The Dark Side of Wonderland / Combining AI Art and Digital Painting
Even as a child, I have was fascinated by the ephemeral nature and the beauty of the folk tales. This fascination has followed me into adulthood. I spent my childhood in the mysteriously rich and exciting world of Slavic folk tales, permeated by foreboding forests, thunderous seas, ragged legends and fairy tales. Steeped in dark myth and wild legends, these tales paint a world of witchcraft and magic, a land of mystery, beliefs and traditions. Wild and wonderful tales, folklore is seeming of mysterious and fearsome beings and spirits.
Doorways
A door can interpreted as a transition or passageway from one place to another, and often symbolizes the passage from one world or realm to another, as in religion, mythology, and literature. A closed door hides the unknown, albeit good or evil.
Time
Tempus Fugit – Clocks and other time pieces convince us of the "movement" or transition from one instance to another. Past time can signify "lost youth," or unrequited love, where future time is often construed as anticipation and hopefulness.
Young Alice
As children, we understand that absolutely anything and everything is possible. Limited only by imagination and readily excepting of any new and exciting circumstance no matter how magical and/or unworldly it may seem.
Eyes
The eyes are the window to your soul. (William Shakespeare) We not only see and comprehend the world around us with our eyes, but they also allow others the see into us.
Grown-up Alice
In a human lifetime, we gather more and more information about the solidity of the world in which we inhabit. In doing so, we lose our child-born, wide-eyed wonder and unfettered imagination. The "real" world seeps into our lives like water through a cheese grating until we no longer recall the breath of a dragon or the words of a talking cat.
White Rabbit
Follow the white rabbit. It will ultimately lead you to the beginning of the truth, or perhaps, beyond.
Magic Mirror
The reflection of a mirror is never true. It is the merely a reflection of the truth... a reversed image of what may be real. Gazing into a mirror will never tell you who you are, but it will give you a reflection of who you think you are. But what if that ubiquitous reflection were a complete "other" world steeped in opposite or contradicting reality?
Cat
Superstition veils the cat in centuries of domestication. Yes, cats have managed to totally domesticate humans to their every whim. Worshipped as gods or feared as demons, cats are the embodiment of curiosity, cleverness, and magic. Independent, spontaneous, and playful, cats are simultaneously wise and very foolish.
The Magical Space
Doors and mirrors can lead to spaces where magic lives. In these rooms, the possibilities are endless. Day can be night, time can slow or even stop completely. These places can be far away or just next door. Unfortunately, only children can find them.
The Queen
The human heart has hidden treasures, In secret kept, in silence sealed; The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures, Whose charms were broken if revealed. ~Charlotte Bronte.
Caterpillar
Since transformation is the central law that rules their little lives, caterpillars are first and foremost symbolic of it. The traits of patience, endurance, determination, and deception are also associated with them.
Mad Hatter
The most extensive use of headgear as a symbol of freedom and it helps to get into the alternate world.
Mouse
The small, the meek the timid is the mouse. Living in the fields, beaches, and pantry, the mouse never passes up the opportunity to take tea with a passing, dusky sparrow.
