All words and images here ©2024 by Bruce Carleton except where noted.
“I Thought I Was a People Person … Then I Met People” is the title of Lauren Wolpert’s Badass Angel Cards Oracle Deck II. The honor of creating the image showing on the cover of the box as well as the reverse side of the cards was bestowed upon me. The obverse side (designed by Cindy Weinstein) has 52 images reflecting various scenes from the chickenverse, festooned with pithy koans by Lauren such as “Sometimes the only way to dodge a bullet is to have a rug pulled out from under you,” “When the problem is there is no problem—it’s a problem,” “Many different things can happen and some of those things are nothing,” or “Be the kid that ate the worm.” Being an oracle deck, this compendium is something like a blend of tarot and Eno’s “Oblique Strategies.” You can use it to tell your fortune, entertain yourself, seek a direction, or even play solitaire. For example, you might be stuck writing a reply to some reprobate on social media and turn to the deck for guidance. Hopefully you’ll pull “Platitudes are thought stoppers,” or maybe better yet “Stop it.”
The art shown above (the basic drawing for the card back) was featured in the “I Thought I Was (etc.)” show at the Beatnik Lounge in Joshua Tree CA in February , 2024. The art below was also in that show.You can learn more about Lauren “I am the elephant in the room” Wolpert at her website [www.laurenwolpert.com]. (She holds the copyright for the faces of the cards.)
ABOVE: The addendums for the card backs that were needed since I had sized my drawing based on information that had changed during the three months I sat on the project waiting for my anhedonia to pass. It was originally going to be wider and less tall. In order to deal with the new proportions, I had to fill the design out vertically.
ABOVE: The art as it appears on the backs of the cards (with addendums addended).
ABOVE: The box cover art with my color added in Photoshop (minus the bonus goldenrod design element).
ABOVE: A mockup of the card box & cards, which are 70mm x 120mm.
ABOVE: The saga of how this came about.