Crazy Hat Day featuring the (unrelated) Johnsons

This month's Nibblefest theme is Horses, so here's my entry:

Crazy Hat Day

(click to go to auction)

2.5 x 3.5

oil on masonite panel

Yay, it’s Crazy Hat Day!  Horsey Johnson and Soft & Fuzzy Johnson (no relation) both love C.H.D., it’s their favorite holiday.  If you ask me, their hats really aren’t all that crazy, but who am I to judge?  I’m just the photographer.  

This was painted with Genesis heat-set oils, I've talked about them numerous times here already so I won't bore you with that story again.

The Tarot of Wibble

Here's my most recent painting, I made this for EBSQ's Tarot show (click the card to see the exhibit):

This was an aggravating experience, I had a nice border around it which for some reason unbeknownst to me disappears whenever I upload it.  It was there in the thumbnail, but as soon as it got here or on EBSQ, it just disappeared!   I need to work on my Photoshop skills I guess.  Anyway, there were a few more things I'd wanted to do with it, but ran out of time as the deadline was last night at midnight.  I may still tweak it though.  That's what I get for waiting till the last second!

Here's my little "write up" that I had to include:

When I first heard about this show, I knew I had to participate because I love the artwork in Tarot and Fortune Telling decks, of which I have a small collection.  I didn't hesitate for a second about what card to create or which of my characters to feature, because of course the Fool already is Lunchbox, the true innocent, perpetually on a journey, teetering on the brink of disaster.  But everything always works out in the end (except for that kidnapping incident, but let's not dwell on that) because Lunchbox has his lunch-pail and his diaper, which, at the end of the day, is all any of us really need.

I chose the Rider Waite deck (with art by Pamela Colman Smith) as a starting point for this card because it is so well known, and the imagery is immediately recognizable.  In this card I have incorporated some familiar elements and symbols: happy-go-lucky Lunchbox stepping off a cliff, oblivious to yet safe from the sea of dangerous tentacles below; his lunch-pail containing all of his worldly needs, hanging from a stick over his right shoulder; the white rose (purity); Mr. Bones (instincts) trying to attract his attention; the yellow sky (optimism); the white sun (divine light); and the flying saucer (aliens).  There's more but I'm sure you know all that already.