My first limitation was that each card could only have one image. In other words, I could not paint several oracle card pictures and then choose my preferred one. Perhaps seeing a partially naked body is outside a comfort zone. This image, however, seemed to add layers of discomfort. The veil implied a reference to cultures that value a covered body. The gaze and expression suggested apprehension and caution. So many ways to be uncomfortable. I would have thrown this picture out for the discomfort I felt, yet when we want to consult an Oracle, we often do so because we are feeling discomfort.
The second limitation was that each image had to be painted in one sitting. I could not take a break, walk away, reconsider how the image was developing. I don't care for this fuzzy, unresolved image that is maybe this, possibly that. My large shamanic paintings are in a photo-realist style that definitely show I value complex detail. Yet here it is. The image of Mystery. And of course this is the oracle card painted to represent Mystery.
There is something so uppity about this creature. Arrogant, entitled, vastly annoyed at being interrupted. And then there is the sort-of smiling skull behind. Altogether creepy. Each Oracle card had to be aligned to its time of the year, if it corresponded to a season, a phase of the year, a full moon. This is the Oracle card of Lammas--the earth holiday celebrated on August 1st. A time of hope and fear when what we have planted is standing, ripe and ready for harvesting, but not yet gathered into the storehouse. There is lots of hope and fear in this image.
I like this image. As an art image it is quite satisfying. The strange perspective, the detached gaze, the elegant gesture. And yet there is something "other than human" in the odd distortion, the peculiar angle, the lack of connection between movement and form. There is a saying in belly-dancing, which I spent 9 years performing: "Go big or go home." Stepping out of your comfort zone using art is like this dance. Don't be timid. Don't be lazy. Get out there and be something outrageous.
