When I was in Las Vegas in my early 30s, I walked into a restaurant and looked up on the ceiling and saw all the constellation art, blue and white, against a night sky and I was entranced. Later when I took up the study of astrology, I found myself remembering how beautiful that ceiling was. I wanted to do my own set of ZODIAC signs, in a similar style, with the constellations overlaid, but ones that could incorporate larger, chubbier bodies—- “bear” bodies, and that could show a kinder, gentler, proactive version of the signs—the signs not just existing, but DOING something.

I also didn’t want to draw a scorpion or a crab… (things that look like spiders are not something I enjoy painting), so I needed to re-think what kind of image might suit a Scorpio or a Cancer, based on their personalities and traits. I also needed to rethink Virgo as a young woman, or a Virgin, was how it was normally depicted. This set me to rethink all of the signs—but not abandon their most of the classical versions of them. Just align them even more closely with their personality traits.

I had fun with these. I have to say that I got to know the signs a lot better by drawing them—by attempting to represent them well, and by justifying my changes. (I’ll soon have some captions below to talk about my choices).

Redesigning or painting the zodiac is fairly common—-I know I’m not the first to do it. It’s probably a rite of passage for artists who do fantasy illustration at all. There are probably hundreds of gorgeous versions of the zodiac with unique artist interpretations. These are mine, and I add them to collective—to help us see the signs differently. If you would like to have a postcard, card or print, please contact me.