Sam Guay

Pigment wizard. Creator of the Blood Moon Tarot. MTG Artist. Host of #Mayshroom. (They\them) --- Contact me at [email protected]

[samguayart]

You ever get absolutely butchered in the tags? lol

[diana-andraste]

Walking Corpses, from an illustration of 'The Three Living and the Three Dead’. De Lisle Psalter, Westminster, United Kingdom, c. 1310-20

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[nylilcosmos]

Goddess of Rot ˖᯽ ݁˖

[samguayart]

The Orchid’s Dream, 2026 , watercolor & gouache

✨ “Not forever on Earth, only a little while here…”

I finally finished this painting that I’ve been working on since 2020. The original watercolor thumbnail I did was done pre-2020, if you can believe it. Sometimes art takes its time, and sometimes it takes time because it’s sitting on my easel neglected while I work on higher priority work for years. I’m going to miss this strange thing looking over me while I work, but I think it deserves a frame and a wall… and perhaps a better view than my greasy, shrimp-mode goblinself working.

This piece was inspired by a dream I had, though the details are buried in some journal which I’ll have to dig up for the full write-up on my process creating this painting. Prints are in the works, I highly recommend my newsletter if that’s something you’re interested in.

[samguayart]

Getting my flower enrichment...

[samguayart]

Alive and still making my bullshit.

[biznagaalviento]

I will forever die on the hill that one of Florence's biggest influences and inspirations (and very rarely acknowledged because most music journalists don't see past the rigid boxes they put artists on) is Loreena Mckennitt. From the aesthetics, to the voice, the vibe, the music. They are truly mother and daughter. The arrangements of the recently released Chamber Edition of Everybody Scream just prove my point.

If you don't know Loreena check her entire discography because she is truly one of the greats, of all time.

[samguayart]

Photodump... - My orchids are blooming - Wen flower hunting for crocus and snowdrops - Visited the orchid show again for enrichment - Pretty photos of some cards from my Blood Moon Tarot deck - Jackets I'm working on, disregard freshly washed wet ratguy within the jacket

[time-incantation]

when I think about you…

(1998), directed by Mike Smith, based on the illustrations of Yoshitaka Amano, and inspired by the Tales of 1001 Nights.

[achillesinhighheels]

Sleeping Muse

By Misha Frid

[saprophilous]

Vicar Amelia

Print available here!

[charnel-grounds]

Anne W. Brigman (1869–1950), “Finis”

photogravure, 1912

[calyxaomphalos]

My dash did a thing with colors and shapes.

Above: Juno’s photos of Jupiter

Below: Sam Guay Illustration - The Culling

[queenlua]

Everyone who plays around with Tarot cards long enough winds up with a “bad” card that they love. I just barely persuaded my husband not to get the Ten of Swords tattooed on his body; traditionally, it shows a corpse with ten swords stuck in their body and means “utter ruin,” but he thought that if it took ten swords to kill you, then you must have put up a pretty good fight.

honestly this is the most badass ten of swords interpretation i've ever heard.  i'm stealing this

[justalittleb-witchy]

I’m so insanely frugal/penny-pinching that the devil card has become a reminder that money is meant to be used. It often comes when I’m just getting through the drudgery of life, not really doing anything to enjoy it. The core theme of imprisonment collides with the theme of materialism for me, because allowing myself to buy small things, to enjoy life, is freedom.

In my opinion, the meaning of cards can even shift between decks, depending on authorial intent, symbolism, personal associations, etc. The cards are then further informed by the context of your life and who you are as a person. It doesn’t, for example, make sense to warn someone about self-isolation when they push themselves to be extroverted (to the point of their own detriment) or vice versa.

[fractoluminescence]

One card reinterpretation, although not this unexpected, that kinda blew me away, is the one for Death in the Blood Moon Tarot guidebook. The focus of Death in Tarot is usually on accepting that things have to end so that others can grow in their place - it's on the fact that that change is positive, even if painful.

When I saw the Death card for that deck, it was a person with a veil crying, and I thought "ugh, I don't like this artist's take on this one, what a shame". But then I read the description they had written for it, and it was something along the lines that usually people are told to try and be positive when they see the Death card, but that this one encouraged you to mourn the thing that was lost. To bury it properly before moving on. To linger. To take that time

And I thought that was very pretty

[charnel-grounds]

Agostino Arrivabene (b. 1967), “Carne fiorita (Hieròs Gámos)”

egg-oil tempera, cold encaustic, taxidermied flower collage on canvas board, 2025/26

source

[mawmenny]

[blood-red-roses]

St. Mary Magdalene, Covered by her Hair, c. 1311, Collégiale Notre-Dame d’Ecuis, Eure, France

[samguayart]

Oof, tumblr really brutalizes the image quality here. But uh, new painting, Dream Blight.