THE MAGICIAN

 

The Magician Card 1 of Alaska's Major Arcana

Most magician cards show a man in a robe. Mine has no figure at all, just the altar and it's implied he would stand behind it and the tools are waiting on him.

The four suits of the tarot are laid out on a dark blue tablecloth: a wand, a chalice, a curved blade and a stack of silver coins. The Magicians whole point is that everything you need for your journey is laid out on the altar. Resourcefulness is looking at what's at hand and getting to work. 

Behind the altar, a full moon glows through an arched window, with the infinity symbol worked into the glass above. Infinite potential, eternal power, mastery over time. Roses climb the brick wall on both sides, denoting desire and ambition, and the one petal dropped on the table, a reminder that desire needs to be acted upon, or it withers on the vine.

And then of course the Alaskan Raven, perched on the edge of the altar, watching. In Alaskan lore the Raven caries the wishes, dreams and messages to the other side of the thin veil, the Raven also brings light to the world. He is the right witness for a card about making something manifest out of will and skill.

The FOOL

 

THE FOOL: WHERE THE ALASKA MAJOR ARCANA BEGINS

Every tarot deck has to start somewhere, and it always starts with the fool. Not because he is foolish in the way we usually mean that word (careless, silly, not paying attention) but because he's willing to do the one thing most of us spend our whole lives avoiding: step off the edge without knowing what's underneath.

That's the card. New beginnings. Innocence. Spontaneity. A leap of faith taken before logic has finished arguing against it.

The Fool: He dances on a loop of rope in the sky with a little white kitty along side him and Denali is far below. That's the Alaska in Alaska Major Arcana. The Fool is at the start of the journey, which means he's also pure potential - nothing has happened to him yet. He hasn't succeeded or failed. He hasn't been humbled or proven right.  He's standing at the very beginning of his story and every version of the story is still possible.

I've been thinking about this card a lot as I start this project: A Major Arcana inspired by the Alaska I love, twenty-two paintings, each one built out of the landscape, creatures and the people in it. Starting anything creative is it's own leap of faith. There is no guarantee the deck gets finished, no guarantee anyone connects with it, no guarantee any of this "works". Logic would probably tell you not to start a twenty-two card painting project.

Logic is not always right.

I moved to Alaska about 30 years ago with my own Fool's daydream: a good man, a cabin, some dogs and painting to my hearts content. I am fortunate to have lived it.

Now all 22 cards are finished and my Kickstarter launched on November 11th, one year since the day it all started. Will you take the leap with me? Back the deck, and come along with me on the Fool's journey across Alaska.

Contact me if you are interested in supporting this project and I'll make sure you get the information.

Text, "I'm interested" to Judy Vars 907-355-2219 and I'll make sure you get the link.

Fool Image inspired by and painted with written permission from Michael Parkes.

Yellow

YELLOW 

by

Judy Vars

$600

 This vibrant painting draws the viewer in with its delightful use of color and dynamic composition. The central sunflower, with its bold yellow petals, effectively captures the viewer's attention and serves as a focal point for the piece. The sunflower's presence exudes a sense of warmth and energy, which is enhanced by the contrasting cool tones of the swirling vase. The choice to use blues, greens, and purples in the vase is particularly effective, as it not only complements the sunflower but also adds depth and movement, creating an engaging visual experience.

The setting of the vase on a yellow chair adds an element of whimsy and serves to ground the composition within a cohesive color palette. The yellow of the chair echoes the sunflower, subtly linking the elements of the painting. The woven seat offers an interesting texture, inviting the viewer into the scene with a sense of homely familiarity. The background, with its field of green grass dotted with delicate white flowers, provides a serene contrast to the vibrant foreground, while the sky's transition from pale blue to lavender lends an atmospheric quality that suggests a peaceful twilight or dawn setting.

One of the strengths of this piece is its ability to evoke emotions of joy and tranquility, largely due to the harmonious interplay of colors. The artist has demonstrated a keen eye for balance and contrast, ensuring that each element contributes to the overall narrative. While the composition is lively and full of detail, it stops short of being overwhelming, maintaining a pleasant equilibrium between complexity and simplicity.

In closing, this painting is a testament to the artist's skill in creating a vivid and lively tableau that resonates with viewers on an emotional level. It invites contemplation and admiration through its use of color and form, all while maintaining a lighthearted and joyful presence. The artist is encouraged to continue exploring their unique style and inspirations, knowing that their work has a meaningful impact and the potential to inspire further reflection and appreciation.

When I'm An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

 When I'm An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple

Oil

16X20

Judy Vars

When I was a younger woman I used to wish for wisdom as time passed I realized I was just longing for old age, because with age comes wisdom. 

