6 wands—victory! my tarot card painting at splendorporium in portland!

in the midst of a big deadline of 25 illustrations for the arabic pastry cookbook, sweets of araby, an opportunity to paint something completely different from what i had been intensely working on arose and i took a few days to indulge myself in a totally different process. 

i knew the size, as the tarot show had a minimum size, and i knew the content, as i drew this card, the 6 of wands—victory, to paint for the portland tarot card exhibition. 

wanting to do something totally different than brightly colored paintings on bright white paper that i had sketched and designed previously, i chose to gesso the canvas black for starters. then i put into place an interference blue border of 2 inches, leaving the corner squares for interference gold.

working without a sketch, i just went with the flow and my intuition. came up with the idea of the i-ching, and as i researched this, which has hexagrams of 6 lines, it was perfectly logical to do the first hexagram of the i-ching, which is six unbroken lines, Ch'ien, THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN both above and below. how auspicious as the 6 of wands could be represented by the 6 lines. one of the interpretations of the 6 of wands tarot card i discovered is victory over difficulties. so appropriate to what i have been dealing with, i could not have asked for a more positive card! and the i-ching hexagram 1—ch'ien, the creative, above and below, felt divinely guided.

next, i painted the black gesso with some dark colors to give it depth and texture. and then using more interference paint colors, i painted in the hexagram. the circle enclosing it seemed like a natural organic progression to represent the sun, earth, moon, creative energy, egg, birth, life. and the lines extending beyond the circle representing another aspect of the 6 of wands...and the number 6 at the bottom.

finally i added black circles on to the gold corner squares and came up with four elements to be included: earth, represented by the bare feet standing in the center of the circle; fire; water; and heart—all done with love.

and the word "victory" which appears on the 6 of wands card was added as the finishing element.

the exhibition is up at the splendorporium in portland through the end of december and this painting is for sale!

wishing you all victory over any and all difficulties, creativity, heaven, and many blessings this holiday season!

portland tarot show—opening friday night, november 5

my artwork for the "six of wands—victory" will be in the portland tarot show that opens this friday night at the splendorporium. dozens of artists were invited to draw a card from the tarot deck to determine the card each artist was to paint. a very synchronistic process, to be sure. the card i drew is extremely auspicious to me, as it's meaning relates to success after much hard work.

this is so fitting to my situation, and i am delighted to have drawn this card. in the midst of a huge deadline of 25 interior paintings for the arabic pastry cookbook, i managed to squeeze out a couple of days to work on the painting for the tarot show, which is totally different from the illustrations for the book.

instead of working on small images on white paper with brightly colored paints, i began by gessoing my canvas black. and instead of having a pre-planned drawing worked out, it felt right to work spontaneously, and just follow my intuition. i used interference paints, that work exquisitely on black, and although the theme for the card is joy, the painting is a bit on the dark side. one piece of advice that i learned while researching the meanings for this card is humility...victory with humility. in other words, the opposite of arrogance. a wonderful reminder.

will upload the photos from my camera soon to share with you here. and if you're in portland, please join me and many other artists at the opening friday night from 7 to 9 p.m.