Friday, February 12, 2010

Dorothy and Toto on the Kansas Prairies


Haven't updated for a while but I have been keeping busy with this piece. I have two other pieces in the works, one that is not OZ related, but I will be stretching a new piece of paper this weekend for my next full OZ Illustration. Below are a few excerpts from the book that helped inform this piece:

Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife...Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere...When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at....It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings.

Thank you for looking! :)