The other day, we found a shivering baby bird on our front step. We looked up at the nest built over one of our hurricane shutters and assumed the worst. We gently picked up the fragile creature and examined it for injuries. Miraculously, other than being half-scared-to-death, it looked fine! Putting it back into the impossibly high nest was out of the question, so we decided to bring it inside for the night in fear that a predator would see it as a convenient meal.

Our family felt such sadness because we honestly didn’t think it would survive, but there is something about a distressed animal that brings out kindness and hope in most people. We had to try and save it.

“Birdie” was panting and shaking, but soon warmed up to us. She reacted positively to my 5 year old cooing at it and seemed content to be snug and dry in a makeshift nest that we made with whatever we had on hand.  Feeling helpless, we called a wildlife specialist and were instructed to return it to the same area where the  parents would be looking for it. At first I felt skeptical assuming the parents would have given up on its baby.

We put it in one of our planters, where it would have some shelter from the elements. As distracting as it was, I kept peeking out at Birdie, praying and hoping for that imminent reunion. Sure enough, the wildlife specialist was right! We spied two doves looking down at Birdie from the rooftop next door (at least now we knew what kind of bird it was).

I checked on Birdie and saw that it was pooping up a storm, so it must have been getting the parental attention it needed. But by nightfall it was still in the planter. Even though it was sprier, preening and trying to spread its tiny wings, we felt it prudent to bring her back inside for the night (where we live, the night creatures rule the land). The next morning, it almost seemed as if Birdie had grown overnight. It was wide eyed and respondent and no longer panted in our presence. We put it back into the planter while mom and dad were waiting nearby. Then we happily saw one of the doves feeding the baby. I cannot even begin to describe the joy I felt when I finally heard it chirping—it felt wonderful knowing that this precious life had a chance (and a voice) despite all the odds against it.

While caring for Birdie, I couldn’t help but reflect on Thumbelina and her desire to help the dying swallow in the tunnel. Everyone around her was dismissive of the creature, but Thumbelina was determined to nurse it back to health. She carefully gave it water and covered it with a straw blanket, tending to her new friend until it was well enough to fly again. Thumbelina saved the swallow and in turn the swallow saved Thumbelina.

Princess of Swords from The Fairy Tale Tarot

What can we learn from this? Birdie gave us a gift. It reminded us how precious every single life is and how much each creature contributes to our fragile ego system. The doves that we hear cooing around our house are nothing short of nature’s own brand of music. They add something to our every day and are reminders of the simple joys in life. Birdie didn’t give up hope on itself. Instead of languishing and dying like we feared it would, it survived and thrived and now has a chance to spread its wings and fly!

For me, this experience was an auspicious one as well. The next project I’m working on after Ghosts & Spirits Tarot will be focusing on birds. Birdie’s spirit will definitely be part of my creative process as I honor these creatures with pencil and paintbrush.

~ Lisa

This drawing is for Rose Vanden Eynden, author extraordinaire

With that said, I must keep this short and sweet, my friends. Here are some images of the Ghosts & Spirits project in progress. And of course, I’ve included a few pictures created by my afternoon studio companions, Connor (9 years) & Kyra (5 years). Sorry, as amazing as Timmy-the-Cat is, he has yet to pick up a pencil. Instead, he has mastered the art of power napping.

"Black Dog" detail of pencil drawing in progress

Paintings in various stages of progress

Kyra loves to draw animals. There is so much joy in this piece!

New York in the future. Connor's drawings tend to have technical leanings.

And while we're working our tails off, whose been sleeping in Kyra's bed?

~ Lisa

ps. The Fantastical Creatures giveaway ends soon, see my previous blog entry for detail on how to enter!

