Tagged Tarot Art by Bea Garth in progress

“The Magician” Tarot Art by Bea Garth

I think the Magician Card is finally done except for the border and maybe just a wee bit more shadow on the white globe he/she is holding and the snake wrapping around the arm.

"The Magician," acrylic on canvas by Bea Garth, copyright 2017
“The Magician,” acrylic on canvas by Bea Garth, copyright 2017

It definitely has taken me a while to get used to doing this genre. First of all it involves working upright rather than my usual horizontal plane for a painting. Second is figuring out what size to make the original image so it translates well into the size of a card.

Third there is a whole history and tradition I have needed to become more aware of since the images are symbolic of the various archetypes traditionally expressed in Tarot–while also expressing my own  vision I bring to the subject.

It wasn’t enough for me to be somewhat versed in the Tarot, I needed to see more cards and study its history. I thus have been perusing several Tarot decks I now own–including that of my friend Christine and her husband Michael who inspired me to try my hand at this field to begin with.

I am now starting to feel more comfortable with how it all works and look forward to making the next Tarot painting fairly soon.

Christine says in a way its like playing 3-D chess, and I think she is right, especially from the point of view of making the images  meditative pieces designed to take the viewer into a trance to more accurately divine what is or is not going on in one’s life.

The Majician tarot card art in progress by Bea Garth

Here’s the beginning of my Majician card for the Tarot. Its quite a project, but I seem to be getting the hang of it finally. I have gotten several tarot decks to get more of an idea of what to do.

This project I think will be life changing in some ways, since its undoubtedly going to improve my ability to remember which card does what in a tarot reading–which I believe will get me more consciously in touch with my unconscious (a good thing for an artist like me)–which likely will influence the rest of my artistic endeavors. I have an intuitive ability to pull significant cards and interpret them fairly well, but my memory hasn’t always been the best, especially what they mean in which order–so I usually have to look it up.

Of course I need to add in more color, shadows etc. Plus its likely some of the colors will change a bit (am thinking of lightening the blue sky–and darkening part of the cape). Nevertheless, I think its all there for this Majician.

I chose red hair to help represent the Goddess. Even though this is a mostly male card, it is displaying some of Her symbols–as well as the traditional symbols for the rest of the deck (which often equates to about the same thing!): cup, sword,  staff, pentacles –as well as Sun, quill pen, book, bird, Moon,  jar, Mercury–and even the old snake Wisdom. Plus the project many had of turning lead into gold…also representative of the Goddess.

"The Majician" tarot card in progress by Bea Garth, copyright 2017
“The Majician” tarot card in progress by Bea Garth, copyright 2017

This time I am using acrylic on canvas, and checked the size to make sure its right. I decided to make it a regular playing card size (i.e., that reduces to 2.5 x 3.5 inches). The top and bottom will have a border so I can number and name the cards. The left and right border will be cut off, but is here for now for the purposes of the painting. There is no need for a border for the width of the cards. Am thinking of making the border for the painting gold as in the old Renaissance tradition–though I could leave it white or make it some other color…