A lot to ponder

What started off as something that I was working on for October as something Halloween themed, slowly turned into what I can only describe as an intense brainstorming session. I don't normally do dark fantasy imagery with my work so it being the season for it at the time, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to experiment and push myself. 

Top: Golden Thread Tarot, Spirit de le Lune Oracle,
Cosmos Tarot & Oracle
Bottom: The Marigold Tarot, True Black Tarot

It was only a suggestion

Around the same time I was working on the painting, I was chatting with a wonderful friend about some artist created Tarot and Oracle decks that I could see her and I add to our respective collections. Such decks that were brought up included Golden Thread Tarot Deck from the Labyrinthos Academy, Cosmos Tarot & Oracle Deck from the Light Grey Art Lab, True Black Tarot by artist Arthur Wang, The Marigold Tarot by Amrit Brar, and Spirit de le Lune Oracle Deck by Rachael Caringella and Marissa Moondaughter. Jokingly, I made the comment to my friend of "What would happen if I ended up creating my own Oracle deck". Of course I wasn't prepared for the amount of enthusiasm and encouragement she would showed for the idea.  


So many things to consider

In-progress sneak peek of
"Deep Water"

Returning to the painting, I found myself pondering the discussion. Would anyone actually be interested in it if I attempted? Who would I have to contact to actually go about getting them created? Would I have to put it on Kickstarter or even Patron to help get the project funded? There was just so many questions running through my mind that it was surprisingly difficult to concentrate on completing the image.  What started off as a simple experiment using a darker color pallet then what I would normally work with was evolving into the flickering start of what may or may not turn into a passion project. Again, as I came closer to completing the image, I spoke with my friend about the earlier suggestion. I explained to her that if I did finally decide on moving forward with the idea, what would the theme of the deck even be? The only thing I knew for certain was that I wanted the image that I was working on to be titled Deep Water. With that being the only piece of information for her to go on and a glimpse of the nearly completed painting, she put it out to me that the work I was doing seemed to be directed towards the deeper side of the psyche and emotion then what many of the other decks are out there. It was an interesting point to think about. 

Left: Finished painting of "Deep Water"
Right: Experimental alteration of what "Deep Water" would
look like as a card

Once done with the image, I couldn't help but play with how it might end up looking like as a card. Of course it was simply to satisfy my own curiosity but it was an interesting experiment. I still have plenty to think about if I ever go down the route of making an entire deck. Another possibility would be an art book but again, I would need to think about the same series of questions that I had if it was a deck.