This project was inspired by Alice in Wonderland and alice through the looking glass. I began by taking photos of my little sister in an Alice costume. These pictures are all displayed in my book however a few are shown below in different sinarios.
I tried to focus on the saturated colours and the sickley sweet apperance of the photos with this dark and deep hidden meaning. This is because I think this is the main point of the film and the book I like. How eery it is. I also wanted to look at the confusion Alice has and how lost she is. I tried to show this by making the pictures blur in a controlled way and by having her lost in the darkness.
Other things I wanted to show in my pictures were the fact that this little girl is doing things she shouldnt be doing. This is the reason for the Vodka bottle. To me the film is all about confusion and this is the thing that gives it its weird element.
I also took some picture of objects which relate to Alice in wonderland. A few selected images are shown below:
I was very pleased with these pictures. They allowed me to start thinking more about what I could actually do for my final piece. I copied a few of these images and although most are shown in my book there are a few photos below:
The image on the left are aproximatley A1 size and wer made by copying a couple of my images which related well together in a series. I looked at the Pre Raphaelite artists for imspiration for the style of this piece. These images are below. I copied the art history in black and white to practice the style. This is by Robert Everett Millais and the painting is called Ophelia.
For this image I wanted to focus on the warm colours and creepy saturated image. I made this with oil pastels. The warm glow of the image is sinister. This is also shown in the pencil drawing also to the left.
The image on the right is a pencil drawing of a Alice which I merged with a couple of teapots. This is where i first experimented with the confusion of size. the scale of this image is confusing and weird. I also brew the landscape falling in wards to give the effect of Alice falling into a hole.
The images on the left were done so i could experiment with media. It also involves the veiwer as they are able to open and close the window to see the little girl and the bottle of vodka. She looked innocent and as though she knows thats its wrong however is almost offering it to the veiwer. This is confusing and almost humerous. The humour is added by allowing the veiwer to participate in the art.
This is when I looked at the artis Paula Rego, Her sinister and ambigous home settings seemed perfect correspondants to my artwork. A 20 minute copy is shown on the right along with the original.
After this I wanted to look further into the weirdness of the story so I dressed up as an interpretation of the March hare. these images are shown 
below and to the left along with an art copy of this image. shown further belowThe Pictures I have made below show how I have developed with mixing the images with different media. I especially focused on the cards. I drew the March Hare photo of myself onto some cards in pen to experiment with using mixed media. I think it is good as it is not too clear what the image is of adding to its weird effect and cofused meaning.I used the teapot below to draw on an image of my sister with white board pen for a photo. This was just experimenting with different media.
Another example of this is shown on the right. I used the Queen of hearts from a pack of cards for my inspiration. As i noticed that cards usually have very small intricate detailing I used the inside of letters to form this collage. It was difficult to cut the pieces the right shapes and sizes but I think it has worked well.
I also wanted to look at the aspect of direction and doors. For this Ii cut 2 door shape out of my paper and stuck 2 images behind them. They are the same but also opposite as one is in summer and one is in winter. This is adding to the confusion and dimentions of Alice in wonderland. It is also experimenting with houses as was done before. I had quite a strong idea of my direction after this. These images are shown below.
After making these things I had a good idea. Another aspect of Alice In Wonderland I like is the way it shows the changes in size and the feeling of being trapped. Alice grows and shrinks repetitavley during the film. After this size is only relative to her surroundings. Everything is confused.
I decided to make a series of houses which would go on peoples heads to give the impression of size confusion and being trapped. In my opinion the trapped aspect in the book and the film it a metaphor for her own mind and her own personality in the time of growing up. I wanted to show this by trapping my friends heads in some houses. A few images of this are shown below however there are alot in my book.
I am very pleased with My photos. A copy of one of these images is shown above. I experimented with watercolour pensils to get this effect. I feel it works well with the theme as is messy and confusing.
I still needed a final piece. I decided to put the houses and the photos together to make one big house with paintings on the side.
For this I had to use new and original ideas. I made the bricks by stamping a rubber in paint and printing it onto the polyboard and cut the windows out with a blade. I also decided to tile the roof with cards overlapping. I think the repetition works well and at first it is not noticable that they are cards. I also had cards flattened under the house so it looks as though the house has fallen from the sky and crushed them. This is also inspired from the film where all of the cards are falling about when they are attempting to catch Alice. I hung keys from the roof of the house dangling freely. It adds to the weird gravity in the film and the keys are just out of reach for Alice to get to. I wanted to give the illusion of size in this too so all of the little Alices' are shown as different sizes. The pictures of my final House are shown below. I am very pleased with the outcome.