Like Van Gogh and Frida Kalho I always wanted to paint my self portrait which not an easy task for someone like me. Finding the beauty in my wrinkles and sagging skin is more difficult than I thought it could be. I'm searching for the beauty in growing older. I am searching for radical self acceptance. 

I wonder if I could turn back the hands of time would I? Imaging aging backwards like Benjamin Button. 

I've learned that growing older faint of heart. We are not invisible, We are not irrelevant, We know more about life than we let on!  My we all grow old with love, beauty and grace, 

The Red Queen 

Mixed Media Oil Painting 

24 x 18 

Judy Vars 

$500.00

The inspiration for this painting was the official portrait of King Charles the III, painted  by British artist Jonathan Yeo. This painting is controversial because of the dynamic red the artist used it gives you a jolt of strong feelings, like massacre, hell, love, lust and power, personally I am a big fan of RED.  

I could also call this the "Red Queen meets Bridgerton", you know the lovely British series based on books by Julia Quinn, replete with Queens, Lords, Grand Dames, it transports you to another era with all the elements of a great historical fiction romance novel; sex,  gossip, romance and period fashion   I'm INSPIRE-RED

Inspiration comes from everywhere 

The Blackest Black Raven - Exploring Voids and Empty spaces

16 X 20

Acrylic on Canvas

$350

I am a "melanophile" one who loves the color black. 

In art we are encouraged to not use black paint because supposedly it creates a dead zone in an otherwise lively painting, I rebel! as any great artist should. So much fear and prejudice surrounding the color black.  

My raven was painted on a wrapped canvas the background was painted with Steward Sample Blackest Black 3.0. This paint is very matte and so very black, it almost reminds me of a black velvet painting. 

Anish Kapoor also invented a black color known as Vanta Black. Kapoor bought exclusive rights to Vantablack so only he, alone could use it. This began feud between the two artists, Stewart Semple believed anyone should have access to this color then known as the “blackest black." It has the ability to absorb 99.965 percent of the light around it, and make objects seem to disappear into a black hole. Unfortunately for Kapoor, in 2019 a new rival black was created by MIT engineers that not only absorbs even more light, (99.99 percent) but is also tougher, and, as developers say, “built to take abuse.”

The paint was not cheap $55.00 for 10 oz but I would rather buy paint than any luxury lipstick any day, so money well spent. 

Ah Black you do not disappoint.

Grandma and Grandpa Aukongak's Cabin in Golovin, Alaska

 Golovin Home

Acrylic

Private Collection

Emily Murray commissioned me to paint her grandparents cabin this abandoned home from a picture I took in Golovin, Alaska many years ago. I had the opportunity with the Alaska State Council of the Arts to teach elementary kids art, while there I took lots of photos, made friends and learned things about the village. This was an enriching experience, the people were incredibly nice to me they gladly shared many things about the village and the people in the village, they make me feel welcome.

 

This two story log home was built for Mary when she married Sigfred Aukongak he built this for her because he loved her so much, they were married 52 years, they created so many happy memories for their children and grandchildren in this home. Mary was part Sami and Sigfried was a reindeer herder during the summers the whole family moved to Big Hurrah to take care of the reindeer herd. 

The Angel with the Violin goes full circle

This is one of the very first encaustic pieces of artwork created bay back in the beginning of my artistic adventures circa 2006. A friend Dawn Diaz had just opened a gallery, Rikki/Massage space called Choose Love Studios in Wasilla, Alaska. Dawn had a grand opening where she showed her artwork and invited me to show mine. People from the community showed up including Sarah Palin before she was infamous.  A woman whom I had not met before stopped in and she fell in love with this angel piece.  How much? she asked, I told her some very high over zealous number, she didn't buy it, but vowed she would someday. In the meantime she purchased two of my other icon paintings; Mary Mother of Jesus and Gabriel.  Yoby and I became friends, encouragers and admirers of each others work, she is a masterful writer, bonified genius and wildly mad, I love her so much. 

As seems to happen to everyone I love in Alaska they eventually leave you either by moving away or moving on. My friend Yoby moved back to Texas,  These days our relationship is mostly on Facebook and the phone.

After Christmas Yobs said she still wanted the piece, I took the attitude "show me the money" she did!

Peter repaired the tiny violin and I gave it a polishing, she is ready to go to her new home in Amarillo, Texas,  she will become part of the triptych of icons I created part of Yoby's altar along with Yoby's other spiritual  relics.  Because of Covid it's been an extra tough year for many of us, but for Yoby battling depression, pneumonia, cancer and losing her dear brown lab Caddie. The angel is her gift to herself for coming through it all and being spit out the other side, happier and alive.

