“Jacob’s Dream in the Wilderness” contemporary figurative painting. acrylic on canvas. 36 in x 24 in.
“Jacob’s Dream in the Wilderness” contemporary figurative painting
“Jacob’s Dream in the Wilderness” is about a vision that comes after struggling alone in the wilderness. Going out into the wild to look for guidance seems to be a universal practice among “primitive” hunter-gatherer peoples. When the community is threatened by hunger or war, the medicine man goes off on quest to talk to the gods or ancestors in a visionary dream, often facilitated by sacred plants with hallucinogenic properties. In this case, the story in question comes from Genesis, the book of the Bible filled with all sorts of archetypes.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. Gen 28:16
I used to camp out by myself quite a bit, mainly wilderness areas in the mountains. Other times, I would drive across the South, park near bridges and walk up rivers into the countryside. I would always go with minimal gear, sometimes without even a sleeping bag. Each spring, I would drive back to Mississippi. I wouldn’t go home or to see anybody. I would go to certain rivers and walk up into the land to see the Indian mounds and the pastures. I would sleep on sand bars and find petrified wood and arrow heads. You have all sorts of encounters camping that way, buzzards, armadillos, law enforcement, all sorts of stuff.