Cover the Clocks
Everything ends. Stop your motions. Cover the clock. Mourn if you need to. Celebrate if you need to. Breathe deeply. Feel alive…
After the Tower left me torn up and told me to walk away for a while, I decided to ask the deck for the next major Arcana card, hopefully something easier. When I pulled death I started to laugh. I could DO death. As soon as I saw the card I flashed an image of the white rose on Deaths flag around some animal skulled person at night, the rose petals withering away. But I also remembered a lucid dream I had many years ago. People often ask if I paint my dreams and in fact, I only very rarely do!
In my dream I was a small person- four feet tall in a land of big burley 10 foot giant humans. I traveled into their town. No one saw me. I was kicked and was almost trampled. I fled into the dense forest that stretched out beside the town. Through the dappled light in the trees in the distance I saw a white horse. Suddenly my soul slipped from me, a shadow running away. It jumped on the back of the white horse and they darted away into the forest. I knew if they escaped me I would die. I sped forward, catching them only because the trees were dense and I was more easily able to maneuver through. Just as I caught up we entered a clearing and the horse started to leap into the sky. I grabbed it by its hoof and pulled it down, holding it to the earth. My soul slipped from its back and returned to me. When I woke up I knew how strong I really was. I researched the white horse and learned that it was Death. How could I fit in the horse into the death tarot card? I tried having my crow death sitting on the back of my deceased fathers race horse. But it didn't feel right. I set the white horse aside. The painting flew together. I wrote its poem " Things end. Stop your motions. Cover the clock. Mourn if you need to. Celebrate if you need to. Breathe deeply. Feel alive." I moved on to my next card. But my dream horse haunted me. So, Kind Reader, I made my painting a diptych! My little soul image slips away on the white horse, riding somewhere with the spirit of my father. And although you may not be able to see the shadow on the horse's back, I photoshopped the white horse galloping across the arch of the death sickle and the arch of wood grain. There may be details in these cards that disappear to the eye, layered over with paint, or minuscule. But they are strong and they are there even if they seem gone.
“Ending” 28” x 14.5” & 6” x 13” oil on wood