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ALICE IN WONDERLAND is a wonder-ful, odd and slightly unnerving tale loved by people old and people young across and around the world, as well as me. In Lewis Carroll's sequel, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Alice meets the White Queen, who informs her that she tries to believe at least six impossible things before breakfast; and what an admirable ambition indeed! Today I am lucky enough to be featured on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast - Why Stop At Six? ~ a fabulous blog about books. Jules and Eisha, who have created an entertaining and informative haven of bookish and sometimes non-bookish things, have written a lovely thing about my work for this week's featured illustrator post. I am among a host of other fabulous illustrators featured, and archived helpfully there for later perusal. Do wander over and explore.
To continue the Alice theme, I would like to introduce you to an exquisite edition of Alice In Wonderland that I have had on my shelf for a few years (snippets to the left), but which never fails to enchant me.
This book (perched inexplicably up there in our lovely little ebay-snaffled belfast sink that sits at present in the corner of the bedroom, waiting to be fitted into the ever developing home-on-wheels) is illustrated by Iassen Ghiuselev a Bulgarian artist with the most amazing and old fashioned sort of talent, whose medieval wonderland of works demonstrate enviable skill with light and foreshortening.
The main illustrations from this book are all taken from one painting, measuring 20 inches by 40 inches, which took him six years to complete... it is painted with gouache on wooden panel and is for me both humbling and inspiring to look at.
All the topsy-turvyness of Alice's world is represented, Escher-like in a dimension-defying landscape populated by Cheshire cats and Duchesses, playing cards and piglets, white rabbits and hatted madmen, marmalade jars and dormice ...
I was pleased to find that he now has a website where you can see his Alice works and many others: Pinoccio, Don Quixote, Arthur, Orpheus as well as several tarot decks to name a few.
The other day Tui was taking off the big front wheels of our truck and swapping them with the back ones (with good reason :) but it's not relevant here) and lo and behold, what should he find living in the 6mm gap between the brake drum and where the wheel goes round but these handsome fellows ... each one on a different wheel!! Isn't that just incredible? We are unsure what they are... moths-in-waiting perhaps? You can see the wings being formed. They are now hiding in a dark slightly-ajar drawer, so maybe soon a magnificent and beautiful beast will spread its wings and fly forth slightly dizzily.
I think the White Queen with her believing of six impossible things before breakfast would have been quite bowled over indeed to hear of these tiny creatures metamorphosing inside a beautiful shell going round and round and round and round and round and ...
And do click on them to make them larger ~ Tui's photos are so good you can almost see their thoughts ...
