“An angel may weep if a twin should die”
Editor’s note: This poem has been selected for a special mission and will return soon. Apologies for any inconvenience.
Día de Muertos. November 1st. 2018.
Words and lino cut by the editor.
American Crescent Cycles par Winthrop Ramsdell 1899
La Tournée du Chat Noir par Thoéphile Steinlen. 1896. Tin plate.
Cats That Come Back. At a poster store in Montmartre you spent your final few euros on cards depicting the lithographic advertising styles of the late 19th and early 20th century. You took photos of the outside of the poster store, and had one taken of yourself and your youngest son, a part of you indulging in some late-afternoon fantasy that you were the proprietors of said store. What fun, surrounded by art originally intended to part one from one’s cash – and a hundred years later it’s still doing the same, only selling itself this time around. What a sale, what a fine boutique did those Parisian streets make for you. For it’s easy to get lost in the culture, art and spirit of expression when it surrounds you in all its breath-taking vibrancy. There is a deep yearning. A searching back through history to find a part of yourself you may recognise. Print advertising is consumerism’s cocky high art. A brassy exhibition of wonders. A sly yet alluring gallery that invites you inside. It’s everything you love and loathe in the same moment. You pitch these paper testimonials to commercialism with all the integrity and enthusiasm of a loving archivist. But you are also an artist. Those Paris streets and galleries and windows and walls whispered to your heart. Hell, sometimes they yelled at you, told you they remembered, recalled your angels & fey (born from the snippets and slivers of glossy ads in magazines in case you didn’t know), the exhibitions, the foreign shores, the hours spent holding brushes and conjuring colours. You sold it well, they said. You made an impression. You left a mark. People were happy. Sometimes that’s the least you have to do. From: The Artist and the Four Hats
Job par Alfons Mucha 1896
Job done?
For a bit
Too busy writing
To try and score another hit
It’s a circle you see
A merry go round
You jump on and off at certain points
feet touch the ground
Back up again
Always looking for those special connections
Palooka N° 5
Words, Angel & Fey artwork by the editor.
Colour Angels & Fey scans taken from Palooka issue 5.
Lithograph adverts scanned from commercial postcards and tin plates are shown for illustrative purposes only. No infringement of copyright is intended.
Cat count: we spotted at least 26 images of cats in this blog post. A new TVTA record!
Inspired by my good blogging friend Aquileana I’m pleased to post up some examples from my collection of divination cards. For many, divination cards like these offer the possibility of inspiration and guidance. They present the user with beautiful and fantastic images found in the often multi-layered artwork, along with a wide range of cultural and spiritual themes. As you will see below, some of my favourite decks are about fairies and Celtic mythology.
Click images to go bigger.
Thanks for looking 🙂
Artists. Row 1: Kali and Yemanya by Lisa Iris. Sarasvati by Sue Halstenberg.
Artists. Row 2: Aeracura and Athena by Elizabeth Kyle. Freyja by Lisa Iris.
Artists. Row 3: Aphrodite by Sharon George. Ixchel by Lisa Iris. Ostara by Wendy Andrew.
The above images feature box art and selected cards of individual sets from my collection. They have been scanned into this article to provide examples of just a fraction of the wide range of divination cards that are available. No infringement of copyright to the original publishers, writers and artists is intended. Please check out Aquileana‘s excellent overview of the Major and Minor Arcana cards if you are interested in further reading about the Tarot.
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 