.jpg){kind=small}
Following the last week lesson I begun to prepare a list of things I needed to complete by the next lesson:
Look into different tarot cards Death to see how people interpret it.
Do the survey/questionnaire.
Do lino printing sketches.
The first thing I did was to come up with questions for the survey/questionnaire, see the notes below.
Picture of the questions.
Which evolved into these:
How and when were you introduced to Tarot cards?
What do Tarot cards mean to you?
Are you able to read them or do you get someone else to read them for you?
I read them.
Someone else reads them for me.
Why do you read and/or get someone else to read Tarots?
What do you use Tarots for?
Do you have a favourite deck? If so which one?
What do you look for in a deck?
What type of symbolism do you prefer?
About the Death card, how do you usually interpret it?
Any other comments you wish to make?
I used Typeform to create and send this to the IVM Discord group, as of now only one person replied but I am hopeful that others will too in the future.
While waiting for the questionnaire/survey to be answered I begun to create imaginary for the lino cut, this was an idea given to me by my tutor, this is just a trial, so I focused on the symbolism that makes sense to me while still linked to the research previously stated.
For this experiment I settled on a more simplistic design, such as a skull representing the grim reaper, a usual figure that represent death, and water design behind it to represent the movement and changes of life which the card Death can mean.
Following this I looked for my lino cut materials, I still had the printing carving surface, but my cutting tools where beyond rusted and unsafe to use. With this in mind I went to buy new ones and I come across this:
I started cutting:
I found the process of cutting less stressful with the given safety hand holder but being not used to this it took a moment to fully complete the carving, I must exercise more.
The box instruction that I own did show that I could print at home, so I tried but the results are questionable as seen above. There are three possible ways I might have screwed this up: not enough ink on the printing mat, or not enough strength on my hands or both. Although, I must admit that I do like them being imperfect, it ads such a nice texture to it.
I wanted to see what happens if I add watercolours on one, and I like it.
While the prints dried, I begun to draw a character that would mix well with the Grim Reaper, Banshees and the water symbolisms from the Scorpio, I created this first close up look.
Then I realized that I was focusing too much on the face and created her body
I like this design, but I am unsure on how it can be used for the card.
The next step was to look into the different decks, and these are the ones I found:
The ‘stagnation’ reference that the Mystic Dreamer Tarot deck made me think about how stagnant water can be used successfully in the card, to symbolise that change is needed, and is arriving, even if it is scary.
I did these quick sketches of watercolours to see what would happen.
What is next?
I believe next week’s lesson will give me a better understanding of where I am currently, where I can go and move on from there.
Comments