Dream Archetypes

So after a long, long weekend of painting, I have finally completed my set of tarot cards. In my previous post I put up the Femme Fatale, or the shadow, of the two. Next to do was the contrasting archetype, the Virgin. Here are the two works together:

The Femme Fatale is described as a woman with "highly refined skills at manipulating men both sexually and financially without investing personal emotion". Other ways to describe a femme fatale are "black widow", "flirt", "siren", etc. I depicted her in cold and dark colours to emphasize the evil nature. She has skulls and a spider in her hair because she is "deadly".

The Virgin is associated with purity and innocence. The ego of the set is done in bright warm colours to send the message of "goodness". She has lilies in her hair because they are a symbol of femininity and purity.

The faces of the women are the same, just mirrored. Allowing the two portraits to depict the same person draws the conclusion that one person is capable of holding qualities of both the femme fatale and virgin.

I'm very pleased with how these came out.