Three of Cups
I didn't really give you much to go on with this latest painting as, I think, it speaks for itself. At the beginning of this journey I wrote and posted a long spiel about what all the symbolism of each card meant, where the image fell in my personal growth (or descent) time-line, and various fun facts from art history i dig up in pursuit of symbolic knowledge. But I realized most folks weren't reading all my meanderings and so I stopped posting them. On occasion i would update my website- sharoneisley.com- and post these musings there. But the world moves fast and changes fast, and I don't think people read blogs off websites much anymore. Everything is quick quick bites. I, too, am culpable of not reading someone's longer IG or FB post- feeling it's TLTR (a really mean spirited abbreviation). It's so hard to slow down!
When I pulled the next card to paint in this tarot adventure, and saw the three of cups, I laughed. As mentioned on other posts, my two oldest friends and I were planning a trip for our 'big number' birthdays. We had already decided to travel to Quebec, Canada, to go leaf peeping in the autumn. If you don't know, the three of cups card is all about going out and celebrating with your friends. It's a card of harvest, usually depicted with harvest bounty at the feet of three frolicking ladies, that historically are based on the Graces. The Graces were often painted through antiquity with one redhead, one blond, and one dark haired maiden (yes- you guessed it- like us three). Sometimes artists show them stomping grapes for wine, or just partying hardily. Yea, so pretty perfect! All my reference photos came from the drive from Montreal to Quebec City. The light was slipping low and Illuminating a line of phenomenally colored trees in a field of black soil and small dried stalks (quite like the ground in Botticellis Primavera painting). Ultimately, since it was all unplanned, and we had jeans on, I pilfered the legs and funny feet from Botticellis Graces in Primavera, carefully balancing them on the three glasses of life...i mean, wine.
Through out our vacation we saw the stag everywhere like a spontaneous theme. The white deer had many meanings that i won't go all into here! Perhaps we were the wild followers of Artemis (Diana), hunting the burning colors of fall. So I added the magical white stag to the painting, half hidden in the shadows.
When you see three women together painted in antiquity they were likely either the Graces, or the Fates. Just for you I mashed these all together. Because I'm the artist. Never nener. The Graces were often depicted dancing, hands intertwined. They are beauty and bounty and joy. We three are a bit long in the tooth to be the Graces, so i like that the scene has an end of day feel.
We are also the fates, almost always serious and older, or of three ages. Clotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis weaves it (our hair all intertwined, knotted in witches knots, and on my back, the artist of the group), and Atropos cuts it with her scissors. My focus in this painting is on Atropos, represented by a dear friend who is battling cancer. She looks right out at you. What is she telling you? What does she know that we do not? Scissors in my art represent the power to control your fate (one of my favorite symbols. I painted them about four times before I realized that was one of their meanings historically!). So Atropos can choose for herself (just as the person in my Strength card also wields scissors to cut herself free). Atropa mandragora and Atropa belladonna, botanical precursors of modern anesthesia, derived their names from Atropos. They were plants that gave mercy in hard times, during medical crisis. My friends name coincidentally also starts and ends with an A. ;-) And she is the oldest of us three, like Atropos. As with many serendipitous findings when one delves into ancient symbols and myths from our deep depths of humanities story, I only discovered I had these extra layers of meaning after I finished the painting and looked up the eldest Fates name. I hope our witches knotted hair gives her the power to use her scissors. Certainly it was a memory making trip to Canada and i will never see a tree glowing like fire with autumnal color, and not think of my friends.
“Fated Graces” oil on wood - available for sale.