Shapeshifter paintings in progress

final drawing for Crow-Shapeshifter on watercolor board

As some of you may know, after 20 years of publishing intensity, I’ve taken a break from contracted assignments to work on my own material, unhindered by deadlines, dimensions, or other technical considerations. This doesn’t mean I’m abandoning my identity as an illustrator/writer — I still have plenty more to do/explore in print publishing. I simply needed to refresh myself and flex some creative muscle that has been lying languid since the completion of the monumental Fairy Tale Tarot project. It’s like taking a dive into the ocean after counting grains of sand by the shoreline. I needed to pull away from the details of my daily repertoire and just let loose. This also came about after befriending a bird enthusiast from Canada (who is about to have her first book published) and watching some PBS Art 21 episodes, where varied fine artists discussed their fascinating and individual journeys.

Sketches

With this break I’m flying free through the mountainous terrain of self discovery and am enjoying every minute of this much needed recess. I haven’t felt this unfettered since my early youthful days, when I freely dabbled in the surrealistic vicissitude of the imagination; when swooping brush strokes and splattered paint were par for the course. I want to paint big, bold and textural, and get really physical with the process.

Early exploratory work as a teenager (1984-5)

I had recently read “Pictures Telling Stories: The Art of Robert Ingpen” and inside was this passage:

“When asked about the difference between a painter and an illustrator he often observes that a painter stands to work and an illustrator always sits.”

I wanted to debunk this idea for myself! Why abandon a sense of illustrative narrative when standing? Why label myself and settle in a seat of expectation? I was determined to break my own convention: I stretched a whole sheet of paper on the one oversized  board that I’ve had in storage for years and set out to work.  And yes, moving the board around was no easy task — nor was it easy to paint a large scale watercolor. What I thought might be a brief interlude turned out to be an obsession!  The spirit of the paintings took over — not only consuming my psyche and soul but assuming my full attention in the studio, with creative chaos being a mess inducing bi-product. Oh, my normally orderly surroundings now took on a life of their own as the desire to paint supplanted the necessity to maintain order.

But this is good, isn’t it? Sometimes as artists, we need to shake things up, deconstruct and build anew. For me being an artist is more than just interpreting story or conveying expression, it’s about diving deeper past barriers and depths that we may have ignored for way too long. I suppose this is my way of dismantling potential artist’s block and it has worked to great effect!

Please feel free to visit my purchase page for more information, thanks!

Final Shapeshifter Paintings - click to visit Lisa's online store

~ Lisa

Shapeshifter, Celtic Dragon, Animals Divine & Fantastical Creatures Tarot & The Celestial Goddesses book.

In 1994, I was asked to create sample art for my first deck, Shapeshifter Tarot. Back then, I was the intrepid newbie 20-something year old artist, full of dreams and fresh from recent children’s book publication, book and magazine work and a few oddities in between. I was open to anything and a tarot deck sounded like just the thing needed to satiate my long term ambitious artistic palette and unwavering interest in myths, legends and tarot cards. Little did I know that this would turn out to be a lifelong calling—a burning need to create images that had deep psychological significance within the ever-expansive and fascinating world of divination.

Creating tarot decks as both illustrator and creator/author/illustrator has been a journey into an inner landscape replete with all manner of ethereal visions. My work has never strayed from a bit o’ the fantasy—nothing is direct, photo realistic or even slightly “modern”, rather it represents my need to explore enigmatic images floating within the collective pool of timeless mystery…where the need to understand reality and all its pleasures and sufferings is manifested into legends, fairy tales, myths and all manner of narratives. To me, these help explain that which we cannot understand. My journey as an artist has involved something heartily emotional, compassionate, edgy, and comforting. These emotions have persisted throughout time and are what make us inherently human, fallible and creative.

