Thursday, December 16, 2010

More Imaged work!

This entry was published without editing as I am suffering from the flu. Apologies if it makes very little sense or none at all.

It seems so very long ago that I completed these cards. I suppose in a way it was. The Star was completed in May 2009 and The World in March 2009. Looking back on my entries is very interesting as I didn't post much about the Star painting and absolutely nothing about The World. Of course, at that point I didn't know much about marketing my work and how to let people know exactly why I was creating it. I suppose, at the time, I was just making it for myself, without considering that my blog readers might have an interest in the process or the meaning.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to redeem myself, as I certainly hope I've come a long way from then. I know I can see how my painting has improved, at least, although I still have a great fondness for both of these cards. The originals reside in Canada and I do miss having them on my wall, although if someone were to love one of them enough to want it on their wall I wouldn't object.

But I digress. This is to get the meaning across, to share my motivation and to explain why I painted these two cards in the way I did.

As it was the first of the two which I completed I will start with The World. In the Major Arcana this is the 21st of 22 cards starting at 0. It's suitable that this is the final card of the Major Arcana as it's meaning is a sense of completion. It represents unity and accomplishment. This is shown by the universal symbol of a circle, in this case, the Earth. Traditionally it also includes Leo, Taurus, Scorpio and Aquarius. These are representative of energy, matter, time and space, respectively. As I wanted to have only one animal used in the symbolism of this card I chose to portray these four as stars.

My choice to use a turtle was two fold. I see them as extremely wise, steady creatures. This is a very powerful and wise card and I see turtles as very serene, strong animals. I am also a huge fan of Terry Pratchett, so this is a nod to him.

My design for The Star is one of my personal favourites. I originally drew this dragon as an idea for a tattoo. I chose to have a tattoo artist design the dragon which is now happily displayed on my left shin, but I still loved the dragon I'd originally drawn and wanted to put it to good use. Because the Star is such a wonderfully comforting card, and because I have always drawn and written about dragons from a place of fond childhood memories, it seemed a suitable choice.

This card is about the future, but not what is going to happen or not happen. It's about the pure simple fact that everything will be O.K. It's representative of hope and the knowledge that tomorrow is another day. This is something I've found to be an extremely important lesson in my life to date. Nothing is forever can seem like a very scary realisation, but in this card it is meant to be a great comfort. Nothing, no matter how uncomfortable, heartbreaking or difficult is forever and the future stretches before us as pure potential.

Both of these cards are available to purchase through my website. You may purchase the original(s) or get a print, poster or card. Despite my earlier miffed musings about RedBubble I have decided that for now it will be the way to go. I am looking into building my own site where I can sell the prints directly without a middle-man, but that's in the future. The bright, beautiful future.


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