Londubh
Looking forward to this deck as well.
The Cheimonette Tarot
starlightexp
Bring on 9/15!
cheimonette
I am back and busy with getting my Kickstarter ready!
To celebrate getting back home, here are two new cards I just processed today, the Priestess and the Moon.
The Priestess lies on her throne, which represents her corporeal self, asleep. She is asleep inside herself, beneath the towers of the moon (shown from the other direction in the Moon card), which are connected by an arch of boulders like a spine, and between the towers, among the pointed silhouette of her ribs, is her heart, half a biological thing, half a star-forming nebula. On her skin is a galaxy pattern that rises off the surface of her body. She is both an idea entirely personal and internal, but also cosmologically huge. The tunnel that runs between the biggest and the smallest things in our world.
I made the Moon's traditional dog-and-wolf into two creatures that are human and dog (or rather Fool and dog, since each one has one of the Fool's tails). The Moon is one of the cards the Fool appears in in some way (along with the Hanged Man, Love, the Wheel, the Devil and the Angel)- one of the places that allows the Fool to have a realized identity. In the Moon, the dark shadow of the conscious mind where nothing is rational and the structure of knowledge is temporarily blasted apart, the Fool is at home, as a personality seeking to understand rather than to make itself understood. Split into two howling dog-men, resting on stone blocks or coffins or pedestals, the Fool opens its mouth to catch the moonlight and moon-dew, ready to embrace exactly what others find so terrifying: the dissolution of the self, and the abyss beneath the faces we present to the world. Only the Fool would risk falling into madness or into hell, in the endless pursuit of experience.
To celebrate getting back home, here are two new cards I just processed today, the Priestess and the Moon.
The Priestess lies on her throne, which represents her corporeal self, asleep. She is asleep inside herself, beneath the towers of the moon (shown from the other direction in the Moon card), which are connected by an arch of boulders like a spine, and between the towers, among the pointed silhouette of her ribs, is her heart, half a biological thing, half a star-forming nebula. On her skin is a galaxy pattern that rises off the surface of her body. She is both an idea entirely personal and internal, but also cosmologically huge. The tunnel that runs between the biggest and the smallest things in our world.
I made the Moon's traditional dog-and-wolf into two creatures that are human and dog (or rather Fool and dog, since each one has one of the Fool's tails). The Moon is one of the cards the Fool appears in in some way (along with the Hanged Man, Love, the Wheel, the Devil and the Angel)- one of the places that allows the Fool to have a realized identity. In the Moon, the dark shadow of the conscious mind where nothing is rational and the structure of knowledge is temporarily blasted apart, the Fool is at home, as a personality seeking to understand rather than to make itself understood. Split into two howling dog-men, resting on stone blocks or coffins or pedestals, the Fool opens its mouth to catch the moonlight and moon-dew, ready to embrace exactly what others find so terrifying: the dissolution of the self, and the abyss beneath the faces we present to the world. Only the Fool would risk falling into madness or into hell, in the endless pursuit of experience.
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ravenest
Nice! ... As usual.
Your descriptions are just as great to read as the cards are to see. I think you should run with that ... the card described in words and the significance you give to the symbolism and ideas you are expressing. I see a great book coming as well as a deck.
The only problem I have is ... well, I am a little different from most ... things I like not many others do and visa versa ... I hope many others feel the same way about this and the popularity of the deck isn't limited to a few resident on Neptune.
I like the dog-men (on my recent trip to visit my indigenous Elder friend we sat and talked around the fire about the world of physical nature and the 'otherworld' behind it and the half way world where experimental forms intersect, like the half man half crocodile, forms that live at the gateway to the 'otherworld').
The Moon is interesting (the depiction of the Moon on the card) at first I though it seems too much like the Sun for a Moon card, but then I thought it looked like an eclipse and that gives the Moon a different power ... usually the Moon is depicted as inferior to the Sun, but in an eclipse it isn't ... it is the strange half way world ... dogs howl and dog men awaken ... the half way world breaks through.
Also I like the simplicity ... the artwork and symbolism on the cards is not overloaded, it is a good artistic balance, that is needed, but more info about the card is needed to and you give that in the verbal description.
Great work!
Your descriptions are just as great to read as the cards are to see. I think you should run with that ... the card described in words and the significance you give to the symbolism and ideas you are expressing. I see a great book coming as well as a deck.
The only problem I have is ... well, I am a little different from most ... things I like not many others do and visa versa ... I hope many others feel the same way about this and the popularity of the deck isn't limited to a few resident on Neptune.
I like the dog-men (on my recent trip to visit my indigenous Elder friend we sat and talked around the fire about the world of physical nature and the 'otherworld' behind it and the half way world where experimental forms intersect, like the half man half crocodile, forms that live at the gateway to the 'otherworld').
The Moon is interesting (the depiction of the Moon on the card) at first I though it seems too much like the Sun for a Moon card, but then I thought it looked like an eclipse and that gives the Moon a different power ... usually the Moon is depicted as inferior to the Sun, but in an eclipse it isn't ... it is the strange half way world ... dogs howl and dog men awaken ... the half way world breaks through.
Also I like the simplicity ... the artwork and symbolism on the cards is not overloaded, it is a good artistic balance, that is needed, but more info about the card is needed to and you give that in the verbal description.
