Some of my surreal playing cards done in the 1980's

Here are three playing cards done on masonite done in the 1980's. These small oil paintings are the actual size of a real playing card. I began studying art on a much more serious level in the late 1970's with Harry Carmean at Art Center, focusing on specifically aesthetics, the human figure and surrealism. This little group of surrealistic cards evolved out of these studies. While they are just a few inches tall, they are intended to suggest a monumentality much grander than the actual size of the cards. This series was inspired by the California Surrealist and Hard Edge painter Lorser Feitelson, particularly his "Magical Space Form" paintings done in the 1940's. The top card features an assortment of spades, the middle one is "Four of Hearts" and the bottom one is titled "Spades and Clubs".