Oh!
Ah. Well, it's there because everything goes in the distributors' catalogue MONTHS (best part of a year) in advance - but we are only a fraction of the way through the work.
Goodness - I put that on the website quietly about 48 hours ago and search engines won't find it for weeks yet - AT-ers are
fast !
About two years ago we bought a huge volume of 19th century engravings. Alex hauled it home (it weighs several pounds, literally) and we just went through the pictures; they are beautifully reporoduced, it was an art publication of the time that came out once a year and used the most wonderful lithography. I kept saying "there is a deck here" - but there wasn't, because I could only see potential for a few of the cards. But it was turn of the century, and out of copyright - mostly black and white but we know we can colour engravings to look right (Fantastic Menagerie taught us a lot). But anyway - more than the practicalities I just wanted to do it. With this deck, I was the driven one more than Alex perhaps - at least to begin with.
So it sat in the corner of the studio and I kept looking through it and we used a few illustrations to show on our blog (and everyone loved them - how could they not?) and we even made a few bags - and I kept fretting - and finally decided to look for more engravings - which is what we've been engaged on for some months now whenever we get some time. We found other books - some German, some Czech, some English (all Northern European) and we began to gather far more cards. And finally - early this year - we decided to do it. Although we are still missing our Hanged Man and I feel another book foray is needed. But book forays here are dangerous, I tend to fall in love with 18th century engravings of angels and other unobtainables
So nearly all the cards are sketched - but of course it's a long way between sketches and finals. So far I'm probably most pleased with Dante and Beatrice as The Lovers (there were so many possibilities for that card) but I love the Devil woman too - and our Moon will be beautiful I think and Temperance is the quietest and "stillest" (is that a word?) Temperance we've ever done.
This whole era of art is something I've wanted to work with for - well, ages. I'll post cards when we have more to show - but it may be a while yet (she said, leafing through another copy of 'Studio' as she says it - you know the only thing I carried home the first time I came to Prague in 1991 was a complete set of 19th century Art Nouveau magazines - so the foundations were laid right back then!)
And the Flower Oracle? Well, that's because we fell totally, completely in love with Grandville's "Fleurs" but mostly they didn't fit into Fantastic Menagerie (although the Star is based on a Fleurs) and the only time they've been put on to cards the cards have been teeny and we wanted something that really showed the images - because the original images are very beautiful and strange. So - The Flower Oracle
had to be. And yes, it's almost ready to go to print. But I have a feeling this belongs in Oracles so that's all I'll say here
I've probably said far too much!
