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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Crossing Wonderland

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.”

2 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. I 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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