The Suit of Coins

Ace of Coins The Ace of Coins represents a new beginning, a seed that can grow into something bigger, the first steps on a road to health and propserity, or even just the idea of the concrete world. I had to redesign this one! I decided that every Coin card would have a hand on it somewhere, and that all the suits would be themed like that. So I modeled it after my own palm. As a palm reader, my hand is the hand of a deeply confused person, so maybe that adds to the card's meaning. To Top Two of Coins The Two of Coins is a card of balance, of finesse, about figuring things out in just the right amounts. I tried to do this myself and it's super hard! I like this card because I got a little weird with the colors. My neon palette makes it difficult to portray skin tones other than peachy whites, but of course I didn't want nothing but white people in the deck! Using blue felt like it opened me up to new options here. To Top Three of Coins This card represents pride in your accomplishments and skills, and being noticed for them! It's one of my favorite Minor Arcana cards. Not long after I finished this carve, my friend's wife got her doctorate. Funny enough I was thinking of her when designing this card, since she's one of the most powerful people I know. I hope everyone sees how impressive she is, just like the Three of Coins indicates. To Top Four of Coins This card represents hoarding, privacy, and other ways we keep things to ourselves instead of sharing. This one was challenging, partially to convey what I wanted and partially to pick colors. I like the green, a jealous color. To Top Five of Coins Five of Coins represents lack, poverty, hunger, and need. I really like how this one turned out! The coins really seem to be slipping away, and I like how the grasping hand looks too. Obviously not one of my favorite cards, but the art came out well. To Top Six of Coins This card means charity, sharing, equality, and fairness. It's about distributing resources in the best possible way. My favorite touch in the art is the alternating hearts and stars on the coins. For some reason I find it very satisfying. To Top Seven of Coins This card represents a need for patience, the idea that the seeds have been planted and there's nothing you can do from here but wait. My original Ace of Coins looked like the coin in the center of this one, underground with roots sprouting from it. I like the feeling of growth - it's like you can smell the soil. To Top Eight of Coins The Eight of Coins is about hard work and skill, the determination to see a project through to the highest of your ability. I might do a new print of this one to get a cleaner result, but I like the image a lot. The roughness around the coins is deliberate, to emphasize the handcrafted nature. To Top Nine of Coins Typically this card depicts a person alone with a bird, enjoying a lovely walled garden. It means enjoying the fruits of your labor and the luxuries they bring. I especially like the paint job on this one! To Top Ten of Coins Ten of Coins is a wonderful card of material satisfaction and accomplishment. It's a card of having enough to take care of yourself and your loved ones. That sense of "enough" is why I chose to make it balloons - to me, the feeling of having enough is light, the burden of struggle being lifted. The sense of relief in this card is why I chose such a buoyant image! To Top Page of Coins The cat was playing in the garden. The Wheel was a challenge for me! But it's fun to do an ornate design in linocut, where you can't be exactly exact (at least, I can't be yet). I did the design digitally, but I still needed to execute with my own two hands! My favorite touch on this is the horseshoes. To Top Knight of Coins Strength is a card of inner fortitude and self-control. It's about taming your inner beast, about exhibiting strength of will, and about showing love and understanding to the different ways in which you as a person can be strong. Are you the beast, or the one controlling it? The answer changes day by day. I love how this card came out! My concept for this card is "are you opening the door, or closing it?" - in other words, are you controlling your inner monster or are you releasing it? Something to consider when you see this card. People react differently to the monstrous face, and some of my friends find it very endearing! To Top Queen of Coins The Hanged Man is a card of suspension and sacrifice, of the need for patience in times of transformation. Traditionally, the Hanged Man often references the norse god Odin, hanging from the World Tree in order to win the gift of poetry. For this card, I wanted to play with the idea of "hanging upside-down" by making the Hanged Man a peach pit. As the fruit grows and ripens, the day where it will fall from the tree approaches. The butterfly, too, is a symbol of transformation. To Top King of Coins Death is about the inevitable cycle of change. The end is inevitable, whether that means the end of a mortal life or of a situation or relationship. Things end so new things can begin, winter comes every year, the cycle of life and death always continues. This is the skull of an eagle. I think that speaks to where I was mentally and emotionally when I think about the concept of "the end of an era". To Top