Thursday, January 7th, and we’re pleased to release the latest episode of our popular original series on the Tarot: “Tarot @ Teatime”, on the air Thursdays and Sundays at noon and 4pm Pacific Time/SLT, 8pm and midnight in the UK.
In Episode 23, Honey and Willow discuss the Druidcraft Tarot.
Will Worthington created the images for the beautiful Druidcraft Tarot. He is often inspired by the work of the pre-Raphaelite artists, particularly their use of the natural imagery of the British Isles coupled with the Arthurian legends. He painted the images of the Druidcraft Tarot deck using an ancient medium called Egg-Tempera, which is a technique also used by the pre-Raphaelite painters.
Egg-Tempera is created using finely ground pigments mixed with the contents of an egg yolk. The outer skin or membrane of the yolk is punctured and the liquid yolk is drained into a cup, mixed with a few drops of an extending agent such as white vinegar, oil of myrrh, or even water. Then the ground pigment is added. The extending agent keeps the egg-tempura from drying too quickly — otherwise the egg yolk dries immediately upon contact with air. Egg tempera is not a flexible paint and requires stiff boards; painting on flexible media will cause cracks to form and chips of paint to fall off.
Worthington painted the Druidcraft Tarot images on carefully prepared wooden boards painted with layers of gesso, created from finely ground white chalk and animal glue, which were then sanded smooth. Egg-tempera dries quickly, and produces a smooth, rich matte finish when it is dry.
The Druidcraft Tarot, Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm (Authors), Will Worthington (Illustrator), St. Martin’s Press, Revised edition (March 2019), ISBN 10: 1250307422
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And tune in for THE MOST EPISODE 3 - join your host Susannah for the third episode of The MOST — Music from the Original Sound Track - this month with music by composers including Ennio Morricone, Les Baxter and John Barry; from movies and TV series including tracks from Hell’s Belles, Sex And The Single Girl, East Side/West Side and more. Catch the show at 12:30pm & 4:30pm Pacific Time/SLT, 8:30pm and 12:30am in the UK. On The Air.


