It has been awhile since I’ve posted anything here, so I
figured I’d throw up a few progress shots of “Crossing Wonderland”. I wish I
had taken a few more, but I didn’t…
It has been some time since I painted anything Alice-related
so I was itching to do a new one. Originally I was going to have Alice riding
the white rabbit – I painted a little watercolor piece awhile back that I was
going to base it on but as I started to sketch, the idea of her riding the
Cheshire cat seemed so much more interesting to me. Blame all those early years
spent watching He-Man ride BattleCat into the fray.
I still wanted to include
the white rabbit though and so turning him into her stuffed companion just
seemed to fit. I think it gives her a more youthful, innocent feel – more in
need of the Cheshire cat’s protection. Though by the cat’s grin its hard to say
what his intentions are.
I wanted to make the woods menacing, or at least inhabited
and I toyed with the idea of populating it with some denizens of Wonderland. In
the end I decided on a tribe of native cards (wild cards) that the Queen of
Hearts had not indentured.
I was happy with how this piece turned out. My favorite part
of the painting is the caterpillar sitting on the mushroom. I like to think he
is whispering some advice to her as she passes. Something like, “You probably
shouldn’t ride cats – they’re trouble.”
I LOVE this! The Alice books are two of my favorites of all time (and Carroll's work in general is genius). The ambiguous nature of the Cheshire cat is awesome (what a grin!), and the mood and details - the caterpillar, the cards in the background - are so great. Excellent work.
ReplyDeleteI love the Cheshire cat one. He does look so...impish. I also love all the other works on your website. They're so interesting!
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