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Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Red, Red Poppies. (Shadow of Oz Blog Party)

One of the most vivid memories I had as a child watching "The Wizard of Oz" was the gorgeous, but deadly poppy field. Even now, watching that scene unfold always gives me a shiver.
I think it's partly the way the Wicked Witch of the West murmured. "poppies, poppies...." as she cast her beautiful, awful spell.
The deep, rich color of the flowers, the swaying stems, the inevitable descent into slumber of Dorothy and her friends. It's surprisingly disturbing.
Shivers, I tell ya.
I always wondered, what would have happened to Dorothy if Glinda screwed up and made it rain instead of snow? What if she was distracted by misbehaving munchkins and missed the whole 'falling asleep in an opium poppy field' thing?

Maybe Dorothy woke up on her own a changed person. Maybe she found herself in a waking dream, forever altered, longing for home but unable to leave the field?

 Mixed medium canvas on 6x6 hardboard. The poppies are from a napkin I tore up, pumped up the color on the poppies with copic markers and applied to the canvas with matte medium. I painted the background with Mars black and titanium white acrylic paint...just dragged my brush across both colors and then swirled it around the canvas.

































After the paint dried, I used a permanent black marker and drew around the poppies and the swirly bits of paint until I felt like it was enough.

































The 'Dorothy' I used here is a drawing I did about a month ago and scanned into my computer.  I've been having a blast finding different ways to apply her image to things (see her HERE as a couple of altered art dolls).
I cut her image out and used colored pencils to give her a sickly pallor.
I applied her to the canvas using matte medium and then gave the whole piece a good coat to seal it up. 

Thank you Oma Linda for hosting this awesome, fun blog party!
For links to all the other party goers, click HERE. 
There are some wonderful folks over there eating h'ordeuvres and sipping beverages...go on over and say hello!


12 comments:

  1. Oh my stars.....I absolutely love this mixed media painting. And your story is something that I have had similar day dreams about.....what if. Love it so much. Thanks for making this year's Celebrate Oz so special by being on of the presenters. xoxo Oma Linda

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  2. This is an absolutely glorious painting! ...and one of my favourite images from the movie...that stunning subtly evil meadow :D XXX

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  3. Oh my goodness. That is just amazing. I love the way the poppies have woven themselves around her and her distant expression. Really stunning!

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  4. Love love LOVE your post and your artwork. I could sit here and scroll and enjoy all day, but then I'd either get caught in a field of poppies or snow.
    Love her blue gingham straps and of course the house in her hair. Her pallor is perfect!

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  5. Gorgeous gorgeous mixed media picture....love it!!

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  6. Outstanding work of art. Such fine talent. Be sure to stop by Magician of Oz and read my contribution to Shadow of Oz.

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  7. This is incredible. The texture, the way you achieved that perfect red, how you altered the face so that it would fit perfectly here (I went to see the other mixed media dolls, and noticed that only Dorothy has that red-eyed dreamy look. Brilliant!).

    Love the piece, and love, love, love the way you walk us through your process.

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  8. Oh my goodness I LOVE the artwork you created to celebrate Oz, the face, hair woven with storm poppies & 'no place like' home - Brilliant!!!

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  9. Your painting of Dorothy and the poppies is absolutely gorgeous!!

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  10. Love the color and the texture of your piece! I will go look for the other pieces where you used your Dorothy image!

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  11. The poppies always freaked me out too! LOL! Your art creation is magnificent! Truly wonderful ;o) Have fun at the party ;o)

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  12. This is a stunning art work!!! Very unique... and frightening to think how things might have gone wrong. Your Dorothy is beautiful in her pallor. Funny how images that are strange and sad....unexpected...are much more powerful and memorable than images that are happy and smugly positive.

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