With my desire to create serving as a reliable guide, I’m trying to reach a place where the soul is called to task and asked to offer up something deeper and more satisfying than the mundane. To me, the stories, the art, the myths and the fairy tales activate something sacred within. These figments of my inner world pour onto paper and create a passage between consciousness and unconsciousness–this is what my tarot art has been: bridge building between various levels of the psyche.
The decks I’ve worked on represent different stages of my life—with each one expressing the obvious growth I’ve made as an artist over the years. I don’t think one deck is necessarily better than another. Rather, each deck is an expression of who I was at the time: from the fresh almost naïve approaches of the Shapeshifter Tarot images, to the more seasoned, confident renderings of my later decks. My second foray into tarot exploration was the Celtic Dragon Tarot, my bestseller to date. The art is a bit bolder, the perspectives more challenging, with values that range from soft muted to bold and striking.  I was in between “newbieness” and being the all-out confident professional. I knew what I wanted to do, but still needed the years to fully awaken as an individual and artist–part of the fool’s journey.

In between decks, I engaged in other creative endeavors including writing/illustrating a book, working as a conceptual artist in the Florida-based entertainment industry, collectible card games, calendars etc.. I also taught at a college while earning my masters degree with a focus on what else: art, Jungian psychology and tarot — all the same goodies that had navigated my muse all along. Phew! It was an intense time full of changes and out of all this emerged Animals Divine Tarot; a deck that showcased both my artistic growth and scholastic achievements. I really loved working on this deck and purposely pushed the colors to reflect the vibrancy of the natural world. Fantastical Creatures Tarot soon followed, a deck that released unfettered creativity and perhaps revealed the deliberate effort to capture more detail without relinquishing the spontaneity of the watercolor brush.

As I was approaching middle age, I was digging deeply through fairy tales with endless threads of inspiration sweeping my soul into lands of make believe. I was immersed in the delightful task of researching and writing; having taken important seats next to my The Fairy Tale Tarot art making chair.  Fairy tales are the first thing I read and loved, launching my creative sensibilities as a child. I was coming full circle, revisiting books illustrated by Arthur Rackham, Charles & William Heath, Sulamith Wulfing, Arthur Sykes, Gustave Dore, Howard Pyle, A.A. Milne,  Edmund Dulac, Tasha Tudor and the list goes on. And of course, there is my omnipresent Golden Book of Fairy Tales of my early childhood (see a previous post). I came back to the Fool, but a wiser Fool– one who embraces all that I am as an artist. The Fairy Tale Tarot is all of my experiences on the journey mixed together in a big pot of artistic inspiration with a dash of deeper understanding. I have come back home, having fulfilled a lifelong dream to illustrate fairy tales and I feel, …well, emotionally prosperous. Do I intend to stop painting? NO! Have I ever stopped painting? NO. Will I keep growing as an artist? I certainly hope so!

And how about you, readers? Do you have a favorite deck that I’ve done?  Have you found that balance between embracing what you were and what you are now? Do you sometimes feel like the intrepid Fool?

*A special thanks to the members of Aeclectic Tarot, whose forum discussions helped to inspire this post (especially Hearthcricket).

Meeeeeow - The Amazing Timmy!

As many of you may already know via twitter and facebook, my beloved cat and faithful model for many paintings was recently the victim of a senseless crime. Though I’ve always been hesitant to let my kitties outside, there was something about Timmy that made us acquiesce to his desire. He loves to sit out front by my flowers, drinking in the sights and smells from his little patch of habitat.

Timmy is not your typical cat. He is a charming feline to all those who make his acquaintance. He possesses a playful lightheartedness and appears void of aggression or hostility towards anything regardless of what the natural order of things tends to dictate. Birds, ducks, frogs, lizards and all manner of animals would meander by his spot without taking much notice. It’s as though other animals can sense Timmy’s placidity and feel safe in his calm presence. I have a feeling he delights in visitors from the wild and takes pleasure observing his fellow animals. Lots of humans know Timmy as well. Even my community manager gushed about his particularly good-natured temperament after she had stopped by. Timmy is especially gentle with children and seems to connect with their innocent puerile antics. Whenever my kids rode their bikes or did chalk drawings on the driveway, their old faithful furry buddy would roll around near them as if he too was in recess mode.

