Horoscopes are cool - even if they aren't real!

So, I'm not saying that I 100% believe in horoscopes or anything like that, but I have done a lot of research in regard to how the various planets and constellational alignment have energetic effects and if that is true, it could be possible for those energies to have an effect on who we are.

Some Random Babbling About Horoscopes, Signs, etc.

In my college years I learned that we all are not only assigned a sun sign (what you typically recognize yourself with when looking up your horoscope) but we also have moon signs and rising signs based on the constellational alignment of the stars on the date and location of where you were born. I of course had to figure out what mine were - I used this cool website back then ... Astrodeinst.. wow, this was well over 10 years ago, I cannot believe I can still recall it - I haven't really used or looked at it in a reallllly long time. Anyway, you can set up a free account and provide some basic information about your birth date, town, etc. and it will tell you what these three signs are.

Mine said that I was a sun sign of scorpio (which I already knew), rising sign of cancer, and a moon sign of virgo.

So really quick, your sun sign is your basic general make up, your rising sign signifies traits about how you interact with external things and people as well as the sign that you may be subconsciously perceived as by others, and your moon sign is the secret self that make up how you feel internally at times (or this is what I took from the various resources that I read about these different types of signs).

I take all of this, too, with a grain of salt. It is interesting that I have felt pretty aligned with the traits and descriptions of these signs and how they affect various aspects of my make-up and personality. When I look at the friends and people I surround myself with, I do find that for example my cousin, who is a cancer, is my person.. she is like a sister to me, but with such a deep connection - if the theory holds true, we could be so naturally drawn to each other because she is a cancer and I appear to be a cancer to her subconscious because my rising sign is cancer.. you know, could be coincidence.. but it is cool to contemplate these things and sometimes, when you do see alignments, its just kind of interesting.

Another interesting horoscope factoid.. in some of my research I found some of those articles that like to talk about the best pairings for relationships.. yeah, I know.. but c'mon don't tell me you haven't given one of those a read ;-D .. but anyway.. various sources stated the same thing.. Scorpios go well with Taurus. I randomly took one of those silly quizzes one day on facebook and it said that my perfect match would be a taurus.. oooOoOoooOhhhh... lol The craziest thing of ALL?! My boyfriend of 9 years is a.. get this.. TAURUS ... LOL and we do - we get along great and have a TON of fun together. Again.. could be coincidence.. but you never really know!

Horoscope Illustration with Oil Glazes

So.. with all of that babbling out of the way.. in college I was given this assignment to create a series of two illustrations that focused on either Tarot or Astrology/Horoscopes. I chose to paint the cancer and taurus signs - I thought they would be fun to heavily stylize and with the technique we were going to use I thought the galaxy, universe effect would be really easy to achieve.

The technique was a form of oil glazing. Basically we were instructed to purchase a thick piece of bristol board & Krystal Clear or any other type of thick clear gloss enamel. We masked off our bristol board with masking tape or painters tape, and began building our painting layer by layer.

The Process of This Oil Glazing Technique

The concept is to paint very thin oil glazes in a layer, then using the Krystol Clear you coat that layer and let it dry. You keep adding layer by layer of paint and clear enamel and the effects achieved are really cool. The thick layers of enamel and thin layers of paint allow the light to get in there and bounce around and make all the colors really pop. They glow and glisten and you get some really cool optical blends from the thin layers of color. You can also wipe away paint in certain areas after laying it down before sealing it in with a rag to help bull out highlights and even to get some cool effects from blotting, etc.

Below are the two final paintings (I'm sorry, since this was ten years ago before the age of major youtube sharing, facebook posting, etc. and since we didn't have smart phones yet that made taking pictures/video so easy.. I don't have a recording or process photos)

"Cancer" / 11"x12" / Oil Glaze on Bristol Board

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"Taurus" / 11"x12" / Oil Glaze on Bristol Board

Here are some close up details of a few areas that were my favorite.. I love the little crackles you get sometimes from the enamel! And I loved the layered colors I got in the shell of the crab.

I hope you guys enjoyed taking a peek at some horoscope illustrations and learning a little about the theoretical aspects of horoscopes and astrology and a fun little painting technique! Give it a try sometime if you haven't ever done so before.. these paintings are old and were rushed (I had so many classes that required you to create so much in between your meetings that you really just had to work fast and do the best quality you could under the time restrictions.. and even then you were still pulling all nighters left and right just to meet your deadlines..) so please forgive my older self ;) regardless of the quality - the technique is SUPER fun and you should definitely give it a shot! :-D

If you have any questions about the technique or would like to share something you have done that is very similar in technique, subject matter or style, please comment and let me know below :) I would love to see/provide any additional insight on the technique or topic!

Until next time my dear friends, have a wonderful evening and of course.. STEEM ON!

with love, — @j-vo

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