The World May 2019

Here’s something loosely based on the Rider-Waite/Pamela Coleman Smith tarot deck. Most tarot decks follow this system, unless one uses the Thoth/Crowley deck, or various oracles, gypsy cards, etc. Drawn in pencil and ink, colored in watercolor. Two types of watercolor was used. Shimmer/glitter and regular watercolor.

The scan, done at a low dpi didn’t do the illustration justice. Doesn’t show the details nor the depth of the colors. Below is a photo of the illustration itself:

Photo of The World illustration by Michele Witchipoo. Done May 2019. Pen, ink, watercolor. 

The other photo is a scan with the fore mentioned low dpi normally used for web and other devices.

Scan of The World, by Michele Witchipoo. May 2019. 

At this point, the only left for this illustration is a frame, for exhibiting. There could be the rare exception of selling the original. Once it’s framed, of course.

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Hilma af Klint @ Guggenheim

A few weeks ago, I finally had the chance to check out the Hilma af Klint exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum. This was also my first time ever visiting the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, famously known for being designed by architect, artist and educator Frank Lloyd Wright.

It was a subway ad that caught my eye. Such an curiosity hasn’t happened since discovering Salvador Dali in my adolescence, and later Hieronymus Bosch in my late teens. Since I’m talking about artists, might as well throw William Blake, Austin Osman Spare, Brion Gysin and Marjorie Cameron into the mix.

During my teens after school, there was a chance sighting of Andy Warhol walking around the east 50’s area of Manhattan. He was wearing an extremely costly leather jacket, while carrying a shopping bag from some boutique. A few months later, Warhol passed away.

Back to Klint. I picked early Saturday evening as the day to attend. Particularly due to Saturdays being “pay-what-you-wish” admission at the Guggenheim. Especially when rent is too damn high in NYC.

Circling around the spiral building, the attendee saw the evolution of Klint‘s work. Her early interests dealt with mathematics and botany. Klint became a respected artist. After graduating art school, she became know for doing portraiture and landscapes. The abstract compositions developed after 1880. After her sister’s death, she got involved with Spiritism. This coincided with the growing movement of Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophy and her enthusiasm regarding Christian Rosenkreuz. Along the way, Klint met Rudolf Steiner. With Anna Cassel, she joined a group of female artists called ‘The Five.’ The Five (de Fem) conducted paranormal and spiritistic séances.

Enough talk. Here’s photos of the exhibit. The paintings, notebooks, sketches and such contain much symbolism. The exhibit itself ended April 23rd, 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In between checking out Klint’s art, there was also another exhibit featuring Robert Mapplethrope. Took a quick peek through that section. However, time was limited so I scurried back to the Klint floors. Figured it’ll give me another excuse to drop by the Guggenheim again.

 

 

 

 

Back to checking out the final sections of Klint. There was also cases of documented work. Even the library had cases of Klint.

 

 

 

 

The Hilma af Klint exhibition was the most popular in the museum’s 60 year history.

Other links:

https://www.galeriemagazine.com/romanov-rockefeller-emerald/

https://hyperallergic.com/496326/hilma-af-klint-breaks-records-at-the-guggenheim-museum/

http://www.artnews.com/2019/04/18/guggenheims-hilma-af-klint-survey-is-most-popular-show-in-its-history/

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-swedish-mystic-hilma-af-klint-invented-abstract-art

https://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/hilma-af-klint-2/about-the-artist/

https://www.hilmaafklint.se/hilma-af-klint-foundation/

Horus April 10th 2019

Egyptian god Horus. Illustrated by Michele Witchipoo. April 10th, 2019. 

17. Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms. 

– Chapter Three, The Book of The Law (Liber Al vel Legis) – Aleister Crowely, 1904.

Pamela Colman Smith – Pratt Library Exhibit 2019

Last week was my birthday. Unlike last year, I decided not to do anything major. Instead, my celebrations were more low key. Before going to dinner, I took in an exhibit of artist Pamela Colman Smith. Not much is known about her, except for one fact. She is the artist behind the most famous tarot deck of them all, the Rider-Waite.

The Rider-Waite deck has become the blueprint on how tarot cards are based. The other exceptions in regards to divination cards have been various oracles, and the Thoth deck, designed by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris.

Not much is known about Pamela Colman Smith. She lived in England, Jamaica, and Brooklyn, NY.  Colman-Smith was a student at the famous art school, Pratt Institute. For a while she earned a living as an illustrator and theater designer. Along the way, she became of member of The Golden Dawn. Other members of The Golden Dawn included W.B Yeats, Bram Stroker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Aleister Crowley, and Arthur Edward Waite.

It was A.E. Waite who commissioned ‘Pixie’, for artwork. Some of A.E. Waite’s influences was Eliphas Levi and Sola-Busca Tarot, originally from Italy. In 1909, the deck was published by The Rider Company. The Rider Company still remains today as an imprint of Ebury Publishing, A Penguin Random House Division. Hence, why the deck is titled Rider-Waite. Technically it really should be named Rider-Waite-Smith.

The U.S. copyright for this deck fell into public domain in 1966, with notable exceptions. In the U.K., and Europe, according to the EU, copyright is slated to end in late 2021.

As for Pamela herself, her own illustration career only went so far. After a while her career petered out. Not much is known about her, and this blog post doesn’t really help in the bio department. Sadder still, she died as an obscure creative living in poverty.

Apparently she only received pittance for her work towards the Rider-Waite deck.

On January 31st, 2019, an opening reception and exhibit opened inside the Pratt Institute Library, Brooklyn location. As of this post, the exhibit is in it’s last few days, closing April 11th, 2019.

