The Dear Heart Oracle by Cristin

Hello starshines!

In my part of the world spring is upon us and I couldn't be happier! However, I'm also finding myself in a bit of a whirlwind. I have so many projects going on right now and an upcoming show at an art gallery! While it's all very exciting, one way that I de-stress is through tarot and oracle. As a side project (because I don't have enough projects - LOL) I started developing an oracle deck.

The process of creating the deck has been very relaxing and rewarding because I don't feel a lot of pressure. I started by cutting out the size of "cards" that I wanted out of watercolor paper. I'm using a mix of Fabriano Hot Press watercolor paper and Arches cold pressed depending on the texture I want from the card. Cold pressed watercolor paper is a lot more textured - or bumpy... and hot press is more smooth. It's a lot easier to use with ink pens to get nice bold lines. 

I've finished quite a few cards already, and I thought it would be a lot of fun to show you how I incorporate Artistcellar stencils into the oracle cards in subtle ways. 

Today, I started with a piece of watercolor paper cut down to the size I wanted. Then, I grabbed an Artistcellar Cathedral Plans stencil and a Faber-Castell graphite pencil. Using only a part of the stencil, I traced around it first in pencil then added another element (in this case, a flower dropping a petal). 

Next, I used a pen to ink the drawing and then a waterbrush with Twinkling H20's and watercolor. To finish it off, I added white highlights with a Uniball Signo-UM-153.

Because the size is so much smaller I find that I can easily finish a card in one sitting. With limited supplies, it's a project I can do on the go as well!

If you want to follow along with the progress of Dear Heart Oracle, follow along on my instagram! (@pantheartist) or Patreon! (www.patreon.com/panart)

Also in News