I’m as confused as the next person about how 12 months have passed but it would appear they have because the final card is now out, and it’s the second Forest! When I was originally contacted to do these they were concieved and executed back to back in just a few months in the order I had the designs finalized but if my memory is correct this WAS actually the last one I finished. I was working on it while away in a snowy cabin a friend’s family lent us use of so I could get out of the house I’d been more or less trapped in for most of 2020. I didn’t know when I made these that they wouldn’t be released all at once either, and weirdly having them come out slowly over the year has kind of helped to strengthen what is for me a new understanding of the zodiac as a way to map the passage of time in some sort of yearly cycle.
Sagittarius is associated with an adventurous spirit and a willingness to venture into the unknown, and as a result (to me at least) its position at the turn of the year in many parts of the world corresponds well to the feeling of some sort of passage or feeling of nervous anticipation Where I live it’s also one of our first truly cold months, the begining of a long dragging semi-hibernation period.
I wanted both forest paintings to have an element of passage or portal to them. The Taurus forest was meant to evoke the hazy fertile spring period, the bulls crescent marking an opening out of the forest into a field whith the sun bursting through. The Sagitarius forest is the opposite, looking deep into the dark unknown of a tunnel of trees. The form of the forest floor was inspired by a scene from a movie I love, Tarkovsky’s Stalker (based on a book I love, Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky). in which a pair of men are led by an experienced “stalker” through the mysterious and treacherous “zone” in search of a room that reveals and grants your deepest desire to you.
When trying to think about how to incorporate both the element of fire and some of the traditional iconography of the sign into the painting my first thought was of the ignis fatuus/will-o’-the-wisp a spectral flame which lures travelers down dark paths at night after some potentially unreachable goal. The design of the flame sprite was based on both the drawn bow and arrow of the centaur Chiron and designs of antique iron weathervanes. It occurred to me that the arrow makes particular sense for both characteristics of the sign and directional compasses and weathervanes since an arrow travels in front of you as you shoot it, maybe landing somewhere that will ultimately be your destination. It made me think a part of a Robin Hood adaptation that was very impactful for me in childhood where a dying Robin lays in bed and shoots and arrow, instructing Little John to bury his body where it lands.
The Passing of Robin Hood by N.C. Wyeth
A completely unintentional similarity that has brought me great joy was pointed out by my friend Morgaine. I can’t say I did this on purpose but now that it’s been pointed out this thing will always have the voice of the extremely high and radiant Mr. Burns.
Like Scorpio this card originally felt a bit incongruent with the rest when I made it, but seeing it in it’s proper place as the last card I think it’s actually kind of appropriate. I’m sort of sad to see the series end but also really excited to spend some more time on my personal projects which I’m looking forward to writing about more now that I’m back in the habit.
This week I’m wrapping up a record cover design which I’ll do a little write up of eventually, and then I’ll be working on artists proofs for my first batch of comissions and finally painting my last two new Gogol illustrations which I’m VERY excited to finish. If you want to be added to the wait list for the next batch of APs contact Donny. In the meantime I still have a Bigcartel with some zines and prints and I’ve updated by Inprnt with almost all of the card prints.
I’ll leave you with a final recommendation, this really beautiful book of the Tarot of Leonora Carrington, which I’ve been slowly working my way through and getting very inspired by. Also this month I discovered via an essay in Hellebore that she did the art direction for the Mansion of Madness, a movie by Juan Lopez Moctezuma (best known for Alucarda probably) and tracked it down. Well worth watching if you are a fan of her work across mediums.
