Aaron Voronoff Trotter’s Illustrated Playing Cards Display Iconic Landscapes of the City on the Decks

The artist’s images are inspired by Renaissance sketch stylings.

Secrets of Portland playing cards BOP (Whitney McPhie)
By Robin Bacior

When you’re playing poker or Go Fish, give yourself something else to look at other than those spades and hearts with a deck of Aaron Voronoff Trotter’s “Secrets of Portland’' illustrated playing cards (illustratedplayingcards.com).

These beautiful portraits of Portland—Leach Botanical Garden (jack of clubs), oak tree at Overlook Bluff (king of diamonds)—are homages to special spots in the city. The drawings are done in the fashion of Renaissance sketching on site, finished at home by Trotter with his great-aunt Ethel’s 1910 ink pen, then later printed and UV coated (they’re initially slightly slippery, but in a way that feels high quality).

There are plenty of decks to collect, reaching far and wide—you can get these cards around Oregon, even California, or out in New York. But locals, go grab your pack at the Portland Saturday Market from Trotter himself (or his dad, Serge, when Trotter’s on the road).

See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2024 here!

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