Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt

I’m pleased to announce that Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, the latest book I’ve illustrated, has been published by Inner Traditions/Bear & Company.

Shamanic Mysteries was co-authored by Nicki Scully and Linda Star Wolf. I created eight large watercolor paintings for the book, one of which you can see on the book cover. This piece presents Nut, the goddess of the night, and Geb, the god of the earth; on the side is Thoth, the Architect of Higher Learning; the central figure is Anubis, the Opener of the Way.

Though I immersed myself in Egyptian art to work on this book, Nicki and Star Wolf’s descriptions for the art were so precise that all I had to do was hew to their words as closely as possible. In a sense, what you’re seeing are their visions brought to life by my paintbrush — I’m only the hired hand, so to speak! This is an unusual situation because these days I seem to spend more time illustrating my projects than I do for other authors. (It’s not that I don’t like illustrating for authors. I think it’s more that I have so many book ideas that it’s rare for me to come up for air.)

On Nicki Scully’s website, signed copies are also available. She’s also posted several excerpts from the book for your reading pleasure.

Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt is a powerful book bearing an inspiring message of hope — one much needed these days. I’m pleased to be a small part of it.

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What would a superhero wear?*

Though I’ve often considered what a goddess would wear (and attempted to research it through archival paintings and sculptures), I’ve never really thought about what a superhero would wear. Anyway, here’s one answer to this question: According to artisan/photographer/new mom Andrea Sher, superheroes wear funky-beautiful one-of-a-kind silver necklaces and bracelets, handcrafted of vintage glass and lucite beads from around the world. (An alternate answer is posted below — follow the asterik.)

These necklaces and bracelets would protect you from harm, attract people to you, and create magic in your life. They would invite adventure and color into your life.

And so Andrea set out to create said-necklaces and bracelets. And thus was Superhero Designs born.

How’s that for an origin myth?

Superhero Designs has been on maternity hiatus for the past few months. But in anticipation of Mother’s Day (how appropriate!) Andrea is taking orders until mid-May. During this period, if you purchase two necklaces, you’ll receive a free Superhero tee.

Since every Art and Words goddess is also a superhero, I thought this offer might be of interest to you. Which is why Andrea Sher’s Superhero Designs is my Retail Therapy choice for this week.

In my next post, I’ll get down to a little more detail about the latest at Art and Words. I know I eluded last week that there was a lot going on, but much of it under development. Since then, I’ve made enough progress to not feel so ineffectual. Or secretive.

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* On a related note, Edna Mode of The Incredibles has very strong advice for what a superhero should never wear:

Edna: No capes!
Bob: Isn’t that my decision?
Edna: Do you remember Thunderhead? Tall, storm powers? Nice man, good with kids.
Bob: Listen, E…
Edna: November 15th of ‘58! All was well, another day saved, when? his cape snagged on a missile fin!
Bob: Thunderhead was not the brightest bulb…
Edna: Stratogale! April 23rd, ‘57! Cape caught in a jet turbine!
Bob: E, you can’t generalize about these things…
Edna: Metaman, express elevator! Dynaguy, snag on takeoff! Splashdown, sucked into a vortex!
[shouts]
Edna: No capes!

I couldn’t resist posting this excerpt. My sister is a seamstress/clothing designer, so “no capes” makes me laugh everytime.

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poetry in motion — and goddesses on the move

I hope that my first three Retail Therapy posts have given you some original and inspiring ideas for gift giving. (Yes, Virginia, you can escape the Amazon.com shopping experience!) But this week, I thought it would be fun to feature a free way to send the gift of “I’m thinking of you.”

It may be obvious, but virtual postcards are a free (and easy) way to share beauty and inspiration without leaving the comfort of your computer. Here are a few e-card destinations that meander off the Hallmark/Blue Mountain Arts beaten track. While these sites may not have all the slick bells and whistles that more commercial sites may offer, they offer something better — a distinctively mythic viewpoint.

I’m reminded by the Endicott Studio blog that April is National Poetry Month. To commemorate National Poetry Month, last year the numerous talents that comprise the Endicott Studio joined forces to create thirty virtual postcards bearing poems and art — one for each day of the month. The art of Alan Lee, Oliver Hunter (whose painting of the Fates you see above), Terri Windling and many others grace poems by Jane Yolen, Neil Gaiman and more.