People like Yoby don't come along every day I am so grateful for our friendship, our elevated conversations,  the quality time we spent together and so many other things she taught me without even knowing. Life is funny sometimes how things come around full circle this angel closes the circle she has moved on and found her next home. 

Poppies, Bear Skull and Red Butterfly

 

Poppies, Bear Skull and Red Butterfly

Acrylic Painting

16 x 20 x 2

300.00

I turned up the wattage with black outline and fluorescent paint, and added a red butterfly! Is it conceited to say I love it!

The Stairway to Heaven or Knocking on Heavens Door

 Stairway to Heaven

Oil/Silver Leaf

36 x 48

Gallery Wrapped Canvas

$1500

Knock, Knock, Knocking on Heavens Door

Photoshop Manipulated Image

8 x 10 Prints

$25

A Wildflower Among the Wallflowers

A Wildflower Among the Wallflowers

Original Oil Painting

48 x 24

Judy Vars

A Wildflower Among the Wallflowers - This is a life size painting of my little neighbor Myla a smart, precocious, adorable little girl. When she laughs it sounds like fairy bells or a babbling brook. She stood still for this painting about two minutes! I got some great great reference photographs which I worked from. She brought me her new shoes and asked that I put diamonds and glitter on the shoes in her painting just like her shoes, I was only to happy to add glitter and bling to the painting, plus there is a floating effect where her feet don't touch the ground which only lends itself to the ethereal and whimsical quality of my Myla painting. 

Resurrection or The Cycle of Life

Redurrection

Oil

16x20

It's spring time the birth of the new, the cycle of life. We are here for a infinitely short time so love with all your heart, strive to be happy joyous and free and believe in miracles. I love you all madly.

Vanity of Vanities or Inspi-RED

Vanity of Vanities or Inspi-RED! 

Oil

Vanitas is a genre of art which comes from the 1600,Dutch painters used objects rich in morbid symbolism to remind the viewer of the transience of life. A skull is usually featured along with dying flowers, candles, and a mirror which is a symbol of vanity. The vanitias is usually a complicated painting, but I wanted to modernize an old idea, this one is simple and straight forward; a bear skull, a timepiece and a blue morph butterfly, done in a tromp ole” style.

#1KFridas AKA The Night of 1000 Fridas

The Night of a Thousand Fridas

#1KFridas

acrylic 

16 x 20

NFS

Frida Kalho! Tonight all over the Country in fact all over the world artists participated in celebrating FRIDA by offering their Frida inspired art to be shown in public places all over America. What an incredible array of Fridas by artists as young as 2 years old. Go to Instragram and use the #1KFrida and you will be see so many different Fridas you won't believe it; croched Fridas, sculptured Frida, performance art Fridas, assemblage Fridas, every Frida imaginable . 

This event was the brainchild of Washington D.C. artist Theodore Carter www.theodorecarter.com the idea was spread over social media with the following criteria; we show our work of art in a public place on March 25th and we show the hash tag #1KFridas.  Four artists participated in our little corner of Alaska; Judy Vars, Barbara Hunt, Mimi DeGange and Luke Nicholson. We all met up at the Palmer, Deli a well known salon for artists and art lovers, to offer our creations to join the Fridas all over the country, we discussed Frida over good food and coffee we talked about her life, her work, her accident and naturally her sex life. Frida was a fascinating and fierce artist who painted her own sorrows and her joys she continues to inspire others through her art. 

For more Fridas you will have to go find her by using the hash tag #1KFrida. Use Instagram. 

We LOVE YOU FRIDA KALHO!!! 

Dia De La Muertos Vanitas or the Enchanted Victorian Doll

It’s the Winter Solstice time of the year when the days get shorter and the nights get longer. This is the time when we love to celebrate Halloween and Dia de la Muertos. Things this time of year get a little hazy between the land of the living and the land of the dead. This brings me to my story. Early in October I went out to get my Halloween decorations and in the box was a Victorian Doll that I had never seen before. I put my uneasiness aside and just figured that I don’t remember getting this doll because my memory isn’t the best these days. Well as a wicked Halloween joke on my beloved Peter I moved her around the house a time or two but he didn’t seem to notice my prank so I stopped. Then the doll started to move about the house without my assistance, peeking around the corners, standing in my closet, hiding in the laundry and then one morning she appeared in my art studio! On my art table; I had a violin, a beautiful skull, some other odds and ends, and some lights I strung. That’s weird I thought, look what a lovely vanitas painting this could become. So I arranged the scene and began my painting. Oddly she did not move again until the painting was finished, I hope you love this enchanted vanitas painting that this little Victorian Doll Abagail inspired with her Halloween antics.

