Dynamic Dreamer ~ Art Weaver

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!

After weeks of torturous waiting, my press sheets finally arrived! They came in a huge elongated triangular box and required a signature for delivery. This was precious cargo and something that had me floating to the dining room table as Otis Redding played soulfully in the background. I felt so much pent up excitement that I was like a 5 year old hyperventilating in front of a huge birthday present! And the kids were right by my side, sharing in the joy of Mommy’s accomplishment.

For those of you who do not know what press sheets are, they are large sheets of paper that are fed into a printing press. The outcome is a gallery of all the work constituting the product. During this press run, two sheets were required to print all of my paintings, though sheet two (below) repeated images. The design for the back of the cards appears on the flipside of the sheets, just as they will appear on the cards. These will be cut up and packaged into the tarot kits.

Of course, there is always that nagging feeling that maybe the press sheets will not live up to expectations, but under the watchful eye of Llewellyn’s supreme art director Lynne Menturweck (and she can point out a problem clear to Alaska), the press sheets came out GORGEOUS!

Here’s my daughter Kyra holding up one of the original fairy tale watercolor paintings in front of a backdrop of her and Connor’s artwork. The painting dimensions are 70mm x120mm or 7”x12”. They are 300% from trim before they are scanned and shrunk down to standard card size. Working large enables me to paint more freely and to capture lots of luscious detail. The downside to working bigger is that I never know how much the reduction of the painting may compromise the final outcome of printed image. Fortunately, despite the fact that I paint with a delicate brush and subtle hues most of my art has translated remarkably well with the Fairy Tale Tarot probably being the sharpest, most perfected production of all my decks. They really shine on the lovely, sturdy card stock. And they are almost exact replicas of the originals — like miniature versions of the paintings.

Everyone seemed unanimous in the decision to make the cards borderless. This is partially the result of fans and colleagues expressing their preference to see the images full bleed rather than having to compete with a potentially distracting framing device. The card names were strategically placed on hand drawn scrolls at the bottom of the images lending to a storybook feel. I am elated with the results–all came together in a nice bundle of vividity–To think, the sum of five years work on two sheets!

I have pretty much always framed the press sheets (for good luck!) and this time is no exception. But where to hang it? That’s the big question. My children are quickly covering the walls of our house with their own drawings. They very much intend to be part of this creative environment and don’t hold Mommy’s work with any particular reverence. It is understood that we are all artists just trying to express ourselves and now they too have caught the fairy tale bug.

Tags: art director, artwork, card stock, drawings, Lisa Hunt, press sheets, printing, production, tarot kits, The Fairy Tale Tarot, watercolors

This entry was posted by lisahuntart on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 11:39 AM and is filed under The Fairy Tale Tarot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.