Paint Painting

There are many sayings that illustrate how paint can be used in dreams. We can paint the town red, paint too rosy a picture, whitewash everything, paint too clear a picture. It can also represent a memory caught in an artistic mood.

These suggest letting loose pent up high spirits; being too optimistic; trying to cover up mistakes; being too honest. Painting can also symbolise self expression, realisation of inner contents, hiding the real condition of things with a veneer of paint, or to put a new appearance on things.

The unconscious frequently senses things, or synthesises out of our experience, views of things we have not been consciously aware of. A dream may depict this as a painting; subtle feelings or realisations; a view we have of or about something.

The realisations connected with a painting or picture can often indicate memories of what live is us unconsciously as our heritage from the past prior to our birth. See seed

 If we look at a painting, we see certain colours on it. That particular painting exists because of the texture, the minerals, the earth and chemicals that go into the paint or ink used. It is also a result of the movements, the skill the artist has put into it. It is an incorporation of all those things and many other things not mentioned. It is also an expression of the light that falls on it. Without the light it is not apparent. In different lighting conditions it will change its character in some way.

So the painting is partly an expression of a human being and their qualities and skills; it is partly an expression of the chemicals and minerals and surfaces involved. As such it is an extraordinary thing. When we look at it we are witnessing all that goes into it. Maybe we don’t realise it; perhaps we don’t see everything that composes it. Maybe we don’t realise that in its present form it has substances from when the earth was you, that its atoms are from the beginning of time, or that the canvas it is on was formed by the efforts of several people not even consciously known by the artist. And of course, the painting is unique. There will never be a painting exactly like that. A copy might appear on the surface as the same, but there will never be quite the same mixture of minerals, chemicals, movements, human qualities, that entered into the painting.

A paint box perhaps shows talent in that direction, or that you are expressing something form within.

If you are painting a picture it shows you in the middle of creating or expressing or realizing something. If you know what the subject of the picture is this will indicate what the connection is. Sometimes things we realise deep down do not easily translate into words. The dream painting is a half way house, and your feelings about it help you put into words your inner intuition.

Are you simply looking at the painting, or is it being destroyed? Whatever the action is this refers to the subject of the painting or your intuition.

Any form of artistic expression: Self expression; expressing ones feelings or intuitions; ones inner situation; creative ability.

Painting as in decorating: Making changes in the way we live or feel about ourselves; expressing feelings; the impression we give to others; what ‘colour’ we are painting things, in the sense of painting a very black picture; a cover up. We can paint the town red; paint too rosy a picture. Or we might be working at changing our appearance or life style. See: photographs.

 Example: So many men and women have not trod this path of being ready to walk directly into the darkness of personal death, because life as it is painted by the extant philosophy and religion have taken away all personal connection with the underlying reality of life in them. Life is a spirit that never takes form yet is in all form.

Example: The object of active imagination is to give a voice to sides of the personality (particularly the anima/animus and the shadow) that are normally not heard, thereby establishing a line of communication between consciousness and the unconscious. Even when the end products-drawing, painting, writing, sculpture, dance, music, etc.-are not interpreted, something goes on between creator and creation that contributes to a transformation of consciousness. Jungian Lexicon

Example: In sleep, we may approach some inner landscape that represents our wholeness – the latent qualities of our own being. The wonderful thing is that our dream is our own. It uses our own symbols, our own emotions, our own understanding, our own possibilities. With these it paints a truly personal wonder we call a dream. Surely this is worth understanding?

Example: She is tall but slight in her figure, which is hidden not only by her clothes but by a long skein of light brown hair that falls below her waist.  I sense her breasts are small and quiescent. Her back is straight and her buttocks narrow. She is still and calm but occupied in pouring powdered paint onto a papier mache relief map, which instantly transforms the territory beyond into a colourful, exotic landscape filled with African animals of all description leaping and running with enormous energy.

Useful Questions and Hints:

How is ‘painting’ portrayed in the dream?

Is this about self expression or self realization?

Am I putting a new appearance on things, giving them a new veneer?

Is this a play on words such as ‘painting the town red’, ‘painting a rosy picture’, ‘whitewash everything’, ‘paint a clear picture’ and so on?

Are you painting a picture?

What do you feel the picture describes?

What happens to the painting?

See Emotions and Mood in Dreams – Being the Person or Thing – Genius