Mourning the Passing Away of Summer
The starry version of our newest Halloween style deck the All Hallows Eve Tarot.
September has come hurtling in with the speed of a gale force wind, literally, with the apples and leaves strewn around everywhere in a neighboring garden. I am not prepared for it, but then again I never am. As the long summer nights come to an end and the rain and thick clouds of darkness encroach, I feel that old familiar sadness weigh on me like a heavy coat.
As I get older I know it's probably a lack of sunlight causing havoc. I can do some things to help it, but the biggest thing is to just learn to accept it. Easier said than done of course, but it's something of a gradual understanding.
Maybe it's the kind of business I find myself in, but I feel that working on darker projects during this time helps.
In other words, if I can't beat it, I join it for a season...and a season (or in this case two) is really all it is. When I come back out the other side in the spring and summer, I have something to show for it that might prove popular for the following darker seasons.
When I was Illustrating the Halloween Waite and the All Hallows' Eve Tarot, these were both illustrated throughout late autumn and throughout the winter. I'm not suggesting that everyday of the "moody season" is filled with doom and dread lol, for I can easily illustrate Christmas themed decks during this time too, and I do get into the Christmassy feel. It's just that some days affect me more than others.
Some cards from our newest Halloween Tarot the All Hallows Eve Tarot.
Our latest Halloween deck the All Hallows’ Eve Tarot.
I'm sure it's some sort of mood disorder, though I have never bothered to keep pressing for a diagnosis (Not even sure Northern Ireland diagnoses these sorts of things, though I may be completely wrong as some years have passed since I sought one originally). So in a way being creative, I feel, is a sort of self medication.
In the really darker times, I find it helpful to re-read positive comments on the work we've put out. It's so strange how the weather can affect mood. It's tempting to drink more in the darker evenings too, which isn't as helpful as you might think to the creative process; I find that it's more helpful when promoting the work through social media since it makes me a little more social, and less uptight in sharing, but drinking makes illustrating more muddy.
Depending on how much one drinks, it can even make writing unusable, trailing off, and not sticking to the topic. It feels good at the time, but as I get older, I don't find it helpful to the actual creative process. Others do, so who am I to dismiss it entirely?
Getting back to self medicating, I've always found that having a side project is key. For me, Melodic Moods was a side project. The Dead Waite Tarot was a side project. Meaning, they were not considered the most important to finish, but there were personal projects of my own, to, I suppose, feel better, for lack of a better description.
Our very first Halloween / horror style Tarot the Twisted Tarot Tales
Even now I have a few side project ideas that are a bit more moody, more dark, that I will keep under wraps for now. (I haven't even started them). There's always an excitement to share new projects, but you want to have it reasonably well underway before announcing it, especially in the era of A.I art where someone can "borrow" your idea and virtually copy your would be projects with a few weekend chat prompts into an A.I art program. It's sounds dire, but it is what it is. I naively take comfort in the idea that if I have my project almost complete, then release it, I will have a bit of a head start before I see the first few derivations of our work hit the inter-webs. That's really not any sort of guarantee of course, but until I can figure out something better, it's all I can do.
There you have it. My advice is if you feel a bit gloomy in the fall and winter, get creative!