I remember the day David Lynch passed away.
It was four days before the inauguration of Donald Trump’s 2nd term and the fires in Los Angeles were raging.
I remember thinking:
How? How can you leave us NOW? When we’re all walking through fire.
The fires took David Lynch, and it made January feel colder and darker.
Each of David Lynch’s works was was an #initiation for me.
To me, they are #mysteryplays that teach great secrets to the public.
David Lynch’s works also inspired me to write my own mystery play, the WhereThereIsNoNight series.
So because I will never meet David Lynch in real life, I reached out in meditation to say hello when I found out he was on the other side.
My first point of contact was surprising.
It felt like an old fashioned switchboard connecting.
Then I saw David Lynch as the beloved Gordon Cole from Twin Peaks.
He shouted, “I’m getting a lot of phone calls today!”
Then all of a sudden, I felt an influx of creativity that was a much higher octave than my creative ability.
It reminded me of his book Catching the Big Fish, which I read during a dark night of the soul. Catching the Big Fish reminded me to use my meditation practice to propel my creativity.
The creative influx tracked with the book and I felt the contact was legitimate.
So “catching the big fish” in meditation was a beautiful and expiring experience.
I felt uplifted in a terrifying time.
During meditation, I asked David Lynch that his inspiration be heard by all artists, creators, mystics and seekers as we go forward in these uncertain times.
After my meditation session, I was certain David Lynch had become a bodhisattva and I felt he was here to help anyone who asked for inspiration.
I wanted to do a tribute to David Lynch but I wasn’t sure what to do. So when I saw my friend, Brian’s, illustration of David Lynch in the Black Lodge, i jumped at the chance to do another project with Brian. Brain and I have done several projects and they all turned out super. I have a stack I’m collecting because I hope to get us an art show someday.
Brain excitedly agreed to the collaboration and I invited David Lynch to be part of the project and sit for his portrait.
I wasn’t sure what working with David Lynch would bring but as a horror writer, a visual artist and a vlogger, I was open to his influence.
And he definitely surprised me.
The shift came in the form of a time capsule arriving in ny mailbox — my high school ring that disappeared 20 years ago reappeared again.
Just like the Owl Cave ring from Twin Peaks
I lost my high school ring a summer or two after high school. I was walking in the woods with my friends and my my ring flew off my finger. I had designed the ring and my name was engraved inside the band.
I crawled around in the leaves, desperately trying to find my ring but it was getting darker.
I finally gave up.
A couple years later a guy from high school messaged me and asked me if I was missing my high school ring. I told him I was and he said his mom had it. I still don’t remember ever having met him. I gave the guy my parents address but I never got the ring …
And life went on.
Then, 20 years later, I got another message from the same guy asking if his mom could send me my ring.
I was shocked but amused, curious but excited, to get my ring back. I gave the guy my PO Box in December.
It showed up in late February.
Wrapped very intentionally and very neatly was my high school ring and a letter from the lady who kept it safe for 20 years.
It was like a message from my past self to my future self cloaked in #symbolism. I had to laugh because some things never change.
On the way home I passed by a shop with an artist palette tea cup on display. I laughed again because there is an artist palette on my ring. I bought the tea cup, of course, and even talked the price down to $12.
I sat down over the weekend, #meditated and then went into a #writing #trance.
I thought that maybe the real message was a call to reclaim the bits of my soul that got broken off and left behind …
So I made a thank you note and sent it to the woman who kept my ring safe for 20 years.
One thing the ring reminded me of was my dreams of being an artist when I was a high school student and what it means to me to be an artist now. I wanted to be an illustrator when I was in high school. I dreamed of drawing shoujo manga and writing paranormal stories about female heroes. I wanted to empower young women with magick and art. I wanted to write and illustrate stories about the power of the feminine divine.
But somewhere along the way, the art world beat me down. I got imposter syndrome. I stopped sharing my art and gave up on making a living off of it because I hated the competition and the egos.
In recent years, I started sharing my illustrations again. But it was in the form of giving gifts to my friends or in the form of leaving art for people to find or being an anonymous street artist, posting up posters with tape and tacks and staples — in a legal fashion — so that anyone who wanted it could take it home. A lot of it is unsigned. Because to me, the joy art brings is more important than putting my name on it.
So doing the poster tribute was a good way to connect my past and future selves.
As for the poster tribute, it took several weeks to finish for time and money reasons.
But when I finally finished it, I was filled with a deep sense of joy and satisfaction.
And the Mayan Theater showing of The Art Life was a wonderful place to kick off the tribute poster release.
The movie itself was so inspiring.
I didn’t know much about David Lynch’s early life and journey as an artist. Now I am absolutely convinced that David Lynch was a Necromancer after watching the Art Life. I felt a lot of what he painted seemed like things the dead might show someone in conversation.
In the movie David Lynch had a copy of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” posted in his studio. It’s my FAVORITE painting and I was inspired to do a copy of Bosche soon.
The Art Life also taught me a lot about myself as an artist.
I thought about my own experiences with talking with the dead, including David Lynch. And I believe he sat with me through the various stages of development.
The Art Life also reminded me that I am a short film maker and have been since high school.
David Lynch inspired the teenage art collectiveI formed with my closest friends in high school together.
We lived “the art life”, running around Louisville, KY with a video camera, making made weird art films with surreal masks and confusing costumes. It was the same vibe David Lynch talked about in his early days of being an artist.
I’ve been a vlogger since college but I’m feeling inspired to try directing longer films again.
I left the Mayan Theater feeling that not just me, but the world, had changed
I left about 25 copies of each poster design out in the lobby and I was thrilled to see people leaving with my art work. I’m so happy that so many David Lynch fans are helping spread the tribute.
I’ve been putting the posters up around town and I hope people enjoy them. Some have been taken down. Maybe they got blown away. Maybe fans took them. Maybe people didn’t like them and ripped them down. But I have about 40 copies left and I will continue to post them up until I run out of them.
I hope they help people who don’t know about David Lynch to seek out his works.
Thank you, David Lynch, for all your creations and your wisdom. You will be missed but not forgotten.🕯️
Magdalena Tarot 