Other artists related to the Endicott Studio: The website for the World of Froud, which features the combined work of Brian, Wendy and Toby Froud, offers beautiful free faery e-cards. Brian Froud’s faery paintings need no introduction. Wendy Froud’s stunning dolls graced several books by Terri Windling including The Winter Child. And here’s an interesting factoid about Wendy: She kindly modeled as Rapunzel for my first book, Rapunzel, some years ago, when I lived in Devon, England. But that’s a story for another day.

One small caveat: To send a World of Froud card, you do need to sign up to be a member of their World of Froud website. However, membership is free.

Prefer goddesses to faeries? Isha Lerner, the creator of the bestselling Inner Child cards and Triple Goddess Tarot, offers free goddess e-cards with images from her decks. Each card includes a short blessing which I believe are excerpted from her books.

You can also send an e-card bearing the lovely goddess art of Lisa Hunt at GoddessFlight.com. This site also offers e-cards by other artists who paint goddesses, though the tone of GoddessFlight is a bit commercial for my taste. (BTW, if you missed my post, Lisa’s tarot decks were featured here a few weeks ago.)

And last — but I hope not least — you can send a goddess postcard bearing one of my paintings. Choose from twelve goddesses such as Inanna (shown above), Venus and Persephone. I created these paintings for several publications including The Goddess Tarot and The Book of Goddesses.

Now go forth and move some pixels!

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Joanna Powell Colbert’s Gaian Tarot

Like Lisa Hunt, whose mythic art I featured last week here, Joanna Powell Colbert is also a tarot deck creator. Her magnum opus is the Gaian Tarot, whose progress I have been following for several years on her sensitively written online journal. This journal also details her life on a small island in the Pacific Northwest, which sounds soothingly idyllic to this overscheduled city dweller. She lives there in a dream house built of hay bales and art. Whenever I visit her blog, I gain a sense of catching my breath, if you know what I mean.

Joanna writes that “The Gaian Tarot celebrates the living Earth and those who seek to live in harmony with Her.” Accordingly, the art for the deck is filled with numerous reminders of the profound beauty of the natural world.

The cards are drawn in the painstakingly-detailed medium of colored pencil. It’s a technique that requires many, many hours of patient loving labor.

Right now, the major arcana of the Gaian Tarot have been finished and labor on the minor arcana is underway. When all is finished, Joanna intends to have the entire work published. In the meantime, a first edition of the Gaian Tarot major arcana was produced and quickly sold out. However, due to popular demand, Joanna has made a second edition available for purchase. The art is also available on archival-quality limited edition prints.

In these times of climate change and Katrina-style storms, the message behind The Gaian Tarot is more important than ever: Take care of Mama Earth, and she will take care of you.

If only more politicians in Washington could heed this wisdom!

All art in this post © Joanna Powell Colbert. All rights reserved.

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The Inspiring Art of Lisa Hunt

If you at all are involved with Tarot, then you’ve certainly come across the art of Lisa Hunt. Lisa is a tarot goddess, pure and simple. Starting with the bestselling Shapeshifter Tarot, she’s illustrated more decks than I can imagine doing even at my most ambitious.

Tarot decks are a lot of work. I sometimes joke that tarot artists are the marathon runners of the illustration world. I mean, a tarot deck requires 78 original paintings—compare that to the typical children’s picture book, which usually requires about 16 paintings. If creating a tarot deck is a marathon, then Lisa has painted the equivalent of a decathlon during her career.

Lisa’s latest deck is the 2006 COVR Interactive Sideline Award-winning Animals Divine Tarot, which she wrote and illustrated; I was asked to write the introduction, which I happily did. She has two new decks underway, one of which is the Fantastical Creatures Tarot. This will be published by US Games Systems later this year.

In addition to her tarot work, Lisa has written and illustrated books, including Celestial Goddesses. In between all of this, she also paints images for gaming cards. In other words, she’s amazingly prolific.

It astonishes me to realize that Lisa Hunt has been a close friend of mine for almost a decade. So I’m fortunate to know her work as well as her lovely self. We’re also working together on a book which, surprisingly, is not tarot-related, though it is mythic in theme. Books are often long-aborning, and this one is no different. I hope to have more information about our project later this year!

To learn more about the inspiring art of Lisa Hunt, visit www.lisahuntart.com. You can also purchase her books, tarot decks and special autographed prints of her work here.

All images in this post © Lisa Hunt. All rights reserved.

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