Lay of Love is the first of a series of drawings made with Windows Paint, that some day will make the base for my very own tarot cards. The artwork is mainly inspired by the Queen of Cups as seen in the iconic Rider-Smith-Waite Tarot. I have worked very intuitively with the piece, so the symbolism of it does not follow strictly that of the classic, though certain elements persist linking the art to the tradition. Ultimately it is up to the individual to interpret it and find their meaning in it.

My first encounter with the tarot was in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, where Jane Seymour played the medium Solitaire who was in service of the main villain Dr.Kanaga. There is a most memorable scene in the movie where she gets tricked by Bond, played by Roger Moore, who switched the Tarot deck so it held only copies of the Lovers' card and used it to seduce the trusting Solitaire. She would then lose her psychic powers, making her useless to the superstitious villain. That movie left a powerful memory and after watching it again, i can see why i may have overlooked the Tarot for all these years, until recently.

I became more interested with the tarot something like a year and a half ago. There were few things in my life that i was having hard time dealing with and lastly came the sickness and passing of my father. I found distraction and comfort watching tarot readers online. I found it fascinating how the cards could be interpreted and how they often resonated with peoples situations - including mine, offering insight and helping me to come to terms with feelings. I was allured by the artwork and after a while i came to purchase a deck of my own and start learning more about the cards. It was a really nice deck and I loved it, but after some time i was caught by some bills and had to sell it - which i still regret. It was a long time i didn't have a deck, but i kept watching readers online and the idea for my own started to brew. I had seen some artists make their own before but at the time i just thought it was something cool, but now as i've started to develop more of a relationship with the tarot, i think that there is something to be learned from making one and hopefully something that i can contribute to the tradition.