wendy loves peter pan.
inspired my wendy darling of j.m. barrie’s peter and wendy.
"wendy loves peter pan."
faerie tale feet painting inspired by wendy of j.m. barrie's peter pan.
oh, boy do i love peter pan by j.m. barrie. i can literally count on my shelves um, well, upwards of three dozen different published editions, illustrated editions, or novel spin-offs of the classic tale. plus, half a dozen dvds and as many cds. i’m a bit obsessed, but let’s just call me an avid collector of pixie dust, eh?
“wendy loves peter pan.”
there’s no denying that.
but how do we get to neverland? second star to the right & straight on ’til morning, of course.
join wendy as she flies over the london skyline (london*ish, i mostly looked at mary poppins sets for reference; ha) and onward & upward to unceasing adventures with peter & the lost boys.
of course there are forces to be reckoned with: jealousy. tink. the exotic tiger lily. mermaids. each foe a danger to wendy’s ego and self*assured motherly ways. but the girl has spirit. and even the obvious foes: pirates. hook. the draw of home. but nothing can hinder her womanly wiles and shadow*re-attaching sewing skills.
fly away wendy.
and don’t deny that heart of yours.
have a look at the creation process below, and then i'll tell you all the story icons you can find in the background...
after doing all of my story research, and having taken notes in the margins of what icons would best tell wendy’s tale, i create a pattern from those shapes out of my sketchbook. here is my pattern drawing ready to transfer down to my illustration board.
i tape down my pattern drawing and use graphite paper to create those thin lines you see. the first step is to mix up the color of gouache paint i want to use as my background color and painstakingly paint around alllllllll those story icon shapes. this has to be done in one sitting for paint consistency and usually takes 7ish hours.
after the background is filled in, i mix a new colour of paint for each shape. so all the mermaids are the same shade of purple. then i’ll mix a blue for captain hook’s hook and fill all those in…. and keep going until we have a completed piece!
just some of the peter pan media and references in my collection….
included story iconography:
flamingoes and...
mermaids!! both were of course what wendy wanted to see when peter taunted her with running away to neverland
younger brother michael’s teddy bear
the pirate scabbard
hook’s hook
tiger lily’s profile
tinker bell
that crocodile intent on consuming the rest of capt. jas. hook
and of course, you can find the “map” to neverland hidden in the stars. i’d take the one on the right if i were you.
original painting has SOLD, but you can contact me for a list of available faerie tale feet pieces.
& yes, peter got his own painting too. as did tink. & captain hook. ;)