Q Burns

Art, Writing, ephemera

About me

I'm a wandering artist who loves liminal spaces and eldritch awe. I used to live in Scotland and Nova Scotia. These days I can usually be found under a rock in the US Southwest.


I make mediaeval maps, linocut tarot cards, pen-and-ink cryptids, angry calligraphy, creepy stories, essays about myth and history, and about a hundred other things. This site is an attempt to keep it all organised, show it off, and direct you where you may wish to go.

author photo quentin burns

Check out some of my projects:

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Mesa Glow

An art collective with my friend Phoenix Bunke.

Once upon a time we were two weird art kids in middle school. Then 20 years of life happened, to my continued bewilderment. In 2024 we met again in the desert, burnt out on past careers, and decided to make some fucking art.
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Transformation Tarot

I'm carving a linocut tarot deck all about shapeshifting and metamorphosis. I've got the Sumerian god of turning men into women, some unhinged Arthuriana, and of course plenty of werewolves planned.

I blog about the stories behind the cards as I carve them, and other tarot-related esoterica.
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Video Stories

I've written video essay scripts for Geographics about Victorian paleontologist drama, the noble velociraptor, and some true and false fables of the so-called Death Valley.

Currently I'm getting into making my own videos, about art and myths and my latest obsessions.

Talk to me

Mesa Glow is open for commissions, and partnerships with orgs. that do conservation and land rights work.

I personally am open for questions, cryptic warnings, and arcane secrets.