Here come the birds!

Hello Beautiful Person! Hurrah! I have finished the birds for the spade cards and am going to show you them all over the course of the week. Please note that I took these photos and plan to have the real deck professionally shot--I'm a fairly decent photographer, but a real pro will help eliminate the glare better and sharpen the focus so they look good card-sized and as 8x10" prints. 

The reason I assigned birds to this suit is that the spade cards are associated with the element of air when used as a tarot deck. I've already shown you the Snowy Owl, who will be the Ace of Spades card. Today, we'll start off with the Bluebird, which will be used for the Jack of Spades. I was originally going to have it singing to a big sunflower, but then hit upon this Brünhilde idea as a better storytelling image. Its chest and wing have a painted feather motif. 

The Flicker will be the five of spades card. He's a dandy, with his fancy feather pattern, and also sporting a bowler hat, monocle, bow tie, flower, argyle socks and dress shoes.

The four of spades is a blue Parakeet. I used to have one in my 20's named Guapo, although he unfortunately didn't play the kazoo like he will in this card. He heeded to perch on something, so the final piece will have him sitting on a little rainbow and I made a mock-up of what the card box will look like for you. 

Last, but certainly not least, I took on the challenge of making my first peacock, who will be the six of spades card. My studio shots show you how I made and painted each feather before gluing them onto the bird figure.

All of these figures are scaled to fit atop a wood box that holds the cards, typically no larger than 5-6 inches in any direction. I'm so happy how these are turning out and hope you love them too! Remember, you can own one of these by pledging to my Kickstarter at the $275 level, which is a great deal--they will certainly go up in price after this campaign ends. You can learn more about how that works on the Kickstarter page. 

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me spread the word! At the time of this writing, I am 69% funded.....not in the safety zone yet, but making pretty good progress. You can send your friends a link to my campaign easily via the Kickstarter site--they also make it really easy to like it on Facebook or Twitter if you're plugged in there! 

I'll check back in a few days with the crow, flamingo, pigeon and rooster!