summer 2003

~ Monday, September 15, 2003

 
One more thing: I need some sample readings for the Lover’s Path Tarot. Any volunteers? These free readings would be conducted by me via e-mail and, most importantly, would be included in the book. All personal information would be changed to protect privacy. Readings will be conducted later this month/early October.

If you’re interested, please send me an e-mail at reading@artandwords.com. Please include a brief description of yourself and the issue you’d like a reading about — I’d like to get a good cross section of people, professions and issues for the book.

posted by kris at 2:10 AM

~ Saturday, September 13, 2003

 
Here is the reality of what it’s like to do a big project like The Lover’s Path Tarot: I am so exhausted that my body feels shaky. I’m not sleeping well, since there’s so much on my mind. I can’t concentrate on anything beyond what’s needed next. Even to stop and deal with the necessities of life, such as laundry, cooking, or bathing, feels like a huge interruption and potentially threatening: What if I lose my momentum because I left the studio?

The end is in sight, only six weeks away. I’m working on drawings for the final eleven cards. Later today my models will graciously re-pose for Brunhilde and Siegfried, which should be the final piece of the art puzzle. In between everything else, I’m also working on finalizing the text and design for the accompanying book. I figure if I do a little at a time, then there won’t be so much to finish up at the end, when I’ll really be limping along. Right now, I’m mainly working on the love story retellings, which I plan to include with each description for the major arcana cards. Here’s one I wrote so far:

Princess Ariadne, the only daughter of King Minos of Crete, helped Theseus slay the Minotaur, her monstrous half-brother, by teaching him how to use her golden thread within the labyrinth where the Minotaur lay in wait. Deep within that dark maze set below the earth where no man or woman had ever survived, Theseus pursued that thread with unseeing eyes to kill the Minotaur. When he emerged triumphant, Theseus claimed Ariadne for his own. The couple escaped from Crete upon a waiting ship, running from crowds of citizens angered by the murder of their half-bull-half-human prince.

As they sailed the world, Ariadne was certain she won the heart of the hero in return for her brilliance, her loyalty, and her love. After all, she had betrayed her family and people to save Theseus from certain death. When Theseus finally brought their ship to the faraway island of Naxos, Ariadne thought they would live there forever in bliss. Instead, he abandoned her upon the island, sailing off without an apology. Such was her thanks for saving him.

Alone, Ariadne forgot her triumph as the untangler of the labyrinth. She was Ariadne the forsaken, Ariadne the foolish, rather than Ariadne the beloved of Theseus.

At first, the heartbroken princess wept. Then she thought of killing herself out of shame and sorrow. But the Muses took pity upon Ariadne. They hovered around the poor girl as soft as winds, and whispered into her ear of a worthier love and a loftier fate. This made no sense to the girl, for she could not see beyond her harsh abandonment by Theseus.

But soon Ariadne saw a bronze chariot appear faraway on the horizon. The Muses whispered it held a new bridegroom for Ariadne, a man fate had chosen for her to love. As the chariot drew closer, Ariadne saw it was draped in vines and ripe clusters of grapes—for this chariot was driven by Dionysus, god of divine intoxication, who loved Ariadne for her passionate bravery and her loyalty.

Ariadne’s broken heart was immediately healed by his love. Dionysus immediately wed her. Made a goddess by love, Ariadne lived forever with her immortal husband in triumphant bliss.

The card this retelling will accompany is entitled Triumph, though in traditional tarot decks it’s usually called The World. In my painting of Ariadne and Dionysus, Ariadne is swept in a huge embrace by her beloved, while the world looms behind and beyond them. To paraphrase Beethoven’s Ninth, it’s a kiss for all the world.

posted by kris at 2:10 PM

~ Thursday, September 11, 2003

 
Well, I’ve gotten all the photo reference together for the remaining eleven cards — for the most part that is. I’m still unclear on one card, Strength. My gut is telling me that the composition is too similar to another card — not a good thing. I guess with 78 cards it’s harder than not to avoid repetition, but it does bother me. Hopefully my models will indulge me and pose again. Anyway, I have an idea for a different composition which I think would express the qualities of that card better, so maybe it’s for the best!

But the other photos came out very well. I had several friends pose for Abelard and Eloise (The Hermit), Cleopatra (The Empress), and Brunnhilde and Siegfried. My husband even got into the act and posed for a few missing puzzle pieces (Hunding, Siegmund, Perseus and Shahriyar), though he doesn’t like having his photo taken. Now that’s love!

It’s nice to finally know what the rest of the deck looks like. Or, I should write, will look like once get the art done!

On another note, I sent out my first journal entry from the yahoo groups account. I hope it got through okay — I’m not sure if I did it correctly. If anyone could confirm for me, I’d really appreciate it. I feel kind of silly, but it’s all new and uncharted waters. As I wrote earlier, I was reluctant to move the journal to a yahoo list, but it was just taking too much time to deal with spam filters and such. But at least I definitely knew when the e-mail was sent.

