This is my first collaboration. I immediately knew what I didn’t want to do which made it that little bit easier to decide what I did. 150 years is a long time, which means there’s history to this classic tale.
“All good stories have a beginning, middle and an end” (I know you can hear your old English teacher too!) So this was the basis of my piece.
I started at the beginning with John Tenniel’s original fantastic black and white artwork, telling Alice’s story for the first publication in 1865. I selected a few of these to hand paint around the top tier of my piece.
The bottom tier represents Chapter one – ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’. I have used a black and white print which I created using the actual words of the story. The text was edited into a spiral with Rabbit’s watch painted just visible at the bottom of that hole. Caramel/ yellow is the only colour on both tiers originating from somewhere in the middle (or first third) of the 150 year period, when colour was added to Tenniel’s original artwork in 1911. Did you know Alice’s dress was first yellow?
The story ends with Chapter Eleven – ‘Alice’s Evidence’. I chose to bring Tenniel’s image of Alice, swarmed by the pack of cards, to life on the top of my piece. The Alice we all know today, with her signature blue dress, is now depicted in vibrant colour. I then added some colourful toadstools and flowers to the base board to finish.