Thursday, 4 February 2021
Piracy and Psychic Protection
Behold: resources, time, love, energy.
Sunday, 24 January 2021
West Braes Dolphins
Thursday, 21 January 2021
The seven swords that are killing art
Back in spring 2020 a few artist friends of mine were rallying against an increasing trend in the tarot community: pirated decks.
Online retailers were offering cheap pirated decks, for which the publishers and artists received no payment.
What shocked me the most was the number of people within the tarot community who jumped to defend their right to buy cheap pirated decks.
Two artists I admire announced that they planned to stop creating new decks, as they could not financially afford to inadvertently give their art away for free. I saw two exciting projects abandoned, and another deck creator said that they were leaving the field as why should they create art for a community that steals from them.
Friends of mine were attacked on line for defending the rights of artists (and publishers, and agents, and assistants, and all the people involved in bringing creative works to life). Things were getting pretty unpleasant.
People were arguing that they had a right to buy pirated decks and that the artists were ungrateful for the praise they should feel that people admired their art work this much!
At this point, I stuck my oar in, and, although I fortunately have never knowingly had my intellectual property stolen from me, I wanted to stand in solidarity with the artists and those being attacked for saying piracy is wrong.
The Seven Swords of Piracy
By Moti Black
Ignorance
I cannot be held accountable for
the things it is I buy.
How can I tell if it’s genuine, when
sellers always lie?
Do a bit of research, check why it’s too good to be true.
Look at the product and the vendor: assess the real value.
Foregoing Responsibility
I am not the bad guy here, it’s got
nothing to do with me,
I paid money, I did not steal: my
friends tell me they agree.
You paid someone to steal for you, you condone the work they
do.
Money makes this market grow: the money that comes from you.
Consequence Denial
I get something a bit cheap; the artist
gets a free advert,
You’re making a fuss over nothing,
no one is getting hurt.
You’re handing money to criminals, and what that funds, who
knows?
You hurt the artist, reduce investment, and bring fresh art
to new lows.
Greed
The greedy artists charge too much,
they must be rich, don’t you see?
I can’t afford the prices they
charge, that’s why there’s piracy.
Most artists aren’t as rich as you think, and you clearly don’t
value their art.
Would you be happy working for free for some self-entitled
upstart?
Compulsion Disorders
I have an addiction and you have
no right to make me feel like this.
Publishers should not push their
wares when they know that we can’t resist.
If you are being genuine, please seek professional advice.
But it’s not an excuse and don’t tell others to buy fake
merchandise.
Faux Ethics
There’re always those silly
extras, that come with authentic goods.
I’m doing it for the environment,
I’m helping to save those woods.
You could buy the item second hand, or not buy it at all.
Your blatant consumerism weakens your claim to a higher call.
The Blithe Shopper
Look, I don’t care, say what you
want, it’ll have no impact on me.
To be honest, if I could, I’d be
printing art out for free.
For all the artists, can I just say, you are not welcome to our
art.
To knowingly buy pirated goods, reveals a truly selfish
heart.
Saturday, 9 January 2021
Watercolour Cats
Just as Covid was kicking off back in 2020, I finished Molly the Long Haired Tabby Cat with a similar technique: using two complimentary watercolours, but adding a few others to pick out colour of the nose and the eyes. This painting winged its way to friends in Germany just before we all went into lockdown.
Back in 2017, before I ever read a book on colour theory, I painted our old cat for my husband. I played around with blues and reds, and this kick started my interest in using complementary colours.
See all of my cats on my RedBubble store :-)
Saturday, 23 May 2020
The Quiet Panic
The Quiet Panic
Tuesday, 4 December 2018
Tarot Spread for a Writing Project
The winning image can be seen on RedBubble here, on in my previous blog post.
The photos of the cards from the Darkwater Tarot deck used in this post aren't very good quality, but the cards themselves are! If you want to have a better look at the cards, please visit the Darkwater website.
1 – The Author: As the creator of this work of fiction, what role do I play? Am I truly committed to helping this work reach it’s potential, or do I have other motives, distractions or limitations?

2 – The Characters: have I done justice to the characters in my writing? Could they be fuller, more believable, or do they have something else to say?

3 – The Plot: Does the story hold together well? Is there a good balance between detail and forward moving momentum? Are there any major plot holes? Is the story achieving what it set out to achieve?

4 – The Words: How have I assembled the building blocks of my writing project? Have I used language effectively? Do I need to be aware of any bad habits I have developed?

The Darkwater Tarot has the symbol of a column in the top right-hand corner, signifying all the hard work, planning, skill and investment a successful project needs to reach fruition.
5 -The Audience: How will my intended audience react to my writing project? Does the project have any marketing potential?

The symbol of Pisces leads us to water, which coupled with the Moon, gives us the tides. This is telling me interest will wax and wane. When it is high tide, I have to be careful not to get carried away by the delusions of the moon, and when the tide is low, I need to remember that it will come back in, so not to get too disheartened.
Looking at the spread, one thing that stands out is the lack of fire and that might explain why I find moving forward so difficult at times. I decided a while back to finish the entire draft before sharing it with friends or approaching potential agents, but it makes for a very long dark tunnel and it is easy to switch back to art for a while, as I can show people what I am doing and bring in a few pennies to keep me going. This reminds me of a reading I did for a TABI blog post earlier this year which warned me the fiery nature of my art may distract from my writing!
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