Tarot subjects

There seems to be some confusion about 1) my math, and 2) the nature of the subject matter for the project. It's late on Monday night, but hey, I've got nothing else to do, so here goes:

1) If 9 people attend the meeting (that's all of us, currently), and each makes 9 copies of one card, we'll all have 9 copies by the end of the evening. We could pass them around, exchange one of mine for one of your'n, etc., and we'd still walk out the door with 9 cards, but they will be all different. If everybody made 9 copies of 2 cards, and we all gave one to everybody else, we'd all walk out with 18 different cards apiece.If you have no interest in this project and don't want to have a copy of these masterworks, let me know and the number of cards we all need to make will be fewer. Just sayin'.

2) Nature of the task:

• Subjects - the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck consists of 21 archetypal people/symbols (the list was given previously, but it seemed out of date). I was proposing that we pick archetypes that resonate more strongly with the times: TV Announcer, NFL Coach, President, CEO, Grifter, etc.. But if the old archetypes resonate with you, by all means create a new expression of one of the old ideas.
  
• Task: we're not trying to create a suite of 9 related cards (like 1-9 of a particular suit). That wasn't my original intent - I just wanted to update the Tarot deck to be more relevant to the times, and fixing the Major Arcana seemed a lot more doable for 9 of us in one evening, than trying to rejigger the four suits as well. I mean, if you wanna, have at you (gesundheit), but my thought was that we'd redesign one or two cards apiece, and rather than go to mechanical/Xeroxical means of reproducing them, designing the task so that we all knew to make 9 exact (or exact-ish) copies of the same design, just for the purpose of giving everyone else in SANE a copy, so we'd all have the same (or same-ish) cards.
  
• Types of artwork: since the task is repetitive, perhaps placing any restrictions on us is unnecessary. So all bets are off. If you want to use the card stock we have pre-cut, you're welcome to them. They're thin enough that they don't handle water or watercolor well, and markers bleed through the back. I wouldn't worry about the backs for now, and if the material doesn't suit the manner in which you feel comfortable creating, pick a medium/paper combo that works for you.

Okay, a few restrictions. Can we agree on a size for the final cards? 5.5" tall by 3" wide. And the card should include a number (to be assigned at the meeting?) and name for the card, somewhere in the illustration. THERE WILL BE NO prescribed margins, gutters, bleeds, fonts, goobers or zots -- the rest is all up to you.

3) There is no 3.

4) Four he's a jolly good fellow.

5) Five is the loneliest number you could ever do, except perhaps for Four. Well, maybe Three. While you're at it, Two is fairly lonely. Okay, One would be lonely, I suppose. Three Dog Night - Lonely or not? I dunno

That's all, see you at Pam's.

The Fool on the Hill

Meeting at Pam A's

See you at 7 on Tuesday the 10th at Pam A.'s!

For the 172nd time in the last 48 months, Pam A. has volunteered to host a SANE meeting. Clearly, she is in SANE.

Things to bring: ideas about new concepts/names for tarot cards, and the artistic wherewithal to mass-produce same (where "mass-produce" in this instance means to create 9 copies of each, so that everyone ends up with their own set of 'em all). Pick your poison: pen & ink, carved rubber, colored pencils, crayons, markers, chalk and fixatif, burnt matches and orange marmalade, etc., as long as you can be productive. If all 9 of us attend, and we each create 2 sets of nine cards each, then we'll be very, very tired and probably cranky. Oh, and we'll have 18 cards apiece, too!

So, clearly, they can't all be masterpieces. Simplicity and elegance should guide your hand/paw/tentacle, and swiftly fly the pen/crayon/fingerpaint what dangles therefrom.

See you at 7 on Tuesday the 10th at Pam A.'s! Wow, Deja Vu all over again!

Tarot, or Not Tarot, That is the Question

Next meeting: Tuesday 10 March 2009 7:00 pm place TBD

Looks like the project is gonna be the New Tarot.

Betsey and Richard wandered out and got some mildly cardlike card stock and 200 cards cut to 5.5" tall by 3" wide, and the deal will be to come up with a new person/concept for a tarot card and illustrate that (9 times - one per member, so everybody ends up with a set). No template, no format, just a few rules:

1) fit your artwork to the space provided
2) include a number (to be assigned at the meeting) and a name, anywhere on the card, to give a title to your illustration(s),
3) a vertical/portrait orientation is strongly recommended.

Most forms of illustration would be fine - pencil, pen, colored pencil, rubber stampage, stencil, wood-block - hey, litho if you can find a stone and press -- but glued artwork will probably make it hard to shuffle your card without significant damage. There are no plans to laminate cards.

We got enough paper for 20-odd cards x 9 copies of each card, tho it seems unlikely we'd use 'em all up in one night. If we're using novel concepts, the chance that any two of us would come up with the same idea seems remote, but if you want to glom one of the ones on my list of newbies, below, just let me know so I can head off any duplicious efforts.

No plans for the cards' backsides, but we may want to be concerned about bleed-through.

Here are some links to a few different interpretations of the Tarot Major Arcana:

http://www.arielspeaks.com/Tarot_Major_Arcana.html traditional Rider/Waite deck
http://margotmystic.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/major-arcana.jpg more modern artsy interp.
http://eroomnala.livejournal.com/31329.html - like generic/modern signage - think Men's Room / Women's Room signs

but rather than illustrate the old stuff, let's come up with our own concepts to illustrate.

Hey, They'se a Meetin' a'Comin' Up, and I'm a'Runnin' Outa a'Postrophies

Next meeting is on Tuesday, 10 March 2009 - and that's right around the coroner. Quincy, I think.

We don't know where yit, or what we gonna do, but we have the date and time. 7ish.

Hey, here's a thought... It dawned upon me that we could always come up with new cards for a Tarot deck, the old ones bein' all old and all. And unnecessarily cryptic. I mean, what the heck is a Heirophant, for crissakes? We could probably ignore the suits (1-10 cards in each of 4 suits with "suitable" (ah, Tarot jokes) pictures that evoke some particular feeling/state), that have devolved into our current 52-card bridge deck. But there's the "Major Arcana" of higher-profile concepts, such as:

0 The Fool
1 The Magician
2 The High Priestess
3 The Empress
4 The Emperor
5 The Hierophant
6 The Lovers
7 The Chariot
8 Strength
9 The Hermit
10 The Wheel of Fortune
11 Justice
12 The Hanged Man
13 Death
14 Temperance
15 The Devil
16 The Tower
17 The Star
18 The Moon
19 The Sun
20 Judgment
21 The World

The Superhero, The Newspaper Vendor, The Nerd/Geek, The Convenience Store Clerk, Boredom, The Office Manager, Ponzi Schemes, Sitcom Dad, etc. Everybody could make up two or three, and we could... we could make 1000 sets, sell them each for $100, and that's like five million bucks, give or take. Economic tailspin out the window, and we're sitting pretty.

Okay, I was just spitballin' right then. Otherwise, I got nothin'. You got somethin'? Or just wanna play Poker? Shoot hoops on an ice rink, with one hand tied to an ankle? Admit it, that Tarot thing is looking good right now, isn't it?

Talk to me (via e-mail). Or call, I got nothin' to do anyway. Just remember, 3/10 is comin' up fast.

The Fool