The Fool Tarot Card Project Digital Painting in Photoshop

The Fool Tarot Card By Seth Keller

Recently I've been working on a series of pieces based on old Tarot Card. I even went out and purchased a book on interpreting tarot and a very interesting deck of cards for reference. I was interested most of all, in getting the symbolism correct. This card, The Fool, was my first in the series, but some of my later paintings are different in that I focus on my personal interpretation of who and what the tarot card is representing... It is my belief that tarot cards do hold truth in them--perhaps not of any mystical nature--but that they contain truth from religious beliefs that existed before the major spread of Catholicism in the world. And even later, they perhaps contain truth that was not mainstream, or acceptable in mainstream Christianity. It is my belief that tarot cards hold knowledge from this hidden form of Christianity that was in the underground for thousands of years during the dark ages. This knowledge was of course mixed with a variety of different symbols and belief systems from pagan cultures throughout Europe and the middle Middle East.

Note this is just what I suspect, I have not done very much formal research on the subject and I'm not sure if any such research even exists. I just thought it was very interesting how well some of the symbolism correlates from Christianity and pagan cultures in some cases. In my other Photoshop paintings I will point out those correlations. 

The dog in this painting is my dog Mocha she wasn't very cooperative when I tried to take her picture, she was far too excited to sit still. The fool represents freedom to me, but the moral warning is to be cautious not to use your freedom to your detriment. As you can see, The Fool is extraordinarily free but if he or she, is not careful they risk falling over the cliff. In some versions of the card the dog is trying to stop the fool from going too far, but Mocha just doesn't care...

All images in this blog are my intellectual property and are not for commercial or private use, except by my written permission from me, Seth Keller. Thank you for your interest in my art.