Dreaming in Color: Etheral Deck

darwinia

Yummy!

Hi Mindy.

Lovely BIG cards. I live for colour myself and often do a lot of hand dyeing to get colours right. This strikes me as the sort of deck one could use for artistic inspiration in fabric art, mixed media or watercolour painting.

You know how you keep using the same colours because they are your favourites? Well, picking one of these cards for a meditative art exercise, might push you in a new, exciting direction if you use the colours within the card.

I also like that you have 60 of them--a huge big whacking lot of colourful, succulent cards to reflect on.

Very uplifting work, such vibrancy! I think I'll send you an e-mail for notification, I don't often see oracles that I'd like to work with but this one really pops and the colours are wet and mouth-watering. Really, really neat, but plain enough to allow the mind to come up with its own reaction and action to them.

Beautiful.
 

peapodgrrl

Thank you so much, Darvinia. It's nice to talk to someone who worships color the way I do. :)

Thank you for the kind words about my art, it was very kind of you to take the time to write to me.
 

TemperanceAngel

I have fallen in love with this deck!!!!!
 

darwinia

I look at the lovely "temptation" card regularly. All my favourite colours: green, pink, and teal.

I know a lot of people don't like digital images but I do a lot of digital work myself and love fractals and colour and plants and gardens--it's got everything I like, I couldn't believe it. I also like the font used on the cards, I am keen on typography too, so I like it when people marry the right type to the work, and I think this font goes beautifully with the images.

I will be interested to see the whole deck when I receive it and compare the different colours and get inspiration from them. Some of them are very detailed and some are plainer, even stark in some cases. Some are almost monochromatic, there is such a great variety, both in colour and design elements and they seem to fit the words so well.

I get a little bored with tarot decks and love to mix them with oracle decks and playing cards. I have a number of specialty playing cards on order from US Games and I think I'll probably use them with the Dreaming in Color deck in addition to other cards. Inventors dreaming in colour and Scientists dreaming in colour and members of the Lewis and Clark expedition dreaming in colour and getting bogged down in a reedy mosquito-ridden tributary much like on the Pride card maybe?

Many people don't like keywords on cards but I love them. The trick is to pair them with something else, like another word chosen randomly, or a passage from a book or a bit of your own poetry, or another card and then define it all in your mind.

It's a bit trickier for me to mix colours with watercolour paint than with my usual colour dropper in Photoshop ;0)), but I'm going to have a try in making colours that pick up the card colours and then writing something with them. Collage, mandalas, I don't know. I am excited about working with it and pairing it up with other decks and ideas. I shall have a luminous time with it, I'm quite sure.

Sorry, it's way too easy to get me going on an idea. <g>
 

peapodgrrl

{{{{{{{{Floracove}}}}}} Thank you so much, you are such a dear. :)

Thank you TemperenceAngel, I am thrilled that you love the deck. :)

Darvinia...... you sound like a true artist. I love your idea of mixing up traditional tarot decks with oracle decks, playing cards, etc., and using bits of poetry or other synchronous messaging to give the cards a deeper meaning. I would almost like to be a fly on the wall when you receive these cards, I would love to watch you work with them. Please make sure you let me know when you receive them and what you've done with them, and any inspirations you have.

I am a font freak. That font is called Lainie Day, if you would like me to send it to you, let me know and I will email it. PM me. :) That's a hard font to work with, because the "j", the "l" and some other lower case letters go so far down you have to work with those letters on a separate layer. Also, the "c" has a funny curlicue that has to be erased so that the letter looks like a "c" and not an "e". I thought the extra work was worth it, and I am pleased you do, too.

Do you have a website? I would love to see it. :) Can you post an URL?

Although the artwork represents thousands of hours within a timeframe of about six years of work, the meanings are what kicked my butt the hardest....in my mind, they had to be perfect, accurate and consonant with the image or the whole project would be a waste, merely an art deck. I didn't want that. So when you say that you feel the meanings really go well with the images, that confirms for me what I believe...that the meanings are true, that the channeling opened me up to outside elements/entities and guided me. I am quite positive I did not write those meanings, it was more like automatic writing.

