Silver Shoes and a Yellow Brick Road--Oz pages 7 and 8

Hello lovelies! I have completed two more pages of my altered book. I am particularly proud of page 7. 

 The book is very clear in its details about the need for food and water (and how when we meet the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman they do not need food like a "meat person" and the lion goes off to hunt for food in a "don't ask, don't tell" sort of way) so this chapter begins with her sorting out food--some slices of buttered bread and low hanging fruit are put in a pail as she doesn't know when she will be able to eat next. She and Toto drink from a sparkling stream as well. After her physical needs are met the story says:

 Dorothy had only one other dress, but that happened to be clean and was hanging on a peg beside her bed. It was gingham, with checks of white and blue; and although the blue was somewhat faded with many washings, it was still a pretty frock. The girl washed herself carefully, dressed herself in the clean gingham, and tied her pink sunbonnet on her head. She took a little basket and filled it with bread from the cupboard, laying a white cloth over the top. Then she looked down at her feet and noticed how old and worn her shoes were.

"They surely will never do for a long journey, Toto," she said. And Toto looked up into her face with his little black eyes and wagged his tail to show he knew what she meant.

At that moment Dorothy saw lying on the table the silver shoes that had belonged to the Witch of the East.

"I wonder if they will fit me," she said to Toto. "They would be just the thing to take a long walk in, for they could not wear out."

She took off her old leather shoes and tried on the silver ones, which fitted her as well as if they had been made for her.

I chose this last line as the one to illustrate. I wanted to have a nod to the film as well, so I covered the background with some red painted tissue paper as a reference to the ruby slippers (as well as the fact that the silver shoes really pop on the red background!) This tissue paper is amazing—it is part of a set that we bought that was painted by Eric Carle and then mass produced so you can create art just like the illustrator of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

 I made the legs and glued on silver shoes made from glitter card. I used the same printed paper with faded blue and white checks as I did on the first page to make her dress and I carefully tore the edges of the  quotes and gave them a wash with silver watercolour paint and distressed the edges with black pencil.

 For the next page I wanted to illustrate the yellow brick road.

There were several roads nearby, but it did not take her long to find the one paved with yellow bricks. Within a short time she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow road-bed. The sun shone bright and the birds sang sweetly, and Dorothy did not feel nearly so bad as you might think a little girl would who had been suddenly whisked away from her own country and set down in the midst of a strange land.

 I printed every word of the quote in separate little bricks and printed it on yellow paper. I painted the background a lush vibrant green using three shades of paint so the bricks would really stand out. I debated about placement over and over, endlessly rearranging the bricks. It would look more road-like if they were closer, but it was hard to read that way. And you had to add in extra blank bricks to make it work. And the spacing never quite worked out and I was out of yellow paper etc etc. I like how it ended up—as a suggestion of the yellow brick road rather than a literal one.

Here they are side by side:

Another part of the story I debated about illustrating because I liked it so much was her first night in Oz, but ultimately, I could not think of how to illustrate it and so it was left out. But I can share the text with you now.

Toward evening, when Dorothy was tired with her long walk and began to wonder where she should pass the night, she came to a house rather larger than the rest. On the green lawn before it many men and women were dancing. Five little fiddlers played as loudly as possible, and the people were laughing and singing, while a big table nearby was loaded with delicious fruits and nuts, pies and cakes, and many other good things to eat.

The people greeted Dorothy kindly, and invited her to supper and to pass the night with them; for this was the home of one of the richest Munchkins in the land, and his friends were gathered with him to celebrate their freedom from the bondage of the Wicked Witch.

Dorothy ate a hearty supper and was waited upon by the rich Munchkin himself, whose name was Boq. Then she sat upon a settee and watched the people dance.

When Boq saw her silver shoes he said, "You must be a great sorceress."

"Why?" asked the girl.

"Because you wear silver shoes and have killed the Wicked Witch. Besides, you have white in your frock, and only witches and sorceresses wear white."

"My dress is blue and white checked," said Dorothy, smoothing out the wrinkles in it.

"It is kind of you to wear that," said Boq. "Blue is the colour of the Munchkins, and white is the witch colour. So we know you are a friendly witch."

Dorothy did not know what to say to this, for all the people seemed to think her a witch, and she knew very well she was only an ordinary little girl who had come by the chance of a cyclone into a strange land.

The writing is so good and interesting I never tire of it.

 Stay tuned for the meeting of Dorothy’s first companion.