The way i work is such that progress tends to be laboriously slow at the beginning with constant rejection and experimentation, trying to establis a common theme etc. But then gradually speeds up as things start to come together. This is the case now as several cards that for months were in varying states of work in progress are being finished off. I've posted several more images on FB over the last couple of weeks. I believe the whole connection with Marseilles has finally been explained for what it is , or to be more precise for what it isn't... I abandoned my initial lofty goals of attempting some kind of contemporary Marseilles deck, from very early on, realizing I was not capable of it. And another faithfully accurate Marseilles rendition, something i would not be interested in doing. Such exercises have already been done beautifully by other artist member here. I think my hybrid approach could be described instead as a meat and potatoes WS deck but with a French Marseilles dressing poured over. Something that if you are a Marseilles purist you probably won't like at all, but equally its not aimed at you. In general terms its aimed at people who may not particularly like the woodcut renditions of the older classics and prefer more tangible imagery than the "lesser" illustrated pips. In illustrative terms its not actually my style either although yes I guess it is "all glossy" in part because of the stained glass motive running through the entire deck. The patterns of which are my adaptions based on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Beyond the use of French titles and inclusion of terms such as Papesse, the degree of content and association with the Marseilles varies from card to card. While I have no intention of spending my remaining years on this earth studying the Marseilles, I have put reasonable effort into researching it to do it as much justice as I could. But with tha said I still found so many inconsistencies and interpretations by authors and other artists that I personally couldn't agree with or buy into, so ultimately I cherry picked what I considered significant enough to include, albeit in my own way. With that said I'm still undecided on one particular item. The direction of the figure in La Mort...To the left or to the right? I've read various explanation for both, and and leaning towards my own decision, but before I finalize that card, I'm open to any other insight anyone may wish to offer..
oops just saw Reall had posted links to some of the more recent images....The variations of the reverse design are to demonstrate options I will be offering. Namely that people can order the deck customized with their initials or name integrated into the reverse design, making their copies of this deck truly unique. Something I offered with my earlier "Kipper" deck and proved to be a popular option for collectors and professional readers.
)