Jeff Newman

Dreamscapes

My lucid dreams play out in vivid colors, while color does not seem to play a role in my regular dreams. The lucid dreams combine strange interpretations of life events with notable emotions. Sometimes dramatic, other times more subtle but always in color.

I used a range of pigments with specific qualities from the CYMK color space as my palette for the Dream series of paintings. This color space helps achieve the other-worldly quality of the colors in my lucid dreams.

Combining this palette with surrealism, expressionism, and touches of cubism laid down with impressionist brush strokes displays my dreams for the viewer to feel.

Museum of Dreams

oil on canvas 30 x 40"

For me, museums built with contemporary architecture’s open and airy spaces that take advantage of natural light are my favorite. Museum of Dreams is a surrealistic interpretation of the Des Moines Art Center with my dreams on display.

Banquet at the Nightmare

oil on canvas 14 x 20"

Being part of an organized event is uncomfortably stressful for me. When I speak to others does my voice sound ridiculous? Am I too one dimensional to be interesting? Will anybody care if I don’t participate in conversations about this or that? Must I interrupt another to be part of a group conversation? Can I be a quiet person without being judged as arrogant or aloof? Must I fake being a social person to be accepted? This is a nightmare. Banquet at the Nightmare interprets the recurring dreams where I don’t fit in.

Buskers' Dream

oil on canvas 14 x 14"

Late summer afternoons at twilight is my favorite time of the day. The oppressive heat has left the air yet it’s still warm enough for a t-shirt. The narrow streets and sidewalks of the old town are filled with people arriving and leaving the restaurants, bars, shops, and galleries. Buskers’ music fills the streets and I feel at home.

Dreaming of Water Lilies

oil on canvas 14 x 20"

Monet’s paintings were imprinted on my mind from a very young age when my grandmother exposed me to them. I finally had the opportunity to travel to Paris where my partner, also a painter, and I saw Monet’s extraordinary water lily paintings at the Musée de l’Orangerie. Dreaming of Water Lilies shows a perspective view of Les Deux Saules. I master copied the two willows impressionistically as this is how the painting has appeared in my dreams, and I can’t improve on the wonderful feelings my favorite Monet painting stirs in me.

Concerto Dream

oil on canvas 32 x 36"

Several years ago I stumbled on 2Cellos and immediately became a fan of the unique sounds they mastered from the instrument. It’s a deeply emotive instrument that catalyzes a broad range of feelings and colorful imagery in my imagination when I listen with my eyes closed. Concerto Dreams displays all of the drama, fire, and ice from the soundscape created by the musician in a deep musical trance during their performance to a live audience.