Valerie McCarney*
Medium: Markers
Date Created: 2009
I am at a childhood friends house , standing in the doorway looking out. Both my cats were outside (reality check, they are both fixed females) but in the dream they are not fixed, one was a bright red like a tomato , the other is black and white, but the images of the black and white one were all symbols of tick tack toe. There was a beautiful white male cat there. I knew my females were in heat but I let him chose which one he got so that we could have kittens. I saw him go to the red one and in just 2 seconds rub up against her and I thought. is that all it takes for a cat to get pregnant? I ran out to get my black and white cat, I did not want 2 cats pregnant. (R.C my cats are tiger and a regular black and white) I also thought of the song by Peggy Lee , when I wrote the dream down...."Is that all there is?")
Medium: Markers
Date Created: 2009
I have a this dream in January '09... I am alone a lot..(r.c which is true) ... I watch a movie about whales and that night I have this dream. My mother shows up and she has painted her face...she looks like a Maori woman. I am in my studio and I said "why did you paint your face ?" She said I live in the sea. I laugh b/c although my mother loved to swim and loved the water ,her statement sounds too esoteric for her..she was more a "what you see is what you get type woman in life." She is annoyed that I laughed at her.. when I realize this I apologize, she tells me to read the book that she gave me before she died. I tell her I already did. I am laying down and her face is very close to me. I like the way she painted the swirls on her chin and wondered why she was so straight laced in life. I love the designs on your face, I tell her. She ignores me. She tells me that I need to tell people about the book "School of Darkness". I tell her I will . The Maori clothes she had on turn into a purple sweater that she had. I think , that it must be cold if she has a sweater on and I thought the So. Pacific was warm.
Title of Work: The Tree Faces
Medium: Markers
Date Created: Late 2008
I had been to a workshop and took many pictures of these gnarled trees with many faces in them over the summer of '08... Late in '08 I had a dream that it is a dark grey fall day and I am walking in the woods. I come upon another tree with many faces in them, they all seemed to be looking at me and telling me things. I stopped to really look at them, were they talking or was it my imagination ?? No, they were talking..this is great...I could not get the info b/c there were so many and they had so much to say. I could not wait to tell Wanda b/c this is on the property that she works at and they have so much info . I did not have a paper and pen, I was concerned how will I get it all down. I than noticed 3 women standing a bit away from me, they were doing some kind of ritual. I thought I will just wait until they are done and ask them if they have a pen and paper. It seemed important to get the info from the tree. I looked at the people on the tree and said don't worry I will get the info from you, just wait a minute. It seemed important to them to give the info and I felt pressured to get it. All of a sudden a black man that reminded me of the character in "Dragnet" popped up and said "only the facts ma'am, we want only the facts.".I said but we can't get anything until I get a pen and paper. So now everyone was looking at me to do something and I felt pressured again.
Medium: Markers
Date Created: 2009
I have a dream after watching a movie of a sculptor..In the dream.. we are at a place in Rome or an island in Greece, the waves are all around. I am taking lessons from him. He is very famous but he smokes a lot and that is annoying. I try to be cool and not say anything but I hate smoke and it makes me cough. He tells me that you know when your sculptures are good when they come alive. I look around the room and his are moving. I am amazed. This is so cool. I want to make things so that they can become alive , too. I can't wait to get home and pull out some clay, I am now aware that making bust of things won't work they will need arms and legs to move around. I see one of his sculptures speaking but it can't move because it has no body.
Medium: Markers
Date Created: 2009
I am at a tree that I go to often. I have a problem that I need to find an answer to. I go as usual to the door to go into the tree and meditate. To my surprise I can't get in, I try and try but the door will not budge, it was locked. This has never happened before so I feel perplexed. I don't know what to do, so I walk away. All of a sudden I hear a loud sound..wind , like a tornado. I turn to look it is a tornado but it is in the distance and it had a head and face attached to it. It appeared to be watching the tree. It did not scare me b/c it seemed young and helpless, like it was attached to the tornado without its approval. I also noticed a aboriginal mask on the other side. It was not there before. I did not know what to do so I stood for a moment watching. I noticed the sky was a beautiful sunset, that does not happen in tornadoes , usually the sky is green. I went to the other side of the tree, I looked right at the face and asked it how do I get into the tree. She said the key is under the mask. I turned to leave and she said why do you still think you need to ask for advice, you know that all you need to know is right there, what you think are road blocks are not, they are just a way for you to know that no matter what happens you have the ability to climb over them.
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