'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds'

ARTIST: William Louis ("Bill") McDonald Sr.

COMPANY: Argonaut-GreyWolf

ASSIGNMENT: To render in a mix of medias, the lyrics and spirit of a famous song by a major artist or band. Teacher Ernesto Guerrero made this our high school juniors Final project for the school year. We were told the song was going to be "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," as written, performed and recorded by "The Beatles" (Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney) Each student needed to visualize and see what was the lyrics and to feel the mood created by the tune, it's rhythm, beat and speed; and then draw, collage, paint, and otherwise create what we saw. We had two weeks to complete the image. Guerrero wanted each painting to be 22" X 34."

REQUIRED ELEMENTS: Each render's elements needed to include (but was not limited to) the following: ". . . a boat on a river . . . tangerine trees . . . marmalade skies . . . "A girl with kaleidoscope eyes" . . . the sun in her eyes . . . Cellophane flowers of yellow and green . . . Overhead . . . a bridge by a fountain . . . rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies . . . drift past the flowers . . . That grow so incredibly high . . . Newspaper taxis . . . the shore . . . your head in the clouds . . . plasticine porters with looking glass ties . . . The train in the station was optional.

YEAR: 1979 (June).

MEDIA: Tempera paints, markers, inks, collage, Berol Prisma pencils, Pentel colored felt-tip pens, and Acrylics for touch-ups on Ernesto Guerrero's famous pre-cut art paper sheets.

SIZE: 22" X 34."

MODEL: Dana Hills High School cheerleader Alicia Lauria--except it wasn't her in my mind's eye. Unbeknownst to me, my subconscious mind had remote viewed my future wife whom I would not meet until 1995--sixteen years later!

STORY & HARBINGER OF THE FUTURE: Lucy looks nothing like Alicia. Alicia's face is far more round. My wife's is longer and angular. Neither had platinum hair. My wife from 1996 to now, whom I met on 9-9-95---and married five months later, her mother, my mother, my deceased maternal grandmother, and a number of relatives on both sides all declare and believe that the girl in my painting was the spitting image of my wife's face back in 1979 and further, that she is instantly recognizable in this painting even with the platinum hair and rainbow irises to represent for "Kaleidoscope."