Alice and the Frozen Moon

"Alice and the Frozen Moon" - oil on Yupo, 22 x 24.  Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

​It's dreamy weather
We're on
You waved your crooked wand
Along an icy pond
With a frozen moon
A murder of silhouette
Crows I saw
And the tears on my face
And the skates on the pond
They spell Alice.
 - TOM WAITS, "Alice"

A last moment in Wonderland, where Alice finds herself in a dystopian landscape under a frozen moon.  As always, our Alice is observant, curious, contemplative.  We leave her here now, in solitude, booted and ready to explore other worlds.

Alice and the Frozen Moon

What has been uncovered while in the rabbit hole?  The many sides of Alice, the peculiarity of life and the nonsense of trying to understand others and their realities, and the many dark shadows surrounding the creation of Alice in the real world.  And as life imitates art, my own plunge into a rabbit hole has revealed nonsensical situations, people and dark shadows as well.

I've got a pile of books in the studio, and I pause to read and reflect while contemplating the paintings in their various stages.  Permission to Feel (recommended by blogger, reader and artist extraordinaire Dotty Seiter) has been a map through some of the more challenging parts of my own Wonderland.  The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay, has me teary and grateful.  Journey of the Heart, by John Welwood, has me nodding and feeling seen in the world of sensitive hearts.  And now, these and others are interwoven here in the studio with Alice and all the symbolism of an extraordinary, timeless story.

Let's head off together, dear reader, on the next adventure now.  TTFN, Alice.  I'm sure we'll be back again. xo

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click on the image to buy the art

About the art:  the inspiration for this piece resulted from a long afternoon with the AI bot and imagining Alice in various unexpected places.  By combining more illustrative concepts with an abstracted background, a forboding, dystopian landscape emerged.

Beginning with a gamsol and paint laden brush, I sketched the basic composition of the piece in loose, watery shapes on yupo, leaving a blank spot for Alice and for the moon to preserve the whites a bit.  Slowly building layers with rubber wedge, paper towel, chopsticks and palette knives, then creating Alice with tiny brushes and hard edges.  As always, resisting the urge to overly define the background shapes and instead focusing on the path of light.  

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​It's the final day of A Song For The Hunted.  

​Helaine and I are overwhelmed by and so grateful for all the positivity, support, delight, love, purchases, shares, and comments from all who visited our show.  

Thank you!