links on the side: Lisa Hunt on her watercolor technique

I’m away on vacation these next two weeks. During this period, I’ve arranged for several guest bloggers to visit. I’ve long wanted to feature some of the talented people whom I’ve linked to on the sidebar of this blog. Next up is Lisa Hunt, the gifted creator of numerous tarot decks. She’s here to share news about her latest, the Fantastical Creatures Tarot, as well as the inside skinny on how she creates her beautiful watercolors.

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I was delighted when Kris asked me to be a guest blogger for a day. We’ve spent the past decade exchanging e-mails: documenting one another’s artistic journey in a field that is both joyous and frustrating. We’ve celebrated each other’s victories and mourned each other’s disappointments; but through it all, we have shared wondrous artistic transformations with each other.

Amazingly, our latest card decks were both published this summer. She sent me a copy of her beautiful Goddess Inspiration Oracle the same week my advance copies of Fantastical Creatures Tarot arrived. Now, there is nothing like feeling simultaneous triumph and accomplishment with a friend– and it doesn’t happen everyday. This also happened when we both became mothers to our daughters (almost at the same time)—it heightened the joy of our experiences!

My latest tarot deck showcases a wide variety of fantastical beings, some light in nature and some dark in spirit. It is a deck that embraces the light and shadow and brings together two necessary components of the psyche. Kris and I, being in the beginnings of middle age, and both having been in publishing for 20 years have been discussing the need to explore the shadow via our art and writing more at length. This is an interesting development possibly representing our transformations from young and idealistic, to older and wiser.

As young women, we happily delved into lighter fare keeping our palettes imbued in the light, but as we are becoming more seasoned professionals and more mature women, we are gravitating to subject matter that appeals to something deeper; as if we were facing aspects of our psyche that requires the maturity of years to fully explore.

I think my Fantastical Creatures Tarot is the beginning of examining these untapped waters with a confidence I did not previously possess. Kris’ “New Book” seems to be doing the same for her. This is the beauty of art: it serves to document who we are and who we are becoming. I’m lucky to have a soulmate of a friend in Kris who completely understands this process and has become such an important part of my artistic life.

My illustration techniques have changed little since embracing watercolors as a soulful medium back in my late teens. I just love how the watercolor flows and how the drawing underneath slowly takes on a vibrancy with each stroke of the soluble pigment.

How do I create one of my paintings?

I begin with a sketch. I have a huge plastic container in my studio overflowing with sketchbooks. The sketch is the foundation for my work and represents the raw, uninhibited energy that possesses my creative being—this initial brainstorming helps to bring my decks to life. I think people would be surprised to see how closely the final watercolors resemble the little sketches inhabiting my journals. There are some designs that are transposed to the sketchbook with immediacy and others that evolve in their own time. I never force a sketch. I believe an image will come alive when it wants to. This has been my personal source of creative success: I don’t force anything–I let the psyche reveal its muse when it’s good and ready. But to avoid any potential stagnation, I always work on many different sketches and designs at once because there are deadlines to consider!

After I settle on a sketch, I will enlarge it and redraw using a light table and tracing paper. As I refine the design, I may look at an object from my collection of feathers, leaves, acorns, and all manner of cool gifts from nature. I will also (but not always) take reference photos of people, animals, nature etc.. Sometimes I will draw from live models (my husband, my kids, my cat and even my goldfish—whoever is willing!) and other times I will make up the drawing using anatomy books for reinforcement –I’m a stickler for good anatomy and accurate perspective and enjoy the challenges in creating believable worlds with believable characters…at least, that’s one of my goals!

Upon completing the final drawing, I will stretch a 140lb. sheet of Saunders Waterford hot press paper in a bathtub and staple it onto a watercolor board after a 15 min. soak. When the paper is dry, I will take the final drawing that is on tracing paper, turn it over, rub the back with a 4-6B carpenter pencil, smooth it with tissue and then flip it back over and tape it onto the dry watercolor paper. I then use a mechanical pencil with hard lead and transfer the image onto the paper by retracing my lines.

After removing the tracing, I define the details using a softer lead so as not to create more impressions on the paper than necessary. When starting the painting, I usually cover large areas with washes and slowly lessen the transparency over time. I then focus on details with paint that is virtually dry (dry brushing) and fairly opaque. Sometimes I will create special effects using salt on wet washes, a razor blade on dried paint and even mascoid before washes even happen I’m never afraid to push the envelope—and I don’t know exactly how a painting will look until that “ahhhh, it’s finished” moment has arrived.

The most important aspect of my painting technique is that I literally go with the flow. I Let the paint breathe life onto the paper as it will and enjoy the creatively satisfying ride along the way.

Fantastical Creatures Tarot © 2007 Lisa Hunt. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

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