ARCANALOGUE: "Deliciously Painstaking, Yet Practically Effortless..."

Any portrait is just as much a reflection on the artist and viewer as it is on the subject it portrays, and the work of Brandon Bird is no exception. At first I was afraid that using his painting Killing Machine (which, as you can plainly see, shows the late great Bea Arthur taking down a velociraptor) as my Strength card would be a cop-out, just a visual gag riffing on the classical image associated with the card. I mean, I probably still would've done it. I'd just have felt a little bad for hitting you a grounder.

As I explored Bird's work further, however, I discovered that a great many of his paintings seem to evoke this symbolic struggle between the human over the inhuman. Take this picture of Christopher Walken serenely tinkering with an android, for example. Or Spiderman being wrestled to the ground. Or Sir Ian McKellen lording it over a bunch of playful ducklings. (And don't even get me started with this drawing...)

It turns out that the artist's own ongoing struggle to discipline himself and master his animal instincts seems to play out again and again, quite nakedly. I'd be curious to learn more about his process, from inspiration to finished product; the concept and pop-cultural contents of each piece seem to occur to him quite readily, but as oil paintings their execution must be quite challenging, probably demanding a great deal of concentration and attention to detail. Each finished piece is a victory of his artistic discipline over the frivolity of his chosen subject, and I think that's what makes his paintings valuable. They appear to be deliciously painstaking, yet practically effortless.

In a reading, the Strength card encourages or acknowledges the cultivation of this virtue as a badge of maturity, one that must be earned before taking on the more abstract challenges awaiting beyond the horizon. How do you know when you've achieved it? Take a good look at the expression on Bea's face -- when you can stare down your own crippling fears, desires, and distractions with that kind of cool confidence and self-awareness, you'll know that you're ready to move on to the big leagues. If you're already riding pretty high on the raptor, then you may want to start packing your bags: a period of profoundly earnest contemplation (see the Hermit) is coming up, which will inform your next steps into the great unknown.