You Are Invited To...

I've been mailing out special invites to my Tarot Show! I have always wanted a show at SR2 Gallery, and I've always wanted to craft my own Tarot deck, AND, my show just happens to be during my favorite month..October. Thanks to my husband, Davide, who arranged this show for me while he was getting his upper arm tattooed by KC Angel at Sacred Rose Tattoo.

Visions

After my Tarot show, I have to complete a painting for the Ouija Group show which will be at Articulated Gallery in November. I already have my concept worked out for this, so I just have to photograph it and get started. Then I feel guided to (well, complete another large "portrait" that I began a month ago) continue painting large-scale, but instead of painting largely "portraits" as I have been doing, to depict more rituals and initiations from my personal experiences. I think it's natural I gravitated towards "portraits" to begin, since I had to decide Who these Witches are, Who these Shaman are, and Which style of painting I wanted to use. Now that I'm in the swing of my style and technique, I need to manifest more action within each painting. Until this point I've managed to capture an action (dealing with spirit attachments, the breath of life, calling in the 4 quarters, generating energy from the palm chakras, etc), in a sort of cropped freeze-frame. This was the result of focusing so much on my intent...now it's time to show those actions in context; in their surroundings, depicting the spirit-side of things that can't be seen by the "naked" eye, etc. Since these large scale paintings will be so much more detailed, I also plan to continue painting on a smaller scale, as with my Tarot show. And of course I need to continue to paint the rest of my Tarot deck, which I plan to print in its entirety when completed.

Guiding Forces

I'm being guided to "update" certain Tarot cards. Not in the sense that I am "updating" the concept; the core stays the same, but rather through imagery I am bringing the concept more to the center in a currently readable way. Language and symbols are "dated" ideas, and they conjured "dated" concepts based upon the culture and it's affectations of the time period. I'm being led to understand the Tarot beyond the symbolism on the card; the way I've learned to see beyond the words of a person I'm reading clairvoyantly or whose body organs I am communicating with during a Reiki Healing session. The words and the outward appearance can sometimes mislead. I've found that in learning about Tarot, there are cards which have been misread by people no matter what time period they are speaking to or being used in. So with my deck, I would say my clairvoyance is taking me to the core of each card. Here is where, in updated symbolism (or symbolism that speaks to me and my inner language) I am "updating" cards with codes that carry the information in a way that speaks to me the story. "The Fool", "The Magician", "The Chariot", for starters, I've been led to rework in subtle or not-so-subtle ways.

Tarot Tarot Tarot

As anyone who makes a living with their art knows, any setback can quickly snowball. Happily, my cat is doing so much better. Buy currently I am behind on several leather orders, an album artwork commission, new leather for my etsy shop...but I'm managing to stay in good keeping with my Tarot paintings. Thanks to late-nite espresso from my Italian mother-in-law's "mocha" brewer, I'm able to work the late nite/early morning hours as well. By tomorrow night I will have a total of 10 of the 22 Tarot paintings in various stages of process. The painting is going so well, it's the drawing that slows me down. As I've learned, though, the drawing is truly the most important step going in, so that foundation must be done with care. Sometime before October 1st I plan to have my new website up and running, record more vocals for the new songs Davide's written, and plan my painting for the Ouija-theme show at Articulated Gallery in November. Whew.