9 of Wands inspiration

These are the songs I'm referencing on my tarot card:

The Point Of It All This song is haunting. Very lonely, depressing and existential but I love it!!!

Leeds United

I love this song! It's best sung loudly while driving down Ga 400 at about 70 mph.

Oasis a light-hearted upbeat, cheery little ditty

reFRESH reCYCLE reUSE reDUCE

Today is Wonderful Wednesday at work; that's the day our boss tells us all to take a half-day. So I decided to use my half-day to work on art. I'm making good progress on AFP tarot. I'm satisfied with where it's going and see a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

With things going so good I decided to take a break from the tarot card to mess around in my art journal for a bit. I've started a new art journal and I LOVE what's going on there.

I took a mail-order catalog from one of my favorite retailers. The catalog I'm using is from DharmaCraft but of course you could use any catalog or magazine. Then I took a clear gesso and painted every page. This gives the slippy paper a tooth to work on.

Now I'm painting out each page. I'm painting around some of the pictures and words from the catalog. Once these pages dry I'll write, draw, embellish, etc around the words and pictures. I think it will be an interesting journal and give me lots of things to write about.

Update on Number Nine

I spent this weekend working exclusively on AFP Nine of Wands. Normally I have multiple projects going on at the same time. On any given day I might work on 2 or 3 different paintings (switching from one to the other to allow layers to dry), piece together an assemblage, do a sketch or two in my art journals, and so on. But I thought AFP Nine of Wands would be a great exercise to see if I truly could focus on a single project when I need to. This does have a very definite deadline. And focus isn't always my strong point.

First I sketched ideas in my art journal and came up with one which fit the criteria. It represented the card. It represented AFP. The composition was strong. It fit my own personal style.

Then I transferred my ideas on to canvas, tweaking here and there as needed. I color-blocked the background; the mountains, sky and path. I know the figure will take the most time and I wanted to concentrate on the easy bits first. After I had it color-blocked I started working on the details of the background. I spent a good part of Saturday and all of Sunday on this step. And I do have to say I'm happy with it.

After I had reached a state of completion with the background I color-blocked the figure. This is as far as I got this weekend. But it's a great stage to be at. I can now look at the painting and see what it will be. I know from past experiences I can spend weeks and weeks getting the shadows and skin tones just right. So that will be my focus until October 1st. I shouldn't have to tweak the background now. My focus is AFP.

As always happens, working so focused has opened a font of creativity.
~ I've got a strong idea for my scavenger hunt art project. http://noyestudios.blogspot.com/2009/08/photo-inspiration.html
~ I also found a piece of driftwood that looks just like a llama's neck and head and I've got some ideas on how to finish the body.
~ The weather is perfect to continue work on the bottle wall and Zen garden.
http://noyestudios.blogspot.com/2009/08/zen-garden-small-step.html
~ I started 3 canvas' while on vacation in Florida and I'm anxious to bring them all to completion.
~ I have 3 portraits I started weeks before vacation and they certainly aren't going anywhere.

But I have to focus. Those projects will still be there when AFP Nine of Wands is complete.

Number Nine

Just spent a wonderful long holiday weekend on St. Augustine Beach with some of my bestest of friends. While driving home I made a very happy discovery. I have been selected to be one of the artists on the AFP tarot card deck. (That's Amanda Fucking Palmer to the uninitiated).

I've been selected to design and execute the card for Nine of Wands. So I've been doing a little research.

Some of the words or phrases associated with the Nine of Wands:
~ strength
~ perseverance
~ though obstacles may see insurmountable, continue to push towards your dreams/goals
~ determination
~ a long struggle with victory at the end
~ realism
~ heroism
~ protection
~ reliability
~ virtuousness
~ purpose driven

Some of the symbolism associated with the Nine of Wands:
~ path - follow your current path/goal/dream
~ mountains - represent the obstacles which must be overcome
~ central figure at rest - respite after a long period of hard work
~ armor - protection, preparation, strength

My ideas:
I've been playing around with a few rushed sketches. The one which seems to fit the card best (and Amanda best, cos after all, this is an AFP tarot) is this: Our Heroin Amanda is leaning heavily on her staff (wand). She's resting on her path, miles to go, yet miles and miles behind her. In the background are mountains (symbolising what she's already overcome). Her "armor" will be an astronaut helmet (taken directly from Amanda Palmer's song Astronaut). Given who Amanda Palmer is (NOT Goth but Brechtian punk cabaret I'm going to give her (and her astronaut helmet) a kind of Steampunk look to them.

The main rule for this project? No Striped Stockings!!!