Watcher Angel Tarot

The Vision

The cards are not being designed in any particular numeric order. In fact, they are being designed in the order in which the images occur to me. Many of the cards parallel or preceed life events for myself and those closest to me, so it does often feel like I am living the deck. Each image is designed to reflect the meaning and emotion of the card. I use background colors in many cases to carry the emotion, and in many ways the background I paint represents the way in which an emotion looks from the inside. For instance, the concept of the Empress, which means mother, of creation and potential, I thought of colors for a background that would represent something warm and embracing, like being inside someones heart, or as a child in the womb - the comfort and security and protection there in.

The Process

I always begin by seeking inspiration. I will sit and contemplate the meaning of a card, and usually come up with a pretty good idea of what the card should look like. I then start looking for reference photos to help build the idea and then make a sketch of the card.

I begin by making a sketch - the starting point of most artists.  A sketch may take just a few hours or days to complete.  For most cards, I will then go from the basic sketch to a shaded and largely complete drawing of the main figure, which becomes the guidelines I will follow for my shadows and highlights in the painting.  I will sometimes size my sketch on the computer before transferring the drawing to my presoaked paper on board.  Then the fun begins.

Because I am working in watercolors, I also then work in layers. I begin by painting the background, and in doing so I use plenty of water, sometimes shot onto my piece with a large eye dropper tool. I spend a lot of time layering pigments, creating striking backgrounds that employ the emotion of the card. I continue to move forward in the deck, adding middle ground imagery if there is any. Finally, the main figure is painted and details and final touches are added. This process can take anywhere from a day or two, to a week or more. Once the painting is complete, it is scanned into imaging software and merged with the border. 

>>>The Major Arcana

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