Above is the dream this painting is based on, from
September 2, 2004:
I see scenes from my life; people that have come into my life
for a time and then gone. It is like a carefully organized train schedule. It
seems to start when I run across some information or letters from people I met
at the 1994 SIGGRAPH conference in Orlando [the first I ever attended, and a
major event in my life.] I wonder what's happened to these people and see that
we were all meant to meet at a certain time in our lives and then move on as if
we are all on our own individual trains going their own way. We always have
someone with us for bits of the way, some longer than others.
The schedule is relentless, with no time to rest. I see one
section where I have the camera debt [a reference to a ninety thousand dollar
business lease I managed, with difficulty, for four and a half years.] I see the
debt, and then right on schedule it is turned off and I have to meet another
train. The funny thing is, while the symbol of a train schedule and trips on
trains are used throughout the dream, I am not ever actually traveling on the
train.
An angel comes to tell me I need to go to the train and I do
so by passing out of Creation to another Place, a Place that exists outside of
Creation and is connected to it, but it
is a bigger, non-material place. When I get to the train [see illus,] I pick up
an assignment of sorts. Once I have the assignment, I have to go back to my life
and deal with my assignment. At the end of the assignment, I will just meet the
next train where I will be given something else to do. I understand that it is
very important to always pick up the assignment, to meet the train on time, to
complete the assignment, and to catch the next train.
The whole sequence of
events requires split second timing and an all out effort. There is always a
terrible urgency to complete my designated task so that, not only is the work
done, but so that I am in the right place and the right time to meet my next
train. In this case I am told that I have finished one assignment and have to go to the train to pick up the next one. When I arrive, I see the train
waiting for me, about to leave the station. I am told some baggage [my
assignment] has been left for me on the platform. I take a look and see that my
art supplies and portfolios are laid out in front of me. I understand that I am
to take them and use them to get to the next train at some distant point in the
future.
March, 2005 / 24" x
36" / Acrylic on canvas