Thank you again, Darvinia, Flora, Temperance and everyone. :) I am utterly thrilled with the feedback I have been getting, nothing gives me more pleasure than that. :)

Warmly,
Mindy
 

darwinia

peapodgrrl said:
Darvinia...... you sound like a true artist. I love your idea of mixing up traditional tarot decks with oracle decks, playing cards, etc., and using bits of poetry or other synchronous messaging to give the cards a deeper meaning.

Well, a true folk artist anyway, if there is a difference. I have a couple of articles up about my way of working with cards. You will like the second one, it uses a fractal!

http://allthingsspiritual.org/Articles/IChing.htm
http://allthingsspiritual.org/Articles/randomnessexamplejudyj.htm

Please make sure you let me know when you receive them and what you've done with them, and any inspirations you have.

Oh wow, another person I can bombard with digital graphics, and scans of collages and poetry. ;-0)

That's a hard font to work with, because the "j", the "l" and some other lower case letters go so far down you have to work with those letters on a separate layer. Also, the "c" has a funny curlicue that has to be erased so that the letter looks like a "c" and not an "e". I thought the extra work was worth ii

And people think you just dash off a piece of digital art and it's "easy." Typography is a science, and the use of typography is an art that many people don't understand.

Do you have a website? I would love to see it. :) Can you post an URL?.

No, I don't have a web site. [Edited to delete extraneous URLs to tidy up the thread and keep it on-topic.]

Maybe you can see better why I like your deck. (Huge guffaw)
 

peapodgrrl

Oh I am in love with your work.

First, I adored your readings, not the least because you are a rebel and a renegade, and do not subscribe to the elitism that consumes so many people no matter what group/craft they subscribe to---I love that about your writings. You have no doubt seen the arguing that goes on in the digital art communities when a "purist" comes in and declares that all digital art is crap and no "true" artist would ever dare to work with anything except a canvas and paint. There are "flat earthers" everywhere, and I love meeting a sister renegade. :)

Your work is gorgeous. First, your facility with fonts was immediately evident, I especially loved the "tea" montage and the ampersands....fabulous. And I would kill for that little beaded bag with the purple and blue pyramids. :)

How would you like to review Dreaming in Color for my site? I would be honored. I can send you direct urls to all of the cards, plus send you the meanings via email (Microsoft Word text). If you don't have the time, I totally understand, and will not be offended in the slightest. But if you decide to do a review, I would be thrilled and honored to put it on my site.

Warmly,
Mindy
 

darwinia

I am a bit rebellious I'm afraid, but I figure the world would be pretty boring if we all had the same brain and processed things the same.

We've had some discussion at Aeclectic about digital art in tarot and everybody has different opinions. Two of my favourite decks are digital ones: The Portal Tarot, and the Golden Tarot (which is digitally assembled and scanned and very beautifully too.) I use both digital and regular art mediums and I understand both sides. They are all terrific, and expand the mind and one's use of colour and composition. There is a lot of junk in regular as well as digital art, but the trick is finding the right artist who can use the medium with skill.

peapodgrrl said:
How would you like to review Dreaming in Color for my site? I would be honored. I can send you direct urls to all of the cards, plus send you the meanings via email (Microsoft Word text).

Yes, I'd love to, but would you prefer I wait to have the deck in-hand? It's important to make time for things that delight you, and man, I rocketed off with this baby! Isn't it funny how people's art hits you? I tend to be overwhelmingly enthusiastic about everything though--part of the joy of life.

(p.s. the Ampersands picture is one of my favourites--the picture on the web is not the final picture, as I tend to be a bit wary of putting "good" stuff up on the web.)
 

peapodgrrl

What a wonderful gift, your enthusiasm. It's catchy. :)

I will leave the decision up to you as far as waiting for the deck. If you feel that would be best, then let's wait. There is something to be said for for the tactile experience, and the play and inspiration that goes along with that. And then you can view the accompanying images online, which are a tad larger, and are perfect renderings of the original art. The printing, which is exceptionally true to the art, will be a great complement to viewing everything online as well.

I am thrilled you have said yes, and I appreciate it very much. Thank you! I have enjoyed our conversation and viewing your work. Please let's keep in touch. :)

Warmly,
Mindy Sommers