i wish…
inspired by into the woods.
i wish...
faerie tale feet piece inspired by sondheim & lapine's musical into the woods.
everybody wishes for something. and as sondheim & lapine’s brilliant musical teaches us, “be careful what you wish for. wishes come true.”
i have to confess, the first time i learned of this musical was a quip from the gilmore girls. brad returns from a stint on broadway as jack ,and paris, of course, torments him with his solo from the play. so after that episode, i dashed to barnes & noble, bought the two-disc original broadway cast recording, and my dreams of seeing it were realized when disney produced its lavish film in time for Christmas 2014.
like most sondheim works, the characters sing over each other occasionally. but it’s still a lovely sound. and reading the original book that was published from the 1988 broadway script put all the characters into perspective.
have a look below at my process for painting this piece. and then i’ll let you know all the icons i hid in the background to reflect the tale in this faerie tale feet piece entitled, “i wish…” (both the first & last lines of this piece of musical theatre!)
after i did all my research (reading the original script, watching the filmed original broadway production, watching the disney version over and over and then with commentary, etc.), i created by background pattern out of the story icons most relevant to telling the tale.
once all the icons were decided upon and the giant’s boots were drawn, i traced them from my sketchbook and onto tracing paper- and taped the drawing on top of my watercolour paper.
using my handy magnifying lamp, i put transfer paper between my pattern drawing and my watercolour paper so i can retrace all the icons so i know where to paint.
once my pattern drawing has been transferred to the watercolour paper, i start adding colour! my favourite part!! i paint around all the icons and used a bit of frisket mask liquid to paint in milky white (jack’s cow) to keep her nice & clean & the color of the paper below. (i think i need a new bottle of it, though. mine went on pretty chunky.)
oh la la! first layer of colour is down! now we keep adding details and shading and adjusting washes and colours- and those boots have a ways to go before they’re done!
every time i exercise in my local park, i feel like leslie knope would be proud of me. i would like to think i earned another pawnee goddess badge for using my local park trees for reference.
painting landscapes aren’t my strongest suit. but i had to add some WOODS for a piece inspired by “into the WOODS,” of course. so i did my best, painting trees on top of my finished background painting.
here’s a look at the detail of the giant’s boots & pants. i’m quite pleased. and i know the giant’s wife didn’t step ON the baker’s wife, but i did put her scarf below his left foot. because: symbolism. & ohhhh the drama of act ii!
included story iconography:
the items needed to break the curse on the baker’s house (& family tree):
one: the cow as white as milk
two: the cape as red as blood
three: the hair as yellow as corn
four: the slipper as pure as gold
also included:
cabbage/rampion- there’s a long linguistic history here, but “rapunzel” is the baker’s sister he didn’t know he had, & also his neighbor (the witch)’s captive/adopted daughter. rapunzel is a type of cabbage, which is why one of the princes comments what a ridiculous name his brother’s beloved obsession has.
cinderella (the golden slipper) wishes to go to the king’s festival, so there’s a royal purple banner with the king’s crown atop it.
there’s red’s basket she carries to granny’s house.
there’s the wolf.
there’s the five magic beans the baker & his wife pay jack for his cow, milky white.
there’s jack’s milk pail.
there’s the baker’s loaf of bread.
there’s golden eggs from the hen and the golden harp that jack brought down from the giant’s house in the sky.
there’s a lantern for traveling through the woods at all hours.
the baker’s hat.
three babies (rapunzel’s twins, plus the baker’s son once the curse is lifted)
the black glasses (cinderella’s birds blind her two meanie stepsisters)
the silver goblet the witch drinks the potion out of to lift the curse once all the items are fed to the cow.
cinderella’s birds (who also help her pick the lentils out of the ashes, even though her stepmother still won’t let her go to the festival)
two crowns (the princes)
vines around the giant’s boots (the beanstalk)
red’s knife (she gets pretty feisty after she gets eaten by the wolf & rescued)
the scissors the witch used to cut rapunzel’s hair to keep the prince from ever visiting again
campanula paunculus- rampion- a purple bellflower in the witch’s garden, another derivative for “rapunzel” when you go back to the latin. and the wolf sings to red about missing all the flowers by staying on the path to grandmother’s house. tempting.
i think that’s it… oh! three moons over the woods because the baker & his wife only had three midnights to collect all the objects the witch required to break the spell– the curse on their family tree and the curse of old age & ugliness the witch’s mother placed on her for losing the magic beans that the baker’s father stole out of her garden so many years ago.
it’s a magically inter-woven plot and musical. i’m a sucker for a good fairy tale mash up. and set to music? all the better. even if act II isn’t quite as happy as act I. plot twist!
as cinderella’s mother/tree sings:
“are you certain what you wish
is what you want?
if you know what you want,
then make a wish.”
original framed painting available for $560 (+$40 for safe US shipping). message me if you’d like to collect it for your magical home! (painting is 14x6” framed in a soft black handmade wooden frame to 21x13” total.)