I’m trying not to think that it’s September 11th. Living here in NYC, it’s still too raw and real.

Less than seven weeks to go!

posted by kris at 9:20 AM

~ Saturday, September 06, 2003

 
Just posted ten new pieces of art! The suit of arrows is completely finished, my first one. This suit I’ve associated with the myth of Cupid and Psyche. I’m especially fond of the “darker” cards in the suit, the eight and nine of arrows. They just felt right as I worked on them. Also posted several coin cards. The four of coins looks so luxuriously sensual, like a Waterhouse composition.

Currently, I’m painting the rest of the suit of cups and coins, with the exception of the eight of coins. I need to find more reference for that card. I also have several models posing for me this weekend. Only eleven cards which await to be started. As I get the reference and compositions for these last cards together, I’ll start working on the book in earnest.

Less than two months to go!

posted by kris at 12:13 PM

~ Sunday, August 24, 2003

 
I revised the cover design, now laid out to the correct trim size. While the type isn’t final (or the copy for that matter — still waiting to find out if the book will be full color or not) — I think it’s basically there, if you know what I mean.

Click here to see my cover design for The Lover’s Path Tarot.

It’s starting to feel real to me. Just over two months to go to deadline!

posted by kris at 12:01 PM

~ Friday, August 22, 2003

 
I almost forgot to mention that my Frog Prince painting from Sacred Animals will be appearing in short documentary about fairy tales and film on the Sundance Channel. They’re showing it to introduce the Christina Ricci film Pumpkin. I don’t have cable, so hopefully I can get a tape.

I know this has nothing to do with the Lover’s Path Tarot, but it’s the first time one of my illustrations has been on television!

posted by kris at 10:39 AM

 
Got the color proofs! Or, I should write, proof. As it turns out, they only ran the cover design, but will be doing a few proofs of cards next. The cover looks great, which is a relief — it features a deep red color, which is difficult to reproduce without getting too orange or brown. Though I’ll have to change the cover design a bit to fit the “official” trim size, I now know that I can work from my original design knowing that the colors will reproduce as intended.

And did I mention trim size? Yup, I finally got my project dimensions! The Lover’s Path Tarot is going to be a beautifully elegant square box, which will contain the book (also square), spread sheet, and tarot deck. The tarot deck will be the same dimensions as the Goddess Tarot — but I’ve known that for a while now. Otherwise I’d never have been able to design and paint the cards as I have been.

Back to the cards: They are moving along quite nicely. There’s never as much done as I’d like, but the end is definitely in sight. Of 78 cards, I’ve only eleven waiting that have had nothing done to them yet. So that means that 67 cards are either done or underway. And it’s a good thing, since I need to get moving on the book. But now that I have the trim size there’s nothing holding me back from getting started. I was so excited by this that I was up to 3 am last night working on sample book designs. I’m a bit wiped today — only 5.5 hours sleep — but very inspired.

posted by kris at 10:34 AM

~ Saturday, August 16, 2003

 
Color proofs were delayed a little: they’re to arrive early this week, along with the final book and box trim! And still painting, painting, painting, with a bit of drawing too. . . .

I’ve just set up my mailing list for The Lover’s Path as a Yahoo! group. I’ve noticed over the past year that many of my newsletters aren’t reaching my subscribers, thanks to new spam filters many isps have installed. (It’s not just me: a recent Salon article detailed the efforts of a journalist to receive her work-oriented e-mail, which was being routinely trashed by Roadrunner’s new filters. When she complained, she was told by Roadrunner that she shouldn’t have been sending work-related e-mail from home. To which I thought, “okay, now things are really out of hand.”)

Don’t get me wrong. I hate (no, make that despise) spam. I spent more time than I’d like dealing with it, between deleting it, setting up filters, and changing e-mail addresses to throw those spawns of beezelbub off my e-mail tracks. And it’s gotten much worse in recent months. But when your legitimate personal and business e-mail can’t get through because of them — well, that’s throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Okay, end of rant. Having the list as a Yahoo! group should make things easier, both on my end as well as your’s. If you’re on my list and reading this online, and haven’t received an e-mail update from me in a while, now you’ll know why. And if you’re on my list and receive an invitation to join a Yahoo! group from me, ditto. Or, if you simply want to subscribe and haven’t yet, point your e-mail to loverspath-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

posted by kris at 11:04 AM

~ Saturday, August 02, 2003

 
Added four new paintings to the Lover’s Path art section — hope you’ll take a moment to check them out! The other news is that I should be getting first color proofs next week, as well as final trim dimensions. Once I have these measurements, I can start designing the book and box which goes with the deck.

Back to more painting. . . . I’m just about done with the suit of arrows, and am making lots of progress with the rest of the minors. I can’t believe August is already here!

posted by kris at 1:26 PM

~ Sunday, July 27, 2003

 
Besides painting, I’ve been trying to finalize the design for the cards of The Lover’s Path Tarot. As well as writing and illustrating this project, I’m also under contract for designing it — something I *love* doing. (I’ve designed some of my books and products in the past, including The Goddess Tarot, The Book of Goddesses, and Harvest.) The art director is planning on sending out a few cards for test proofs, so I really should get something to her soon.

