Eight of Wands- peregrine falcon Upright: Swiftness an problem solving, an urge to take action, rapid change, flight Reverse: Failure to act, frustration and delays, resistance The original Rider-Waite design shows 8 wands being launched through the air symbolising flight, naturally this card should lend itself to a bird themed deck comfortably but I found … Continue reading Tarot Tuesday- 8 of wands
Common Starling Represented by: Common Starling Upright meaning: Standing up for your beliefs, competition, perseverance, protection of territory and self Reversed meaning: Defeat, lack of self confidence, surrender, exhaustion Original 7 of wands design While designing the major arcana for Occult Ornithology I tried to incorporate elements from the original Rider-Waite deck in my designs … Continue reading Tarot Tuesday: Seven of Wands
Red-Legged Seriema Represented by: Red-legged seriema Upright meaning: triumph, success, victory, winning. It’s indicative of pride and high self esteem. Reversed meaning: losing, failure, loss of self confidence and self assurance. Red legged seriema sketch from when I originally designed the deck in 2020. I really wanted a red-legged seriema in my original major arcana … Continue reading Tarot Tuesday: 6 of Wands
I’ve been working on potentially creating a minor arcana for my tarot deck Occult Ornithology. It’s obviously a chance for me to include some birds that I feel were glaringly missing from the major arcana. Robin sketchbook page While I haven’t doodled any tarot cards today, I got warmed up for bird drawing by drawing … Continue reading Robin Sketches
I’ve been working on some new designs recently for screen printed back patches. My screen printer Carry On Screaming suggested I try designing some to be printed on white fabric as I’m a bit of a stickler for lovely gothic black. Some patches over the years, some of which are available on my Etsy Since … Continue reading Sunshine Puss sketch -> finished drawing
Hello readers, it’s been a while since I’ve post a blog post on here but with the Enshittification of social media, it seems as good a time as any to return to my lovely blog where I started sharing my work in 2016, a whole decade ago. She’s an oystercatcher, you’re welcome. I will of … Continue reading Returning to my blog in 2026
Occult Ornithology Tarot deck now available to pre-order!This week's card spotlight will be looking at the 18th card of the major arcana, The Moon, represented by a Lyrebird. My version of the card is represented by a superb lyrebird, a bird renowned for it's ability to mimic. When thinking about The Moon card, it was … Continue reading Card spotlight: The Moon
Occult Ornithology Deck: Available to pre-order This weeks card spotlight is the twelfth card in the major arcana, The Hanged man. My version of The Hanged Man is represented by a ring necked pheasant. When I fist discussed creating this deck with my partner we were suggesting different birds for cards, the first suggestion for … Continue reading Card Spotlight: The Hanged Man
Occult Ornithology Tarot- now available to pre-order!This week's card spotlight is the 16th card in the major arcana, The Tower When it finally came to the time of designing the card for The Tower, I didn't have a specific bird in mind, I just knew it should be a sea bird or bird that nests … Continue reading Card Spotlight: The Tower
Occult Ornithology tarot: Now available to pre-order! Todays spotlight will focus on the fifth card in the major arcana, The Hierophant, represented by an Onagadori Rooster Applying the idea of 'tradition' to a bird isn't necessarily an easy concept. Lots of birds have been revered for centuries, could I use tradition in that sense? That … Continue reading Card Spotlight: The Hierophant
The Art of Katie Whittle 