I understood my life experience and felt I belonged.

**How a dream led to the title...**

For more than a year after completing this piece, it didn't have a title. Then one night I dreamt about being swept up and carried along by a flooding creek. Where I live in Alberta, Canada, the spring melt can lead to floods. In the dream, I was sitting in a dry creekbed. From one moment to the next, the creek flooded. Instead of trying to escape, I surrendered to the flow and was carried along on a wild, beautiful ride.

I understood that the creek in the dream represented the flow of abundance and that that was what I had painted in this piece.

I chose In The Flow because it brings to mind both the flow of abundance and creative flow states. 

In the Flow

Forest Bathing is an abstract painting with a dominant circular motif that resembles a cross-section of a tree trunk, showing rings which traditionally indicate the age of a tree. The painting’s palette includes various shades of green, metallic bronze, and touches of white and yellow, reflecting the natural, organic inspiration. The center of the circular motif features a bronze circle, representing the core or heartwood of the tree and providing a focal point around which the other elements swirl. The brushwork is dynamic and expressive, creating a sense of movement and growth as the rings emanate outward from the center. Graffiti detail and metallic elements speak to a beneficial relationship between humans and the rest of nature. This work evokes a tactile sensation, inviting the viewer to imagine the sensation of tracing the layered contours with their fingertips.

The story behind the painting...

While creating this work, I focused on the feelings and sensations of...

\~ Forest bathing

\~ Laying on my back in the grass and looking up at a canopy of green leaves, gently swaying in a summer breeze

\~ A mutually beneficial relationship between humans and the rest of nature

\~ A full body sway, or stirring motion, that created the layered circles of paint

\~ Following my instincts at each decision point

Synchronicity played a significant role in this painting, including two dreams which guided important creative decisions...

I dreamt of the tool to use to create the final textured tree rings (a miniature pry tool).

I then dreamt the exact process by which I used the tool to create the rings.

As I created this piece, I had the strong knowing that the painting was about the Feng Shui elements of wood and metal, which are considered incompatible. In Feng Sui, metal cuts wood. The theme of this painting is: Metal Protects Wood.

To me this represents the fact that humans don't have to destroy nature, we are part of the natural world and can also be protectors of it.

From a Feng Shui standpoint, this painting can serve to balance and harmonize the elements of wood and metal in a space, person, or relationship. The painting does this by acknowledging and honoring the incompatable elements and reframing the relationship between them.

I learned a lot from this painting, including how to boundaries (metal) protect my warm, nature-loving heart (wood).

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Layla Messner

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