Click here to view a sample Major Arcana card.
Click here to view a sample Minor Arcana card.
Click here to see the card back design.

While designing the cards, I used some design elements from The Lover’s Path, the novel which inspired The Lover’s Path Tarot. These include the gold swash, the typeface and its deep crimson color (which I still need to finetune the letterspacing for). I’m so pleased that I can actually use a Pantone color for the type, instead of a process CMYK color, which can make type look jagged, depending on the size of the screen screen used. My AD has given me the go-ahead for that — the Lover’s Path Tarot will be printed on a six color press, so there’s no problem with one of the colors being a custom ink.

posted by kris at 10:55 PM

~ Saturday, July 26, 2003

 
More art posted! Check out the Lover’s Path art section, as well as my ever-evolving oracle, where there are images but no text — yet! Though I’d love to post even a small summary describing the love stories inspiring each painting, oracle text will have to wait until the art is out and about. There’s only so much which can be done at any given moment.

As well, there’s a whole bunch of paintings underway and/or drying in a quiet, safe corner of my studio. I plan to add these to the site probably in about a week’s time.

posted by kris at 8:26 PM

~ Tuesday, July 22, 2003

 
I was interviewed this past week by Diane Wilkes, of TarotPassages.com about The Lover’s Path, The Lover’s Path Tarot and The Goddess Tarot. You can read the interview at www.tarotpassages.com/waldherrint.htm.

Otherwise, just more of the same — painting, painting, painting! I did get reference together for another eleven cards, which takes care of most of the minor arcana (except for four last ones). After this, only another seven major arcana cards to work out! The weather’s been pleasant here, so I’m enjoying sitting out in my sunroom as I paint. My incredible ever-growing jasmine plant is blooming again! It smells like something out of the Arabian Nights to me.

posted by kris at 8:41 AM

~ Saturday, July 12, 2003

 
Still painting away. I feel a bit restless lately — too much time indoors — but I tell myself that, if I make it through July on course, I’ll be okay. I do want to make my November 1st deadline without having to pull all nighters toward the end.

I’ve got 23 paintings underway. By underway, I mean either being painted in various stages of near completion, or the composition/drawing for it has been transferred onto watercolor paper ready for painting. Since I’ve only got twelve watercolor boards, there’s a bit of juggling when a project is this large: I have to wait to finish a painting before I can stretch another.

One thing I did was to print out all the cards which are finished, and placed them in my project binder. Looking at them makes me feel that a substantial amount of work has been accomplished — but I know there’s so much more to go. The tally is as follows: 31 cards finished + 23 cards underway = 54 cards total, with 24 cards to go! Plus the book (for which I’ve collected copious notes) and a spread sheet design.

This sort of accounting reminds me a bit of those advent calendars we used to make in grade school, where you’d count down each day to Christmas.

posted by kris at 3:44 PM

~ Thursday, July 03, 2003

 
Nothing new really to report. I finished off the twelve paintings that were underway (btw, they’re posted on this site), and have another five drawings transfered onto watercolor paper, stretched on boards, and waiting to be painted. Also am gathering photoreference for the next batch of paintings (mainly court and minor arcana cards), so I’ll have something to sketch from.

Basically, I’m at the stage of this project where I just need to keep chugging along. With only four months left before deadline, July feels like a crucial turning point. If I can get enough done this month, the rest of the art will (hopefully) feel like a downhill ride. So I’ve been lying low in the studio — haven’t been going out much to socialize, or much of anything else. It’s good to remain focused.

posted by kris at 9:58 PM

~ Thursday, June 26, 2003

 
New art posted! Check it out on the “View Art” section of this site. As well, I’ve reorganized the navigation, so it’s easier to see stuff without scrolling through or downloading tons of thumbnails. Let me know what you think at e-comment@artandwords.com.

posted by kris at 10:16 AM

~ Sunday, June 22, 2003

 
Well, I’ve got twelve paintings in various stages of completion. And I just finished off three from the previous batch (eight of staves, one of staves, and princess of staves). So things are moving! As well, four more sketches are waiting to be transferred onto watercolor paper and stretched, once I get the paintings currently underway finished and taken off the boards. I’ve only got twelve watercolor boards (actually, these are just glorified pieces of smooth plywood), so shuffle I must.

On a positive note, I shared www.loverspath.com with the folks at US Games — they loved the site as well as the art featured on it! This is the first I’ve shown them of the The Lover’s Path Tarot since I sold the project. It was good to bring them up to date. Their blast of positive support was like a shot of B6. I also received the first copies of The Pocket Goddess Tarot — they look adorable! According to the US Games catalog which accompanied it, there’s over 200,000 copies of the Goddess Tarot in print, which astonished me. I knew it was over 100,000 copies, but not that much.

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