I began this project in December of 2023, and it is unlike any art I have done before. While throughout my life I have largely painted animals (plenty of animals in the Tarot also, thankfully), I have rarely drawn or painted so many human images, clothing, castles, and other such things.
I started playing around with Tarot at around age 12. Over the years many, many different Tarot decks have been made out there in the world, but I seldom find artwork that I genuinely admire in them, and I am including the Rider-Waite deck in this. As time goes by the new decks just seem to get worse. They are full of random stuff like anime, cartoons, comic-book art, cryptic fantasy art, and lately, endless variations of Woke. Even AI has crept in. While some of it is pretty, and I am fine with the general creativity of other people, in my opinion much of this newer Tarot art is just not well done, it is often cheaply printed, and too often favors dark, negative imagery leaving out beauty and light.
It doesn't do the Tarot justice. Meanings have been distorted and lost, and many decks don't include any recognizable symbolism at all. To me, Tarot cards are most useful when full of deeply meaningful, rich pictography with ancient significance, echoing archetypes our souls recognize. Tarot, when the cards' significance is respected, can be a profound metaphysical method of communicating with our own higher consciousness and soul.
My deck will include many recognizable scenes to those of you familiar with the Rider Waite Tarot deck, but will also include some which are very different, as several of Smith’s images do not make sense to me regarding their meanings. I have also cut out much of the Hebrew symbology in favor of Egyptian, Astrological, and Alchemical.
My Major Arcana will also have a very different order to it. Within the standard popular Tarot decks such as Rider-Waite and Thoth (which have generally informed all which came after them), it is my opinion that the existing order may have been purposely scrambled in an effort to keep the Tarot "occulted" (hidden), and thereby confusing and misdirecting the ordinary person into thinking they just aren't wise enough to understand them. On the other hand, too many people also regard those decks as gospel set in stone, and I believe this is a mistake. More on all of this later.
But first, the sketches. Starting on December 1, 2023, I did 78 rough sketches in 82 days - it took all winter. Now I am refining the drawings and soon will begin the paintings. There being 78 Tarot images in all, this means 78 finished pencil drawings, and then 78 paintings on top of that, so this will take time. In the end each card will have an original sketch and an original painting associated with it.
Lastly, I will begin in Photoshop to adapt my paintings to an actual printed deck of cards.
Follow my progress and wish me luck!
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The Tarot whispers ancient secrets into our hearts.
Colette Baron-Reid
