September 24, 2015
I have loved Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking
Glass (the books) since childhood. And I
love some hard and surrealistic rock. So
doing ‘White Rabbit’ by Jefferson Airplane was an easy choice. (I did own The Surrealistic
Pillow album.) However I did the
painting in the book sense rather than the Grace Slick sense. But I put in all the elements mentioned in
the song. The white rabbit is prominent
with a lovely herringbone jacket. The
caterpillar is on the mushroom with his hookah and smoke billowing around. Alice is in the 3-inch stage, peeking over
the mushroom. In the background you can
see the chessboard, the White Knight and the Red Queen. Here is where Grace made a mistake. The Red Queen in the book is the chess queen. Grace meant the Queen of Hearts (“off with
her head”), not the Red Queen. But using
the Queen of Hearts in the lyrics would have messed up the rhythm so it is OK. I have a nod to the surrealistic with the
large flowers. And if you peek around
the left edge of the canvas, you will see the dormouse in the sugar bowl. ( I
don’t think that he ever said “Feed your head.”) Perhaps I should have gone more surrealistic,
but that is not in vogue these days. And
there is a possibility that someone might want to buy The White Rabbit for a
child’s or grandchild’s room. It is a
bright and colorful image. Come to the
show at the Hoogland Center for the Arts.
It runs from opening night on October 17 through December 3. Hope to see you.
