Finally! Chronata's tarot deck in progress

Here is the Star.

This has always been one of my favorite Majors...and I had a deep connection to the card when I was younger.

During meditation, She told me exactly how she wanted to be depicted...as a Brazillianesque Carnivale Goddess!

It turns out I didn't have to compromise any of the symbolism in her after all...I just needed to re-examine the composition of the painting.

She is the first one I have painted that is seen on the outside of the Grand Ballroom.

Recently, I made a little map of the layout of the ballroom(and the balcony outside) and drew symbols so I know exactly where each Major card scene takes place, in relation to every other card.

The Minors are another story however...

WOW!

I love this card. She looks like she was done a little differently from the rest. More vibrant.
Even if you did a majors only deck, I would still want it!

She is a beauty! I love the feeling I get from the water pouring out.
sometimes it looks like mist..
sometimes water....
sometimes fog...
sometimes sand....
Your eyes are pulled right to it and to all the little stars of light all over her costume.
Very beautiful.

Majecot...Yes. She does look a little different from the rest...and I was a little concerned about that at first.
But after laying all the cards out on the floor, the Star gracefully eases her way into the whole.

(I am so excited because they all look so awesome laid out side by side!)

Part of it is that I think the colors are a bit brighter. (alas they don't show up well in the scan!) And I think part of it is also that she wears a different style of Carnivale dress...more South American than Venetian.

(She won't be alone...The High Priestess is not quite the European style either! But You'll have to wait and see!)

I will have Minors too! Don't worry about that! Although I have been considering selling a limited edition Majors only deck, pretty much so I can finance the printing of the whole deck later!
I'll have to see how it goes!

lark...Thank You! It's funny because the streams of liquid were one of the original problems I ran into...I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off! But Her voice in my head said "paint it anyway..it will work."
Sigh. I really should listen to the people in the cards when they talk to me!

Speaking of listening to voices....I hope this doesn't make me sound like a raging loony...but lately, It seems that I can hear them speak to me as I create them. They will not hesitate to offer me "suggestions" and tell me when I have something wrong!

Right now, they are all vying for my attention, and in a race to see who gets finished next!

Darn Crazy Archetypes!

Here's the Emperor. And a mystery was...sort of...solved...

Remember that child I told you about...who disappeared from the Death card? Well...he showed up here as a page to the Emperor!
He was not in any of this card's original sketches or concepts either! But I guess, he knew where he belonged...

Chronata, can I ask you a question please?

What is the significance of the red parrot in The Star?

Thanks XTAX

Oh. Chronata!!!!
I just find these so marvelous!!!!
You really invite the viewer to a private maskquarade party!!!
keep on...keep on...you must be having a lot of fun!!!

Heh. Thanks M-Press...I am having a lot of fun with these...
although after last night, I feel like maybe I'm pushing to hard to get too many done at once.
They are really starting to boss me around! (the Emperor was especially bad! And now Strength is doing it to!)
I will probably take a week off from painting!

Temperance Angel...I'm glad you asked about the parrot...it was one of the first symbols I knew had to be in this card, as soon as I saw her costume in my head.

There is usually a bird depicted in all RWS-esque Stars. Waite himself doesn't offer much as to the reason...(the Pictoral Key does mention "that which the figure communicates to the living scene is the substance of the heavens and the elements") ...

but my first tarot teacher maintained that the bird is a symbol of the tranisition between the earthly plane and the heavenly plane....a messenger of Gods, so to speak.

In my experience with the Star, I have always felt that this was a card that is about connecting to the higher self, or the higher source.
The parrot is a very intelligent bird, and a bird that is so often used as a symbol of communication...
So, the parrot is there to represent direct communication with the higher source!

And it is the red variety, because I love all the colors that are found in this parrot's feathers! I thought it corresponded nicely to the rainbow/chakra colors that make up the star herself!

Well, speaking as a parrot fanatic, I think it's a great addition.

As to taking a week off, well yes, perhaps it's wise. We haven't done a card for about a week now because we had to do the cover of the picture book (not the companion book, there will be a related picture book too) and that finally got us into a whole different approach we've been wanting to develop, and next thing, a week has gone. But I don't think it's a bad thing. it's given us a fresh perspective on the cards and that's a healthy filip at the half-way point. I bet you will begin again after a bit of time off feeling very refreshed and with lots of ideas.

I very much like The Emperor by the way

In Forest of Souls, Rachel Pollack says about the bird in the Star (p. xxi of the Introduction):

A quick glance at the picture might not even register the bird's presence. Or it might just seem a decoration. Someone who ponders the picture might think about birds and what they inspire in us. But if we know that the bird is actually an ibis, and that an ibis represents the Egyptian God Thoth, then the bird suddenly gives us access to a whole range of stories and ideas. Thoth was the God of knowledge, of magic, science, and writing. He also was the legendary creator of the Tarot itself. Through the ibis--and our knowledge of its esoteric symbolism--we gain access to Egyptian myths, with all their history and wisdom.

Click to expand...

Soooo, once we notice the bird, I guess we can apply all Egyptian myths to this card, as needed!

Thanks Imagemaker! that's awesome! I hadn't known about the Ibis/Thoth/Egyptian correlation! (Got the wrong Rachel Pollack book I guess!)

Another connection...for me anyway...Thoth, Egyptian God of Science, Knowledge, Magic and Writing...can also have a correlation to the Greek God Hermes,( of Science, Medicine, Magic and Communication...) and his planet Mercury...for which the parrot is also a symbol!
Yay! I love when that happens!