Monday, September 3, 2012

Raising the dragon in the living room


I am going to put a dragon on my walls. I have defined the curve of its body on the fine brocade wallpaper on both sides of the room. Its upper body will rise between a heavy roped-back curtain and the edge of a window at the front of the living room. 
    I know not everyone will agree that the dragon matches the decor, but I am going to have him. Sections of his body will rise from floor to ceiling on both sides; you can't see all of the dragon all at once. 
    I have sent a younger man I trust to a street market to bring me back certain objects and materials. He returns with a different sort of dragon, composed of disks of bone or ivory connected by springs, so you can pull it out like a Slinky. This isn't what I had in mind, but I'm amused by it and the price is right.
     The dragon I am raising in my living room is Western, rather than Eastern. It is related to the dragon that Vikings set on the prows of their longboats but above all to the dragon that was raised in my body, long ago, in a ritual known to my Scots ancestors.


Feelings on waking: Cheerful, energized.
Reality: There are some lovely wallpapers in my house, though not with exactly this design, which is similar to a Graham & Brown "majestic gray graphite damask" I found online, but has a soft green in the pattern as well as silvery gray. Yes, I know the dragon. I generally don't talk about this connection much, and have not considered putting it on display. 
Action: Perhaps it's time for me to write of the dragon. My dream self is sketching a design on the wallpaper with a pencil; then a pattern resembling that wallpaper is described as "graphite", which again suggests pencils, and thus first drafts and sketches.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

I would love to hear dragon stories! I have a marvelous game of imaginal energetic bridge building to play from this piece. I can't wait to step into a room with interesting wall paper, feel the energy within and without and then see what design my mind enjoys creating.

TN said...

Check out 50 rue de Rennes, Paris, France, on Google street view. Just above the blue door (to the left of the crosswalk at the intersection of rue de Rennes and Blvd. St-Germain) you will the old entrance to the Cour du Dragon. The original sculpture is in the Louvre.