Hello lovelies! The next illustrations really are all
about the story. I am just so in love with Baum’s writing. His little attention
to details and character development just melt my heart.
I wanted the art to mainly be about the description of
each of our travellers and how they spent their first night in Oz. I love the
bit about everyone having to wipe their feet on the green mat. The story tells
us:
So they passed through the Palace Gates
and were led into a big room with a green carpet and lovely green furniture set
with emeralds. The soldier made them all wipe their feet upon a green mat
before entering this room, and when they were seated, he said politely:
"Please make yourselves comfortable
while I go to the door of the Throne Room and tell Oz you are here."
They had to wait a long time before the
soldier returned. When, at last, he came back, Dorothy asked:
"Have you seen Oz?"
"Oh, no," returned the soldier;
"I have never seen him. But I spoke to him as he sat behind his screen and
gave him your message. He said he will grant you an audience, if you so desire;
but each one of you must enter his presence alone, and he will admit but one
each day. Therefore, as you must remain in the Palace for several days, I will
have you shown to rooms where you may rest in comfort after your journey."
Note: This is different
form the film where they all got to go in together.
"Thank you," replied the girl;
"that is very kind of Oz."
The soldier now blew upon a green whistle,
and at once a young girl, dressed in a pretty green silk gown, entered the
room. She had lovely green hair and green eyes, and she bowed low before
Dorothy as she said, "Follow me and I will show you your room."
So Dorothy said good-bye to all her
friends except Toto and taking the dog
in her arms followed the green girl through seven passages and up three flights
of stairs until they came to a room at the front of the Palace. It was the
sweetest little room in the world, with a soft comfortable bed that had sheets
of green silk and a green velvet counterpane. There was a tiny fountain in the
middle of the room, that shot a spray of green perfume into the air, to fall
back into a beautifully carved green marble basin. Beautiful green flowers
stood in the windows, and there was a shelf with a row of little green books.
When Dorothy had time to open these books she found them full of queer green
pictures that made her laugh, they were so funny.
In a wardrobe were many green dresses,
made of silk and satin and velvet; and all of them fitted Dorothy exactly.
This is the first of my illustrations. I used the quote
about all the dresses and sewed a tiny dress out of green velveteen with a
green ribbon sash and constructed a teeny metal hanger (that poked the crap out
of my thumb) which I covered in black electrical tape to prevent other
accidents. I also gave an iridescent wash of pink over Dorothy's words.
"Make yourself perfectly at
home," said the green girl, "and if you wish for anything ring the
bell. Oz will send for you tomorrow morning."
She left Dorothy alone and went back to
the others. These she also led to rooms, and each one of them found himself
lodged in a very pleasant part of the Palace. Of course this politeness was
wasted on the Scarecrow; for when he found himself alone in his room he stood
stupidly in one spot, just within the doorway, to wait till morning. It would
not rest him to lie down, and he could not close his eyes; so he remained all
night staring at a little spider which was weaving its web in a corner of the
room, just as if it were not one of the most wonderful rooms in the world.
This quote is the bottom half of the first page. I used the
quote about him staring at the spider and used my spiderweb and spider stamp
(of course someone named Spidergrrl has a spider stamp!) to be his illustration.
The Tin Woodman lay down on his bed from force of habit, for he remembered when he was made of flesh; but not being able to sleep, he passed the night moving his joints up and down to make sure they kept in good working order.
This is the top of my second page of illustration. I
used the silver wrapping paper that I used to make him several pages back as
well as the stencils and glued on his lower body exercising his joints.
The Lion would have preferred a bed of
dried leaves in the forest, and did not like being shut up in a room; but he
had too much sense to let this worry him, so he sprang upon the bed and rolled
himself up like a cat and purred himself asleep in a minute.
For this part of the illustration I sewed some green felt leaves
in a pile. I wanted most of the page to be green as they see everything in
green but decided to leave the Tin Woodman silver. I also thought to have two cloth and two paper illustrations for this double page spread.
The next morning, after breakfast, the
green maiden came to fetch Dorothy, and she dressed her in one of the prettiest
gowns, made of green brocaded satin. Dorothy put on a green silk apron and tied
a green ribbon around Toto's neck, and they started for the Throne Room of the
Great Oz.
Note: This description of
the green dress and green ribbon for Toto will be important in a few chapters.
Here they are side by side. I really like what I did
with the two shades of green paint in triangles. It reminds me of a harlequinade.
Stay tuned for the next illustration where our first
two friends meet very different Wizards.
I am fascinated by your "iridescent washes" and would love to see them in person.
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