Connor Talking & Timmy Listening

Timmy was a known fixture in my front yard…perhaps making him a vulnerable target. One day we noticed something was wrong. His left eye became swollen and his usual spunk gave way to extended lethargy. Our first thought was that he had been stung, or had a toothache, or had a stroke. We were not prepared for what came next.

When the vet called with x-ray results, it was as though someone had punched me in the stomach. Lodged in his occipital bone area (just missing his eyeball) was a BB gun pellet. This shocked everyone, even the vet. The fact that it had penetrated his face made the vet think it had occurred close range and was the result of pure maliciousness. I could not fathom why and how anyone would have done this to such a loving animal. The vet hypothesized that Timmy’s overt friendliness had put him at risk. “Timmy is such a sweet friendly cat, he may have gone right up to his attacker oblivious to the danger before he was shot.” We were devastated! Even the officer who took the police report shook his head and seemed genuinely disturbed by the incident.

Dick Whittington's Cat - concept sketches

Timmy is now indoors (permanently) and in great spirits. As much as he loves the outdoors, we’re not taking any chances. He is as loving as ever and has been enjoying his convalesce and the copious love that is being showered on him. We feel optimistic that he will be okay. Hopefully over time, we will all heal from the sadness of what happened and appreciate our dear fuzzy friend that much more for the remainder of his years.

These images are my way of honoring an important member of my family.

Timmy as the Magician card (winded cat) for Fantastical Creatures Tarot

Timmy as Puss in Boots (Mentor card) & Dick Whittington's Cat (Prince of Wands) in the Fairy Tale Tarot

~ Lisa
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Prince of Cups Final Painting

Animal bride stories are plentiful in fairy tale collections and appear several times in my own Fairy Tale Tarot. I don’t know exactly why, but I’m drawn to the idea of animals testing humans to see if their hearts are truly in the right place. Let’s face it, many (not all) modern humans tend to see themselves as the most superior of sentient creatures (otherwise we wouldn’t be obliterating their natural habitats left and right), but many myths and stories throughout history have presented animals as divine entities. All manner of animal worship has existed and still exists today. Why is this? Are they symbols of our conscience? Who doesn’t have animal visitors in their dreams? What explains their ubiquity in cartoons? Why do they appear as authorities in product advertising? Why do we ooh and ahh whenever there is an anomalous animal encounter? In stories, they almost seem omniscient with their intuitive rapport and demonstrative ways. Perhaps they’re one step ahead of Homo sapiens, recognizing the very fallibilities that prevent us silly humans from attaining a higher sense of self. From what I can tell, animals are born enlightened and live the moment in ways we can only strive to do. Therefore, I believe animal-messengers in fairy tales make total sense. And when animals personified or anthropomorphised are vested with an emotional quality like love, the results to the reader can be quite sublime. It’s hard not to cry about the crestfallen beast, or the injured deer, or the mistreated frog!

Prince of Cups sketch

When the princess bargains with the frog, she does so with a non-consequential mindset–symptomatic of humanity’s ignorance? But when the frog appears at her father’s palace to be part of the princess’ domicile, the princess who sees him as nothing but a repugnant amphibian rejects him. Much to her disgust, she is required to eat and sleep with the frog, after all, her wise father reminds her, “Honor it you must—a promise is a promise!” But in the end, after a particularly violent tantrum, the princess realizes her mistake when her impetuosity results in the frog’s transformation into a prince. Thus the princess’ destiny is changed forever.

Prince of Cups B&W

I have small frog statues and a dragon gargoyle along my front walkway. I’ve seen frogs sitting on their resin likenesses and lizards perched on the sculpted dragon as if they know they’re sacred creatures on this sacred planet—interlocutors in a world where time is no faster than the moment in which they exist. Of course, this makes me wonder why a frog would want to turn back into a human prince in the first place!

Lizard on Frog Photo: Kort Kramer