Week 2 - Chapter 13 Challenge: The Best Butter!

Oops, I'm a day late. I guess I lost more than the hours sleep this weekend.

"The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What day of the month is it?' he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.'
`Two days wrong!' sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn't suit the works!' he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
`It was the BEST butter,' the March Hare meekly replied.
`Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,' the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn't have put it in with the bread-knife.'
The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the BEST butter, you know.'"
--Chapter 7; Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

For the month of March, how could we resist a challenge honoring the March Hare? We are challenging you to use "the best butter," as in butter yellow!

Our sponsor, Red Eowyn, is offering a one sheet of Alice in Wonderland stamps to the randomly selected winner of this month's challenge! The March Hare is the owner and illustrator's favorite Alice character, so of course we had to do her challenge in March. http://www.redeowyn.com/category.php?categoryID=1 has beautifully cleaned up the original Tenniel illustrations to make truly clear images that are a delight to stamp. The unmounted sheets include a variety of fun Alice sentiments, so be sure to check them out. In addition to Alice stamps, Red Eowyn also has wonderfully realistic animal stamps and some amazing dragons in the Fantasy category! Free U.S. shipping is included.
You have until Friday, March 23 to show us your best butter! Entries that feature Wonderland will be given two chances at the random drawing instead of one. Multiple entries are allowed but each must be on a separate post.

For my inspiration project this month, I started with a canvas and created a subtly plaid background in butter yellow. I used my Pan Pastels, one of my favorite mediums for doing large backgrounds. (I do spray with Workable Fixative to avoid any smearing.) I painted the path through Wonderland and then stamped my characters, colored them with Copics, and cut out the images to adhere on the piece.

At the beginning of the path, Alice is about to go through the Looking Glass. Throughout Wonderland there is so much activity. All of the stamps used except the tea party are from Red Eowyn. I am so enamored with the Teniel drawings and Red Eowyn has lots of images available. Here the Red Queen has a few words for the King.

The March hare has a message for Alice. The white rabbit is in such a hurry, he drops his gloves. The unicorn and lion are deep in conversation. These are such wonderful images and are so great to work with.