Great work!
cheimonette
Thank you, Ravenest. I'm personally not too worried about appealing only to Neptunians. I'm really only interested in making my Kickstarter goal. I'll need to ask for something in the vicinity of 10K in order to do a high-quality 1000 deck run, and I've been collaborating with local Bay Area musicians, who are writing original songs about my artwork, to help reach more people. So far, it's been amazing! The idea of a bunch of artists working together to promote one another's work, and making more art in the process, is really wonderful.
Anyway, if I make more, I can print more, or level up to the most expensive (and high quality) publishers, Carta Mundi.
In any event, whether I succeed or fail, no more drawing in the shadows for me. I've wanted to be brave enough to try for publication and reaching a wide audience with my art for my whole life, and I think it's high time.
Anyway, if I make more, I can print more, or level up to the most expensive (and high quality) publishers, Carta Mundi.
In any event, whether I succeed or fail, no more drawing in the shadows for me. I've wanted to be brave enough to try for publication and reaching a wide audience with my art for my whole life, and I think it's high time.
ravenest
Yes ... go for it! Forget what I said about Neptune. I thought about it later and realised that that side is immaterial.
years ago I watched an interview with Malcom McLaren (sic?) music producer - Sex Pistols etc and many many fantastic creative projects. The interviewer asked how come there were so many great artists back then like Bowie ... etc etc and now its been crap for years.
McLaren responded with a coment that back then artists would come to him and ask for his help to express their creative individual genius as their prime motivation, nowadays they come to him and ask how to make a chart breaker, appeal to the majority and make money.
True artistic creative genius, like the True Will is expressed in and of itself and needs no rhyme, reason, modification or justification.
Its great you have an artistic support network ... what a wonderful thing to have
years ago I watched an interview with Malcom McLaren (sic?) music producer - Sex Pistols etc and many many fantastic creative projects. The interviewer asked how come there were so many great artists back then like Bowie ... etc etc and now its been crap for years.
McLaren responded with a coment that back then artists would come to him and ask for his help to express their creative individual genius as their prime motivation, nowadays they come to him and ask how to make a chart breaker, appeal to the majority and make money.
True artistic creative genius, like the True Will is expressed in and of itself and needs no rhyme, reason, modification or justification.
Its great you have an artistic support network ... what a wonderful thing to have
KristinCali
Wow! I'm keeping my eye on you! I would love to purchase your deck. Your style is beautiful.
cheimonette
Thank you, everyone!
So, here's my update: it was a little ambitious to think I could launch 2 weeks after I got back from Burning Man. I am now planning to launch at the end of the month! Don't worry, I will definitely post a lot on this thread when the launch is at hand!
I also *finally* managed to get a time-lapse of me making a card from start to finish. I painted an alternate version of The World last night- I'm going to process that image today on photoshop and hopefully I'll be able to post both versions on this thread tomorrow!
I'm also shooting my video this weekend. I want to also shoot video of me talking about various new aspects of this deck including new relationships I've created between certain cards (such as the Hanged Man and the Eight of Wands, and the Magician and the Sun). What else would you all be interested in? Should I talk about my artwork? Focus on the concepts in my cards? I am shooting tomorrow, so any input you have would be great.
So, here's my update: it was a little ambitious to think I could launch 2 weeks after I got back from Burning Man. I am now planning to launch at the end of the month! Don't worry, I will definitely post a lot on this thread when the launch is at hand!
I also *finally* managed to get a time-lapse of me making a card from start to finish. I painted an alternate version of The World last night- I'm going to process that image today on photoshop and hopefully I'll be able to post both versions on this thread tomorrow!
I'm also shooting my video this weekend. I want to also shoot video of me talking about various new aspects of this deck including new relationships I've created between certain cards (such as the Hanged Man and the Eight of Wands, and the Magician and the Sun). What else would you all be interested in? Should I talk about my artwork? Focus on the concepts in my cards? I am shooting tomorrow, so any input you have would be great.
cheimonette
So much got done this week! I had a friend shoot my Kickstarter video (it is so awful watching myself be a human on video, but I think I did ok), and I finally did a successful time lapse shoot of me doing a card from start to finish!
I'm a few weeks away from launch- I just need my friend to edit the video and I'll be ready.
While you all wait, here's a few more cards, the 5 of cups and the 9 of cups: grief and happiness (to inexcusably oversimplify a complicated concept). Every one of my suits has a representative animal, and the cups card are filled with fish. The fish represent the emotional "other self" of the characters, the raw flow of human feeling. Where the fish is relative to its character has a lot to do with the nature of the card. In the five, the Prince of Cups is outside his fish, but in the nine, the Princess has her fish inside her, near her heart. Retreat into numb insensibility, expansion into superlative magnanimity. The grief is big enough to eat the Prince, the happiness is so tiny that the Princess can swallow it whole, and so resilient that it can keep its shape and identity inside her.
I'm a few weeks away from launch- I just need my friend to edit the video and I'll be ready.
While you all wait, here's a few more cards, the 5 of cups and the 9 of cups: grief and happiness (to inexcusably oversimplify a complicated concept). Every one of my suits has a representative animal, and the cups card are filled with fish. The fish represent the emotional "other self" of the characters, the raw flow of human feeling. Where the fish is relative to its character has a lot to do with the nature of the card. In the five, the Prince of Cups is outside his fish, but in the nine, the Princess has her fish inside her, near her heart. Retreat into numb insensibility, expansion into superlative magnanimity. The grief is big enough to eat the Prince, the happiness is so tiny that the Princess can swallow it whole, and so resilient that it can keep its shape and identity inside her.
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rylla
I like the cards very much and hope the deck will be published. Can't wait to buy a copy.