Dia De La Muertos Vanitas 

by

Judy Vars

Original Oil

 

A Modern Fayum Mummy Portrait by Judy Vars Wins Best of Show with Valley Fine Arts Association Juried Art Show

I will be showing some of my favorite artworks at the 

Bear Paw River Brewing Company
Artists Reception
4605 E. Palmer Wasilla Hwy
First Friday! July 6th 4-6 PM
The art will be there all month.
I will be sharing some of my favorite encaustic paintings (pigmented beeswax painted with fire). Bear Paw is a cool microbrewery with a friendly community vibe it's a great place to schmooze, have a cold brew and see art!

A MODERN FAYUM MUMMY PORTRAIT
by
Judy Vars

Angels, Skulls and Ravens OH MY!

Cross Road There is No Planet B

WE would love to see you at the opening reception where there will be a huge ice sculpture of a glacier which will be melting before your eyes, Lynda Enfante-Lyons and her partner Graham Dane super talented artists will be a part of this art installation with post cards to Alaska. Please try and come on one of these dates and see a very special art installation take part in poetry and a Q&A with Fran Ulmer about global warming.  Sandy Hill conceived this art installation to bring community attention to global warming and especially how it affects Alaska.

  Bless her heart she had been collecting hundreds of newspaper articles about climate change; scientific articles, political articles, actions to take, art and more. I was asked to create some artwork from these raw materials so I took the box home labeled Scientific Evidence, honestly I did not have any inspiration until last week then it came to me, this triptych is made from the newspaper articles and beeswax which the art is literally  melting. 

The science of global warming  and newspaper headlines does not offer much good news the scientific data is bleak and confusing.  I decided the best approach was to make an emotional appeal, temperatures are rising, weather is getting more unpredictable, sea levels are rising, out planet is getting hotter! 

First we need to stop being in denial and we need to stop now! Then we can address the issues we are at a Cross Road There is No Planet B!

 The Glaciers are Melting

 Tales of a Warmer Planet

 The Bad News! We're On Fire!

The Angel and the Skull

The Angel and the Skull

Original Oil

by

Judy Vars

24 X 30

VANITAS painting which translated means vanity and reminds us that this earthly life is temporal but there is another aspect to our existence. This painting holds a psychological meaning, the flowers represent that life is short and transient, the angel gives us hope, the skull says we will all become dust one day and the three wise monkeys remind us to be of good mind, speech and action.

From Caravaggio to a White Bird in a Golden Cage

This painting has a long story, I am going to repeat it here as I remember it. This painting is huge Greg had started a few years back and was intended to be of a desperate tragic woman in an iron cage symbolized as his mother, the eight iron bars represent her children of which Greg was the oldest. His mother died under tragic circumstances when he was just a boy. 

Greg’s vision was to have a Caravaggio type dramatic painting that expressed the bleak sadness he had as a child and his mother's circumstances as a trained classical pianist (symbolized by the ballet slippers) stuck in a ghetto with 8 kids and an abusive husband.

I always thought this painting a little coarse so one day last summer while visiting him I said; hey Greg I can finish that painting for you. He called me a week later and told me to come and get it. I brought home this huge heavy canvas about 5 'x 4'  looked at it and asked myself are you crazy? Well we all know that is a rhetorical question, yes I am crazy.

  In the process of trying to complete his painting and his vision (which I now know is impossible) I found thoughts wandering to the lyrics of the song, White Bird in a Gilded white bird must fly or she will die. I wanted to change her iron cage into a gilded cage, and make her younger and prettier; I just couldn't help myself my ego got in the way. I changed the iron bars to gold, I changed her face from a desperate woman to the saddest girl in the world, I added cycles of the moon, I painted fire flies for little points of light, gave her a boob lift, and even added a moth for good measure the only part of the painting that I didn’t touch was the golden ballet slippers.

I wanted to rewrite Greg’s childhood to a happier one with some hope. When Greg saw it for the first time he was taken off guard!  I know he expected it to resemble his original idea and I felt like an asshole for stepping on his painting and his Caravaggio theme. 

It is unclear to me if he really liked the painting after I got a hold of her and changed everything, but he was very gracious his comment was; I can say this, it went from a painting that would be not liked by most people to a painting that would appeal to a broader audience. He comically commented as to how now his mother's boob is pointing at his face after some discussion he sent me home to add a key to symbolize that there was a key to his mother's cage.

I delivered the finished product to him on Thursday.  

This is a heartfelt gift for my friend Greg . . My association with him has enriched my life more than I can express. He was one of my greatest art supporters, biggest critic and great friend besides. Every time I saw him I asked, how are you? He always said "better now that you are here" and it magically made me feel better. I know he has many, many devoted friends but he always made me feel most important and loved.

As I write this Greg's journey in this life is coming to an end, if the amount of people on this planet that truly love you is any indication of a successful life then you my dear friend are a superstar. Thank you for being in my life.