Additional links:

https://brokelyn.com/rip-pamela-colman-smith/

https://hyperallergic.com/490918/pamela-colman-smith-pratt-institute-libraries/

http://zeroequalstwo.net/pamela-coleman-smith-life-and-work-in-brooklyn/

https://www.magicianandfool.com/pamela-colman-smith-exhibit-at-pratt-institute/

https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/2219/Smith/Pamela

All photos taken by Michele Witchipoo 2019.

Psycho Bunny Does R. Kelly – Psycho Bunny Sketch of The Week

Okay. I admit. This was a cheap shot.

It’s been unofficial common knowledge about R. Kelly and his sexual misconduct. Over ten years ago, there used to be a bootleg video tape. It showed him doing all sort of perverted things. Guess now that Lifetime did that expose on him, the cops finally decided to do something about it. In the meantime, drawing a ’90s R&B douchebag was really easy.

Anyway. Time to drop some social media links…

Facebook: pages for Psycho Bunny and for Michele Witchipoo – WitchesBrewPress.

 Twitter: One account for me, and one for Psycho Bunny.

Tumblr: World Ov Witchipoo

Instagram: there’s WitchipooArt.

 Get yourself some cool stuff on RedBubble, featuring my designs.

 

Maha Shivaratri – Shiva 2019

Maha Shivaratri is an annual Hindu holiday, in which Shiva is honored. This year the date was March 4th, a few days prior to this posting. Last year I posted an old Shiva drawing. Here’s a brand new rendition. Drew the line work in fall 2018. Did color March 2019.

Hindu god Shiva. Pen and ink. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo. 2018/2019.

 

Shiva. Pen, ink, watercolor, glitter watercolor. Colored March 2019. Michele Witchipoo. 

Belated Diwali

Coming back from a few weeks absence. November 2018 kinda kicked my ass, to put it lightly. Regardless, I did have a very unusual but good Thanksgiving. There is a lot I have to be grateful for.

Getting back on track, I’ll post some long overdue artwork. In November there was the annual Hindu holiday of Diwali. The illustrations were completed. It’s only now I’m getting around to posting them.

Before color. Diwali illustration. Pen and ink. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo. Nov.2018.

Diwali is one of the most important holidays in the Hindu religion. In this festival of lights, the goddess Lakshmi is honored. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity, as her puja is celebrated on the third day. The new year festivities continue for five days.

Before color. Lakshmi. Pen and ink. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo. Nov. 2018. 

In the honor of this grand festival of lights, I went ahead of did two illustrations. First done in pen and ink, then completed in watercolor.

Diwali. Festival of Lights. A holy holiday in the Hindu religion. Pen, ink and watercolor. Artwork by Michele Witchipoo, Nov. 2018. 

Quoting from the BBC online article:

“Diwali is the five-day festival of lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world.

Diwali, which for some also coincides with harvest and new year celebrations, is a festival of new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil, and light over darkness.”

The Hindu goddess Lakshmi. Pen, ink and watercolor. Illustration by Michele Witchipoo. Nov. 2018. 

There will be more playing catch-up soon.

Durga

For ten days Durga Puja is celebrated. In honor of Durga, here’s an illustration. Pen, ink, glitter watercolor. Here’s a scan of the basic pen work before color:

Durga illustration, pen and ink before adding color. Illustration by Michele Witchipoo, Oct. 2018. 

Here’s the color version, after the watercolors have been added. Again, the scan doesn’t pick up on the shimmer very well. It’s best to see this piece in person. Maybe later on I’ll do some prints and/or greeting cards of Durga, along with Ganesh.

Durga illustration after adding watercolor. Done by Michele Witchipoo, Oct. 2018. 

Inktober 2018 # 8 – Squeaky’s A Star!

Way behind in my Inktober sketches. Yet I might’ve found a muse with my tuxedo cat Squeaky Squeakums. This bi-color female has already been the subject of Inktober 2019 prompts number six and seven. Squeaky is the star yet again with Inktober 2018 prompt number eight – star.

Inktober 2018 prompt number eight – star. Starring non other than Squeaky Squeakums. Sketch by Michele Witchipoo. Pen, ink, marker. Oct. 2018. 

Stay tuned to see if I can pump out more Inktober work.

Inktober 2018 Sketch # 4

Don’t worry. I’ll get around to posting photos from NYCC very soon. In the meantime I’ve been catching up with Inktober sketches.

Now presenting Inktober 2018 sketch number four:

Think I kinda-sorta bend the rules for this Inktober sketch. The focus is on inking, regardless of whether it’s traditional or black and while. If color is to be added, it’s only a touch. Here three colors were added. However, the majority is still black ink.

The Inktober prompt for number four was ‘spell.’ Could’ve done a very esoteric piece, but that would’ve been too easy. Instead, I went with more of a folk magic tradition. Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs. The Pennsylvania Dutch had a tradition they brought with them when they immigrated from Germany. As they settled in the Berks, Lancaster and LeHigh counties, the word ‘hex’ may have derived from “hexafoo” or “witches’ foot.” While the neighboring Amish and Mennonites were more subdued in their aesthetics, the German settlers, now known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, hung their hex signs more like good luck charms. Some claim these hex signs are merely decorative. Others say these signs have talisman qualities. These signs which can be hung anywhere, are unique to that particular region. I brought a few reproductions of these hex signs from a rural Pennsylvania gift shop back in 2000. Didn’t get around to displaying them until maybe 2015. Unfortunately they’re back in storage again due to moving residences.

This rendition of a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign isn’t particularly accurate, but that’s okay. If this doesn’t fit into the prompt “spell“, the subject can always be revisited.

Stay tuned for Inktober sketch number five.

References:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hex-signs-of-pennsylvania

https://www.wgal.com/article/unraveling-the-hidden-meaning-of-hex-signs-1/6232624