Every painting tells a story
‘The Big White Fish Dreams of the Diver (or Does the Diver Dream of the Fish?)’, ©Kris Cahill 2023; acrylic on paper; Find it here
This is my story about the Big White Fish.
You’re welcome to have your own story too.
A big white fish falls asleep in a hot pink watery place, and has a dream about a diver who comes to visit her.
In her fish dream, the diver swims by, alongside other sea creatures. Colorful bubbles of all sizes are everywhere, all around the fish and the diver. It’s hard to see the diver clearly, but the fish isn’t afraid. The diver is a friend, there to say hello and play. The diver patiently waits for the fish to wake up, so they can go on a deep sea adventure together.
The dream goes on for some time, with the bubbles rising up from the ocean floor, the seaweed dancing, the underwater chorus singing. The fish begins to believe the dream is reality.
Is the diver also dreaming of the big white fish?
Who dreamed who, or did they both dream, and did their dreams connect them to each other? Maybe they were always connected, and the dream they were in reminded them of each other. They became friends in a dream.
This big white fish showed up for me in the middle of a hot pink painting one day, and grabbed my attention. ‘Hello there’ I said to the fish, and decided it was what this painting was about.
One of my inspirations for this painting is the magical documentary, 'My Octopus Teacher', which I quite forgot about until I wrote out the description of this painting.
I am wondering though: am I the fish? Am I the diver?
Maybe I’m both: part of me dreaming of the other part, one is clear and big and present, the other more a shadow swimming through the hot pink bubbly water. What am I telling myself here? That’s up to me to decipher.
As for you, you might see a completely different kind of story in this painting. Over the years, children have given me so many gifts when they tell me what they see in my paintings. I’ve actually renamed paintings because some little kid came up and without hesitation pronounced a painting to be named something they saw, and they were always right.
I’ve learned a lot by listening to how others see an image. For me, the more abstract the image is, the better chance there is to find the story.
There is power in telling a good story.
You don’t even have to tell anyone else your story, so long as you make sure you tell it to yourself. If your story is one you choose consciously, and it works for you, it’s also healing and helps you grow.
