“… was I Chuang Tzu dreaming I was a butterfly or am I now really a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang Tzu?”

This fun drawing was inspired by Victorian brocade and Damask wallpapers. The frills of the shoe are wings made from the same rubber stamp used to create the butterflies … as such the shoe and butterflies are one and the same. The butterfly is the protector here, but also sacrifices itself for the shoe... the shoe is thus not just a shoe... it stands firmly on a golden surface; it is protected and revered by the butterfly totem.

Here the shoe is a metaphor of our internal worlds and the riches therein, if only we dare to dream... just like Chuang Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who dreamt he was a butterfly- on waking he wasn't sure whether he was a man dreaming I was a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming he was a man. 

Is this perhaps why we are so scared to dream? For fear that we will confuse our realities... This painting reminds us that the only  thing we do know for sure is the now and the beauty it offers... so make the most of it!