through the ivory gate

I had this dream where I was a child again. With some other children, I was running away from this group of soldiers who were chasing us- of course the soldiers were nazis - in an enormous house with endless corridors and staircases. Finally the soldiers had us cornered in an attic room, there was no escape. But then another group of soldiers, led by this huge bearlike creature, appeared and killed all the nazis.
The creature approached us, kneeled down and took of its mask. It was a little boy inside a polar bear suit. His face glowed like the sun and the whole room was suddenly filled with warm, bright light.
"Now you are safe" the boy said.

There was a really weird atmosphere surrounding the boy, something that I cannot explain with words or pictures. But I had to draw the boy anyway, so here it is:

tattooed

work in progress?

"So I was wondering..."
"Yeah?"
"What have you been doing lately?"
"Well, today I've been mostly drawing leafs"
"Leafs?"
"Yeah, leafs. I got this idea of an old woodling face that is encircled by leafs. Lots of leafs. It's going to look nice, but after a while, drawing leafs becomes quite boring. And it's very slow work."
"So... you're drawing every leaf then, individually? You do know that there are ways to give an impression of a whole bunch of leafs without actually drawing each one of them?"
"Of course I know, but the detail is the thing here. Have you even looked at most of my work, I happen to like detail, especially in trees."
"So what's the purpose of the detail in this particular work you're doing?"
"?"
"Don't say you're doing it just because you're in love with the technique and the details? And because its going to look nice? Haven't you always said that you don't much appreciate art that lacks the idea, no matter how perfect the technique is?"
"So do you want a lecture what the trees I'm always drawing mean to me? Or start a conversation about art in generally?"
"... no, actually I'm not that interested in you. I just want to look nice pictures while I'm having my morning coffee or having a break at work. Which brings us back to beginning of all this. Where is all the nice pictures I like to occasionally watch? There used to be new stuff here more frequently. But don't think I'm checking your blog daily. As I said, I'm not that interested in you."
"Well, drawing my graphic novel kind of exhausts most of my need to make 'nice pictures'. And I haven't shown much of the progress to anyone. I'm not going to until all the pages are drawn and inked."
"So when's that?"
"When they're ready."
"Oh, that's the usual answer when someone doesn't have the slightest idea when something is going to be ready"
"No, I have an idea and it's soon."
"...hmph...So can I see it?"
"See what? Didn't I just told that..."
"No, not the damn secret graphic-who-knows-what-it's-gonna-be-novel. I mean the leaf thing. Just write 'work in progress' and put it here, ok?"
"If that makes you happy, yes"
"Happy? Don't flatter yourself, there are lot of other places I can found nice pictures to look at, I'm not that-"
"- interested in me. Yeah, I got it. So here. Work in progress:"




































"Hmm. Can't say much about it, cos it's not finished. Don't know if it's nice or not. Maybe you should post it again when it's colored and all. Like when it's done. People might get more out of it then."
"??!??!.... you don't say..."
"Oh, I finished my coffee, have to get back to work now. Let's talk again some other time."
"I'm looking forward to it..."