onward, dorothy.
inspired by the wonderful wizard of oz.
"onward, dorothy."
faerie tale feet painting inspired by l. frank baum's the wonderful wizard of oz.
based on l. frank baum’s the wonderful wizard of oz, “onward, dorothy” is an exciting command to just keep going on life’s great big adventure.
i pictured the background as both a checkerboard of obstacles she must overcome, as well as an allusion to that infamous yellow brick road.
the sepia frame is another reference to both the classic movie’s opening scenes which were NOT in full technicolor, and again, that yellow brick road, the path she has to follow and conquer on her way to oz.
in baum’s novel, the slippers were of course silver. but mgm, wanting to show off their new technicolor technology, gave us the illustrious ruby slippers. so i fudged a bit on the original source material, but come on– who doesn’t want a pair of ruby slippers that sparkle that well?!
have a look at the process below and then i'll explain the background story icons from the tale!
in my sketchbook, i had to plan out the icon arrangements for the checkerboard pattern.
yes, i do my layouts with tape & paper & transfer paper. none of this computer nonsense. ;) #doitthehardway
i used graphite paper to transfer the icon drawings to illustration board for consistency. (can still see my super-faint checkerboard lines.)
and one-by-one, we start painting the background colours!
more greens for days…
ah… the ruby slippers. how convenient that red is the complementary colour of green to make them pop even more!
pop pop pop…. adding contrast and painterly sequins.
white gouache highlights + ooooh, i want those shoes!
included story iconography:
dorothy’s basket
toto her trusted sidekick companion on both sides of the rainbow
the wicked witch of the west’s broom
a crow for the scarecrow
an oil can for the tin man
the cowardly lion’s silhouette
emerald glasses (in the book, not everything in the emerald city was actually the color emerald, the visitors were given a pair of green-shade sunglasses to wear!)
original painting has SOLD, but you can contact me for a list of available faerie tale feet pieces.
check out another oz (full rainbow!) piece i painted here: "& we're off!"
& fun fact, the piece of art that made me want to be an artist/illustrator was dorothy & the gang entering the emerald city with their green-colored glasses in place, a watercolor piece by charles santore i saw at a children’s book illustration exhibit at the chrysler museum of art when i was in high school. breathtaking. check it out in this book at bookshop.org.
bonus fact: i am legitimately obsessed with the wizard of oz. (and i’m still mad at gone with the wind for winning the best picture oscar in 1929 over my personal favourite classic piece of cinema.) ;) here’s some of my collection. i love all the illustrated editions. the ridiculous novels (so absolutely surreal and quirky). broadway adaptations, making-of-the-movie lore, and more. (regrettably, the muppets wizard of oz is awful; but maybe someday they’re redo it for me.) and i keep a lot of my tubes of gouache paint in my dorothy lunchbox tin. one of my many goals in life is to own a pair of sparkly red shoes. this could be the year… ;)