anne with an e.
inspired by the anne of green gables series.
"anne with an E."
faerie tale feet piece inspired by l. m. montgomery's anne of green gables series.
while not a child in the books for very long, anne is remembered as the dreamy, poetry-quoting chatterbox of book one in l.m. montgomery’s “anne of green gables” series of novels and short stories.
it was anne’s passion for beauty in life– in her deep love of all the quirky characters she met along life’s winding path that helped her grow into the resplendent, graceful, poised, grown-up anne we probably all aspire to be.
passionate in conviction and temper, she never aged because she never lost the youthful glow of wonderment.
anne continued to be surprised by the beauty of each new spring, and welcomed each new neighbor into her roster of collected characters. from pithy & pious rachel lynde (my personal favorite just because she made me laugh the most) to finally releasing her grudge against handsome gilbert blythe.
the eventual mrs. dr. cared for her neighbors, dressed impeccably, played matchmaker more than she needed to, and probably never got rid of those 7 freckles on her nose.
her family grew in excellence of character for she never laughed at her children’s woes, but nurtured them in spirit and hope.
while my life’s winding path will never resemble the idylls of rural canada, and my home currently won’t fit six children, and while i’ll never have the carrot*red hair of anne (& my mother’s!), she gives me much to aspire to.
much like peter pan, anne of green gables embodies youth, joy, and freedom. but somehow, unlike peter, anne maintains this quality of life even as a grown*up. and what’s more elegant than that?
look out below for my process of painting my faerie tale feet piece “anne with an E.” inspired by l.m. montgomery’s 8 anne of green gables novels. (there are a few more short story collections from avonlea and anne’s life with gil that i still need to read, but after 8 books, i had WAY more than enough anne escapades and adventures to include in this painting! trust me, these 24 border icons took a lot of editing down from my many notecards of anne anecdotes & memorable quotes!)
so i picked up my niece from school and took her shoe “shopping” to be my model anne walking on the roof of the kitchen… thankfully she had not as far to fall on the squishy benches. and i found a lot of “modern” anne fall boots i’d love to own! i also modeled myself in my husband’s art studio for a bit more weightiness to the balancing act.
after going back through all my margin notes from the novels, i start collecting imagery and sketching ideas…
once my final icons were decided upon, i made them into a quilt-like border instead of my usual patterned background. some shapes were just going to work better as mini-paintings instead of silhouettes. so this is the first time i’ve done that for a faerie tale feet piece! and i think it works well for avonlea ladies were always quilting and sewing for their neighbors in need or celebrating!
starting to add colour here… i really love how the carpet bag turned out… and marilla’s amethyst broach…
i wasn’t super happy with the first boots i’d drawn, so i re-did that portion of the painting. you see here my new sketch ready to transfer down onto the almost-all painted roof and background starting to come together…
here’s a detail shot of the limited edition reproduction. one of my favorite patches are gog and magog- the chinese sculpture dogs anne inherits from patty (of patty’s place!)
here’s the signed, limited edition reproduction.
included story iconography:
and starting at the top left-hand corner are the icons you’ll find… i’ll keep details sparse to prevent spoilers as you enjoy montgomery’s books and discover anne’s adventures again or for the very first time like i did! (the patches are pretty much chronological through all 8 books going clockwise!)
the carpet bag anne carries (& holds together) when matthew cuthbert first picks her up at the train station
the amethyst brooch that led to a very creative confession from anne who wanted to go to the picnic and taste ice cream for the very first time
carrot. which quickly led to the next block…
the slate anne broke over gilbert’s head for calling her “carrots.” and the pink candy heart he left on her desk for an apology. “you are sweet.”
the raspberry cordial diana (anne’s lifelong bosom friend) accidentally got drunk on by serving herself one too many tumblers full… (totally marilla’s fault for not labeling the bottles in the pantry!)
the ipecac that saved diana’s baby sister’s life; a night which restored anne to mrs. barry’s good favor and restored her bosom friend to her.
the scissors marilla used to cut anne’s hair when she bought dye from a traveling salesman to try to dye it raven black instead of its brilliant red (it turned green. naturally.)
puffed sleeves! envy of all, even matthew knew something was different about how marilla dressed anne compared to the other school girls.
the boat. both in which the lady of shallot drowned, or with which gilbert rescued anne from the bridge pilings after her dramatic and too-close-to-reality reenactment of the tragic poem.
the cow anne accidentally sold thinking it was her wayward cow and not her neighbor’s actual milking cow.
in the books, marilla and anne adopt twins. totally left out of the classic tv adaptation. so the toad is for the toad davy put in marilla’s bed (thankfully he confessed & the toad was rescued before marilla went to bed!), and the bucket for when dora had the incident with the well.
firecrackers for the naughty (so deplorable!) meanies that put them in the school fireplace when poor anne was just trying to teach a classroom full of snobby girls…
green gables where orphan anne makes her first home with marilla and marilla’s kindhearted and quiet-in-spirit brother matthew (in the books, anne references how the whole house was faded green paint; the historic landmark house that inspired montgomery to write these books is the silhouette i used.)
birch trees. anne’s favorite.
anne was a reader, and of course a writer. in book four, she would write gil love letters (“censored” for the readers; but man, i wanted to hear the mushy stuff she wrote to her beloved med student fiance!!) only if she had the RIGHT pen… so the tip is a heart.
the puppy anne got Katherine (with a K!) for Christmas when she came to green gables with anne for holiday instead of staying at her depressing boarding house with no friends.
in rainbow valley, where anne and gil start their family, book six opens with aunt mary maria living with them and making everyone miserable. the thing that FINALLY sends her packing is that anne threw her a surprise birthday party- BUT actually put 55 candles on her cake which embarrassed her right out of town!
gog looks right and magog looks left. two china dogs that anne was enraptured with when she and her other schoolmates rented patty’s place. they were bequeathed to anne, and made for some embarrassing moments when neighbors came to call!
the teddy bear represents little Jem, anne and gil’s eldest surviving child. she eventually had six children (and joyce was buried first.)
the lighthouse at four winds. i really enjoyed book 5 where we met captain jim, heard his adventures, and i think that was the book where the thought-to-be-widow has some new romance in her life because anne brings him to town to write captain jim’s stories and capture them in a bestseller…
rilla (anne and gil’s youngest) was often collecting baskets full of strawberries.
the blue soup tureen in which rilla brings home Jims, a war orphan, home… and raises to the surprise of all!
a canadian violet. anne was often wandering through and dreaming in fields of trees and flowers… and while she was a stately iris in gil’s eyes, i love the sweetness of the violet. as book two says, “… [gil’s] future must be worthy of its goddess.”
“having adventures comes natural to some people.
you just have a gift for them or you haven’t.”
(anne of avonlea, pg. 159)
i sure hope YOU do!
the original painting is available for collecting. painting is 11 x 11” and framed in a handmade soft black wooden frame to 19” square.
$460 + $40 for safe US shipping. contact me! :)