Oil paintings as Tarot?

[blackroseivy]

I am DETERMINED to produce a publishable deck. I would like opinions (HudsonGray??!! ) as to how a deck made of oil paintings would go. I would have to paint them fairly large, of course - I'm thinking about the size of an ordinary piece of paper, as I think it would be wise to be able to scan them. I have a degree in oils & can show you a piece here that is my best, just so you get an idea what it is really like. It may be a help, I hope!

I'm fired up about this idea. It's what I am best at, so I need some support, I hope! Anyway, some honest opinions are welcome.

Here is my painting:

 

[HudsonGray]

Nice detailwork especially on the background, Danubhe.

I saw at least six of the original oil paintings of Julie Cuccia Watts deck The Ancestral Tarot, over at a spirit fair. This was before she got the contract with the publisher to have the deck printed. She had photos of the rest of the cards that were finished because the other paintings were too many to carry to the event. The size she'd worked in was about 15x18", so they were fairly large.

You'd be limited by the size of the scanner bed, unless you have them reduced down somewhat at a print shop. They can do photo reduction and a bunch of other ways as well, to keep detail and such.

By all means, do oils! I can't work in that medium at all, and have a lot of trouble with just acrylics, so more power to you!

 

[goddesscarlie]

wow!!

my favourite type of tarot cards are ones with traditional methods of drawing/painting. You seem really good, I'd love to see what kind of style you would create

 

[Emeraldgirl]

Wow that is a stunning painting. I think it would be possible to create a great deck using oil paintings. Although as HudsonGray said it would be best to get them to a printer's to keep the detaill.

 

[Chronata]

Of course you can make an oil painted deck!
And I think the chances for publishing them would be high.

I am also partial to decks that use traditional medium like drawing and painting.

I think your painting is wonderful! I especially like the frame as well...a deck that is framed in a similar way would have a great draw!

Go for it! I don't think the paintings have to be too large...the size of a standard sheet of paper would work very well.

My deck paintings(acrylic not oil) are fairly small as well, which makes it very easy to tote them around.

 

[blackroseivy]

I was wondering about its publishability, but it seems like those of you who know would say yes to that! Just, it's going to take YEARS... But I'll see my way through somehow.

I'm thinking, size - I have to make it as large as possible simply because the detail won't be right if it's too small to paint.

I am going to start out buying some not-too-large-but-large-enough-to-paint-detail canvasboards. I have been painting on panels - this is preferred to me, though the one I posted was a canvas-board in a frame I designed & my mother put together for me. I can do canvas-board. I won't be using the real gold leaf I use on the panels, but gold paint. (Leaf doesn't look right on the texture of a canvas.) I was thinking of leaving them unframed, thinking that they would just be the inner images, & would be MUCH easier to transport/mail!!! What do you all think?

 

[HudsonGray]

Great on everything but the gold paint--check with a printer on how metallic paints reproduce on their machines or via photo prints. A lot of times the metallic part reproduces as plain black (take a look at the Egyptian tarot, the one where the backs are entirely of gold leaf, none of it shows up as anything but black in the review pictures. I think it's called the Nefertiti Tarot). You don't have to paint frames either, just the card images. Though I think that painted fake frames would look cool.

And make sure you check that ALL the boards are exactly the same size, you don't want to have to adjust dimensions later on.

 

[mythos]

Oh to be able to do a whole deck in oils. They are so wonderful to work with .... but 'yes' it will take a long time. I have, unfortunately, developed an allergy to mineral turps, so I now only work in acrylics. Before, I sometimes mixed media. Firgures in oils, backgrounds in acrylics. This cuts down on time. I found that gold acrylic paint photographs well, too. If you photograph, you can then work in whatever size is most comfortable for you. As one with very poor eyesight and shaky hands, I find that painting 'huge' and photgraphing, and manipulating them to deck size works very well.

Go for it! As many wise voices on the forum pointed out to me ... don't think in the amount of time it will take and the huge number of cards ... just work on one at a time remaining focussed on that.

mythos

 

[Ravenswing]

some thoughts

danubhe--

I'm working on a deck in oils too. Things go a bit slow, but it's well worth it. I don't do computers Two suggestions for you. Don't go too much bigger than the final card size. You have to remember that real fine detail might get lost when the painting gets downsized. I'm doing things at twice size-- most everything comes out clear. I think that anything more than 3X won't shrink too well...

Another thing is to figure out what size you want the cards to be. I'm basing mine on the RWS-- a few publishers prefer that basic size. Cut an index card down to the size you want your cards to be, then upscale.

Best of luck to you


fly well
Raven

 

[Ravenswing]

a bit more...

One thing I forgot to mention...

You might consider using canvas paper rather than canvas board or stretched canvas. You can cut it to whatever size you'd like and it won't get damaged in the mail...


Raven