"Tarot" an Exhibit of my oil paintings

 There will be an exhibition of my paintings at The Genesee Co-op credit union here in Rochester NY. The show will be hung on Jan 8th and will be on display in the lobby of the Credit union. The paintings will be visible during normal bank branch hours and there will be a reception on Sat Jan 21, 2012 from 7-9.

In addition to the hair things and polymer clay things I make I also love to paint.I paint with acrylic sometimes at home but I have also been taking advanced classes in oil painting at  The Memorial art Gallery for a few years now. I began working with oil paints in 2000 while studying Arts for children and a studying as a sculpture minor at SUNY Brockport. My initial experience with painting for years had been only working with acrylics and my instructor there insisted on me using oils. Since the process of working with and disposing of oil paints in so hazardous I refuse to use them at home but have been happy for the chance to work with them at the MAG and use up the old paint remaining from my college days.

I have been working on a series of canvases based on imagery from the Deck of Tarot. As a teenager I became intrigued with the cards and wanted to get my cards read. I then took classes and studied bought myself a few decks. The symbolism and what we make out of it the personal connection to these images is what intrigues me most about the cards. Some people see them as evil but really they have suites just like playing cards but use wands, cups, coins, and swords in exchange for  hearts, spades, diamonds,and clubs.Their are also kings and queens in a Tarot deck just like in cards. Their are Pages in Tarot and Jokers in playing cards.

I have currently created roughly 25 out of the 78 cards that are in a Deck and hope to photograph these canvases and turn them into a deck some day that could be sold.