100 DRAWINGS IN 100 DAYS - THE WONDER IN ALICE

ALICE (RUNNING LATE FOR THE SHOOT, BUT ALWAYS MAKING TIME FOR THE LITTLE TREATS HER CO-STARS LEAVE AROUND THE PLACE... SHE JUST HOPES IT'S SUGAR-FREE...)

this is the second "Alice" drawing i've done this time, and who knows? maybe i'll do another, but they are all very different. i thought this time Alice should be a little more, well, modern. not quite so innocent. a little less boring??

and what's not to love about seeing a woman in pretty lacy lingerie, and a couple of tasteful tattoos? these days they are both quite commonplace. i was at the roller derby bouts last weekend, and it was more uncommon to see someone without a tattoo than with one. when i got my tattoos, it was still a fairly uncommon practice for women to get them where they could be seen outside of the boudoir.

well, i must get going. i'm late, i'm late!! for a very important date (drawing the Queen of Hearts... should she be a little tattooed too??) hmmmm....

for a little refresher on our darling little Alice, and her story, here is the link to my "other" Alice ---> EAT ME

100 DRAWINGS IN 100 DAYS - DORMOUSE IS GETTING HIS GROOVE ON...

DORMOUSE (WHILE IN THE CHANGE-ROOM ON THE SET OF 'ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND', HE SNEAKILY TAKES A SEXY PHOTO TO TEXT TO THAT CUTE SET-MOUSE BACKSTAGE...)

i'm the kind of artist who needs a source for my inspiration. i can get and develop ideas in my head, but in order for me to produce a drawing or painting that i'm really happy with, i require images or objects in front of me to act as my model. i can draw from my imagination, but if i want the finer details, i must have a model, be it real or a photograph.

now, there are not always mice available, so i must rely upon the internet in order to be able to create my version of the Dormouse from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". and then there is this little issue of copyright, so it just makes my job a little more difficult, and increases the time i spend on each drawing. enough of the boring details: this here mouse, the Dormouse, who is seen here taking his own photograph in the mirror of the bathroom backstage, is a combination of many images. and the hand holding the phone which is attached to the scantily clad figure (much hair was applied and belly shortened and fattened of course, to make it more mouse-like) belongs to a dear friend of mine. yes, it has come to this. be careful when you send de Shan any photos, she may use them in her artwork!! :)

so this mouse, the Dormouse is native to several regions in the world, but the one referred to in Lewis Carroll's novel, is the one that inhabits the british isles. they are known primarily for their particularly long periods of hibernation - thus the sleepiness of the Dormouse character in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". and in this drawing, i have portrayed him as being a little bit naughty and very much awake and on the prowl...

100 DRAWINGS IN 100 DAYS -

MOCK TURTLE (CRIES SO MUCH BECAUSE HE WISHES HE COULD HAVE A FUR COAT INSTEAD OF HIS ARMOR)

well, after a little research, i found out that the Mock Turtle in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was named so after a popular victorian dish - Mock Turtle Soup! how odd

so here is the recipe:

Mrs. Fowle's Mock Turtle Soup: "Take a large calf's head. Scald off the hair. Boil it until the horn is tender, then cut it into slices about the size of your finger, with as little lean as possible. Have ready three pints of good mutton or veal broth, put in it half a pint of Madeira wine, half a teaspoonful of thyme, pepper, a large onion, and the peel of a lemon chop't very small. A ¼ of a pint of oysters chop't very small, and their liquor; a little salt, the juice of two large onions, some sweet herbs, and the brains chop't. Stand all these together for about an hour, and send it up to the table with the forcemeat balls made small and the yolks of hard eggs."*

and i've never actually had mock turtle soup, but it really sounds rather nasty! no wonder he was always crying...

as Lewis Carroll's character goes, however, the mock turtle was upset because he used to be a real turtle, but now he is a fake turtle. this is why he was illustrated by John Tenniel as an assemblage of the cow head, hooves and tail, the traditional off-cuts of the beast and the non-muscular parts to imitate turtle meat in the soup.

poor thing...

* courtesy wikipedia

100 DRAWINGS IN 100 DAYS - I LOVE ALICE!

DODO (WARDROBE MALFUNCTION ON THE SET OF "ALICE IN WONDERLAND". NOTE TO SELF: GET TO WORK BEFORE THE RABBIT...)

so, what i was saying about that nice smooth transition, that little segue by means of G.I. Joe and Blythe together... bla bla bla! forget it! i'm just not passionate about Joe. sorry Joe, no offense, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, and i'm now off on a different tangent.

ENTER: the Dodo from Tim Burton's film, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"! i absolutely adore anything Alice. i have drawn an Alice Blythe, of which i am very proud. so, this particular drawing shows the Dodo character having just had a wardrobe malfunction, and wearing the White Rabbit's costume. sometimes i wonder if i really did grow up or if that is just a mean trick the mirror plays on me every morning... you see, this seems like a very plausible problem for this particular (extinct) creature to have. i must be mad.

anyway, the dodo was originally from Mauritius, and related to pigeons and doves. it stood about 1m tall, nested on the ground as it was a flightless bird, and has been extinct for almost 400 years. it is the standard for an extinct species because it became so as the result of human interference and during recorded history.

what an odd little creature, especially in the rabbit's get-up!

100 DRAWINGS IN 100 DAYS - CHASING THE WHITE RABBIT

BLYTHE (TRYING NOT TO GET CAUGHT BACKSTAGE IN ALICE'S CHANGE ROOM)

i think it is fair to say that my favorite all-time children's story is the classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. (Lewis Carroll was a pseudonym later adopted by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, which happens to be a play on his real name: Lewis was the anglicized form of Ludovicus, which was the latin for Lutwidge, and Carroll an irish surname similar to the latin name Carolus, from which the name Charles comes*). in 1865 the book was first published, after much begging from a family friend's daughter, Alice Liddell (after whom the book was supposedly based upon), and other friends of his. the story was whimsically created in his head and told one day while he and a friend took alice and her sisters on a rowing trip, after which she made him promise to write it down for her.

so there is a little bit of history about the famous author and his most famous story. but i have to say that of all the movies made over the years, my favorite was the recent Tim Burton version. spectacular.

i even have an entire series of paintings entitled "chasing the white rabbit", which were derived from my similar experience as alice's with the search for the ever-elusive (fill in the blank...). mine was abstract painting. my elusive "thing" that i could never quite get a hold of, was to be able to paint a proper abstract. but i think i eventually did - and they all sold!

at any rate, i always try to include a little alice everywhere i go... even my cat is cheshire.

*courtesy wikipedia