Here I am with a foolish young heart (and thin figure!). This is 1995 while working on my first tarot deck: the Shapeshifter Tarot

This is the painting that determined my artistic path. The Sorceress was the sample I painted before landing my first tarot contract with Llewellyn Publications.

Here's a Shapeshifter portrait I did for 60's rock icon, Donovan. I flew to San Francisco and presented the framed painting to him in person at a 1997 Whole Life Expo (my apologies for the poor photo quality--I know I have more somewhere).

Here I am in 1998 at an Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale graduation. At the time I was working on Celtic Dragon Tarot, I was also earning a degree in Computer Animation (very new at the time). I face-mapped the Shapeshifter Tarot images on 3D runes and had them spin around in space. No one ever saw anything like that before and it earned me the top prize in my graduating class (and a subsequent job as a conceptual designer and later, college teacher).

Here's my studio. On the wall is a framed Celtic Dragon Tarot press sheet. As my biggest seller, it holds a place of honor in my workspace.

After Celtic Dragon Tarot, my book Celestial Goddesses was published. I met fabulous people along the way, including my dear friend Pam (professional singer/art educator extraordinaire). This was taken during the Spring of 2002.

I also met my future husband at the one and only Celestial Goddesses book signing. It was destiny!

During the past 15 years, I've nurtured an extraordinary friendship with the brilliant and soulful Kris Waldherr.

While I was earning my Masters Degree in Interdisplinary Studies, Animals Divine Tarot was published. It earned a COVR award the following year (2006).

After Animals Divine Tarot, there was Fantastical Creatures Tarot published by US Games. Here I am at a 2007 INATS East signing/reading. I was busy!

While working on tarot decks and books, I had kids! Here I am with my artistic son Connor in 2009.

Here's Kyra in the studio in (early 2009?). My kids love to draw too!

Here's a bookcover-in-progress I did last year.

I also had a 10 year stint as a Collectible Card Game artist, but after over 100 images I retired from the industry.

I also studied martial arts and earned my Black Belt in TKD as a means of getting healthy and feeling more balanced while in the studio. It's easy to neglect oneself when one is so consumed by one's artistic passions! (2008)

I loved writing this book!

Here's a framed press sheet of The Fairy Tale Tarot that hung at a local gallery in 2009.

Here I am at work in the studio. I use the TP for painting--just in case you were confused. (2010)

Here's what I'm working on now...

and here's what I'll be working on next.

It has been a wonderful journey so far. I can honestly say that I feel a deep sense of gratitude for my life. Yes, I did make things happen, but I also feel I’m a blessed person to be able to live my passion and know who I am. Who knows what will be? But for now, I’m perfectly content with the here and now. But sometimes it’s good to reflect back and take pause. I don’t take anything for granted!

~ Lisa

Where I grew up (1971)

Lions, tigers and bears oh my! The mysterious forest is full of unknowns and teeming with mysterious life.  As a symbol of the unconscious, it is a place inhabited by wild things, often obscured by the shadows of tree branches and layered with the remnants of seasons gone by. When we walk into a forest, we step into a world full of adventure and trepidation. We leave the comfort of paths familiar and cross the threshold into a realm  full of challenges and unpredictability. Who knows what monsters lie in wait and who knows where the wayward path will lead. Myths and fairy tales often use the woods as a stage for the evolving protagonist. The character leaves the safety of home and wanders into the realm of the psyche, where growth is inevitable.

Drawing from the 80's

When I was in high school, I often sketched the forest using the wells of my imagination as reference. These forests were alive with spirits and elusive beings, there to provide me with messages. They dwelled  in a place that offered  temporary refuge from the province of a chaotic reality . I loved exploring the twisting tree limbs and fortifying roots that helped me to feel grounded in a world of teenage confusion.  I was wandering into the path of the unknown and these fantasy tree drawings helped me to manifest the deep-seated worries I was experiencing as I approached adulthood.

Pencil drawing done in my teenage years

My Mom as the Hermit (Fantastical Creatures Tarot)

Lisa as a teenager

Lisa in the snowy woods of northern New England, 1990s

Fairy tales often employ these settings as metaphors of the shadow. They are the wild, untamed symbols of our own inner landscapes, where creative thinking and intrinsic energies reside and beg to be released. It is here where we meet frog princes, wise old men, a golden goose, a ravenous wolf, imposing giants, spirit messengers and all manner of creatures that help us shed the constraints of a rational mind. It is here where we let go and become more self-aware. It is under the dappling light that we recognize our full potentials and find our way through the tangle of brush.  Through the darkness of paths unknown, we have the possibility of seeing the light.

Forest images from The Fairy Tale Tarot

Here is a neat “forest” video from friend and fellow artist Carisa Swenson:

The Forest

~ Lisa

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I’m offering some amazing deals in recognition of “Black Friday”.
They are:

1. Half-off original paintings!
2. Custom drawings
3. Buy 1 get 1 FREE prints
4. Buy Animals Divine and The Fairy Tale Tarot & get a FREE copy Celestial Goddesses
5. Buy Celestial Goddesses and get a FREE print

Check out the specials here: http://lisahuntart.com/blackfriday.html

Offer good until December 7, 2009, so don’t delay!
______________

Don’t forget to sign up for the Celtic Dragon Anniversary print giveaway!
http://is.gd/4Lf4x

In honor of this anniversary I’m having another giveaway. Either leave a comment below or  Follow and “tweet” the following message on twitter.com: “Win a signed 2′x3′ poster of the ‘Queen of Swords’ for the Celtic Dragon Tarot’s 10th Anniv! Follow Lisa & RT. http://is.gd/4Lf4x” Entries will be tallied at the end of the month and the winner randomly drawn from them. Commenting here AND on twitter gives you 2 entries, but no further submissions will not be counted. I will gladly ship anywhere around the world.

Also this month, we’re having a sale on a limited edition Celtic Dragon Tarot Kit. Included is:

• a signed American release of this legendary  kit (deck & book)
• a signed, archival  print (choice of the Moon, King of Wands, the Hermit, the Magician & the Lovers)
• a unique dragon sketch by me, Lisa, done just for this special offer on an individual basis
• a Celtic Dragon greeting card

There are just 15 of these kits available and they’ll be at the low price of $60 (a $95 value) only until January 1st (S&H is FREE in the continental US). I’ll have a paypal link on the Purchase page of my website soon, or you can message/email me to reserve a copy.

CONTEST CLOSED-The winner will soon be announced. Thanks everyone for your participation!

In the coming weeks, I will be having a Celtic Dragon Tarot giveaway to celebrate the deck’s 10th anniversary. Check back for further details.

If you would like to purchase a print or tarot gift set, please visit my purchase page: http://www.lisahuntart.com/purchasing.html

Thank you, everyone! ~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).