Arty Farty Friday ~ Chris Ware

American illustrator, comic book artist and cartoonist, Chris Ware has a birthday coming up tomorrow,
28 December. I like his spare, crisp style and subtle colours. I like the spirit of this illustration and I found in it an echo of his natal Saturn-Uranus opposition - tradition versus modernity. When I looked at his date of birth, having set up a 12 noon natal chart for him, his Saturn-Uranus opposition stood out: Saturn at 5 Aries and Uranus at 29 Virgo, not in opposite signs, but well within orb - or limit - of what is mathematically accepted in astrology as an opposition. Mr Ware's sparse style reflects Sun/Mercury in restrictive, structured Capricorn - and his mode of operation also includes the old and the new. Wikipedia tells us:

"Although his precise, geometrical layouts may appear to some to be computer-generated, in fact Ware works almost exclusively with "old-fashioned" drawing tools such as paper and pencil, rulers and T-squares. He does, however, sometimes use photocopies and transparencies, and employs a computer to color his strips."

A few samples of Chris Ware's work shown below. Much of his work needs a bigger image than I can provide here, in order to do it justice. Type his name into Google Image's search box though, and see many more examples - you'll always be able to recognise his work instantly afterwards!

 Enlarged version of part of this is below

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Thanksgiving Saturn-Uranus Style

Searching for an illustration without the ubiquitous turkey led me to discover this New Yorker cover for Thanksgiving 2006, by illustrator, comic book artist and cartoonist, Chris Ware. I like his spare, crisp style and subtle colours. I like the spirit of this illustration and I found in it an echo of the current Saturn-Uranus opposition - tradition versus modernity. I was amused to find, when I looked at his date of birth and set up a 12 noon natal chart for him, that he has a Saturn-Uranus opposition natally, with Saturn at 5 Aries and Uranus at 29 Virgo - not in opposite signs, but well within orb - or limit of what is mathematically accepted as an opposition.






His sparse style reflects Sun/Mercury in restrictive, structured Capricorn - and his mode of operation also includes the old and the new. Wikipedia tells us:

"Although his precise, geometrical layouts may appear to some to be computer-generated, in fact Ware works almost exclusively with "old-fashioned" drawing tools such as paper and pencil, rulers and T-squares. He does, however, sometimes use photocopies and transparencies, and employs a computer to color his strips."

We're invited to spend Thanksgiving with my husband's eldest daughter, family and friends, and I'm pretty sure we'll resemble the first illustration rather than the second one - reflecting traditional Saturn rather than ultra-modern change-driven Uranus. Saturn does have a good side, after all!



..... to all in the USA tomorrow, whichever style of Thanksgiving you prefer, and happy ordinary tomorrow to everybody else!