I'm excited to explore Tarot imagery in Batik. It's been a long and strange journey to come to this place. Right now I have begun Tarot Batik clothing with Tarot of the Pomegranate's Queen of Wands riding a tiger and holding a pomegranate. Of course I am only painting aspects of the painting, the Queen, the Wand on one sleeve, the cup on the other and so forth. Maybe I will paint a tiger one day. It's interesting to be at this place in my artistic journey. As you know over these past two decades I have spent much of my time exploring the tarot in paint, and by this learning to paint. To learn to paint one must just do it and while doing it you will learn to see. I have always seen images in my mind but to bring them forth into this world in a satisfying manner is another matter. I have accomplished a leveling up in my ability to focus, and express through the medium of oil paint onto canvas. This focus over such a long term has given me a sort of entrance to a portal of imagery that is endless. I am not sure how to explain it, but I am never stuck with "writer's block" or "the blank canvas syndrome" or whatever other artists suffer. I have never suffered this because I have entrance to this portal - or so this is what I believe and by this it works so well that it is real. In truth much can be accomplished when one is so long disciplined and focused in one's work. You do tap into something. Psychiatrists call it the subconscious or the superconscious perhaps, and intellectual mystics such as Carl Jung the cosmic consciousness. All the while we all exist within our own soul's journey, in a world of agreed upon time and space and physicality weaving in and out with other beings also on their own adventures. My saying "Join me on my Journey" in regards to the Tarot of the Pomegranate is related to this idea of all of us being on a journey. Through Tarot one is able to see objectively this journey. I look upon artists as channels of information, of beings that tap into the darkness and bring forth what they see into the light. Each era brings forth its own artists expressing what is important at the time. Mostly at the time we do not understand what we see - not until much later. Then much later we dive into these works, these captured eras in time. We begin to see and feel something significant. I feel this with Vincent Van Gogh's work so strongly, and Mark Rothko. Two completely different artists and different eras - but they were both doing their own thing - seeing something others do not yet see. Does the medium matter? There are depths and levels of control in Oil Painting that cannot be accomplished in Batik, but there is a letting go in the medium of Batik - there is the surprise at the end when the piece is finished and you finally see how your work translated through the layers of wax and dyes. These effects can never be gotten in oil paint - there is no level of letting go and letting god in oil paint as there is in Batik. Therefore I see Batik as very sacred and profound and understand its significance in Indonesian culture in their clothing and art. I feel really blessed to be able to create in Batik, to have seen Batik done in Indonesia in the early 90's. I had no idea at the time that I would ever do Batik. Yet, I found the Tjanting tools that I purchased back then for 4000 rupee (about 50 cents). I had kept them safe in their box for over 30 years. I only began doing Batik in 2021 when I started on-line classes through Batikwalla. The Covid lockdown crap had pushed me into several on-line classes, such as Graphic Novels, Dancing but the Batik class is what took off. And because my batik teacher V. is such a special person - so real, so talented and disciplined. I admire her like I admire anyone who sticks to their guns for decades and becomes a master in their field. I know after decades of painting I have become a Master Painter in OIL. When I graduated from Cornish in 1998 I was just beginning - I am glad I had no idea at the time! But I knew there was a long journey ahead of me and I had no idea what was going to happen. Tarot does NOT tell the future BTW - it is not for that. It is for waking up to the human condition and showing us our choices. It shows a coding of choices that this reality has for all of us. There is not one circumstance in the life that is not reflected in the Tarot. The same can be said for the I-Ching, for Runes. All these mediums are occulted information hidden in the form of games ie; playing cards, sticks and stones. They are hidden in plain sight as all occult information is, and only those who are aware will see. You cannot force people to see - they have to come upon the sight on their own. The tools are all there before us but we do not understand them- this is what the Magician is, the first card of the Major Arcana. Hildegard Von Bingen tapped into the occult (what is hidden) in her writings and music, channeling they called it and depending on the era it is either from god, the devil or the cosmic consciousness. In this era 2020's they will say it is ALIENS! Through it all the Tarot remains the same, giving us the truth in its ancient symbolism. I am sure there is an Alien themed tarot deck out there right next to the Unicorn Tarot, Barbie and Baseball Tarot. Despite the desperate measures to ridicule and undermine the Tarot it remains unscathed and stronger than ever through all the fashions of the times -by the power of its varying masks it infiltrates wider circles and gives it more access to penetrate through to all individuals the universal truths of the Tarot's message - that is you are here for a journey and you chose to be here.
