I was thrilled to find this tightly curled rose in a community rose garden just outside of West Wyalong, New South Wales. I’ve called this painting Through the Looking Glass after the Lewis Carrol’s sequel to Alice in Wonderland and when you step through the looking glass you are in another, surreal world.

Whilst painting the swirling petals I felt like Alice swirling down the rabbit burrow:

“The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything…Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end! `I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?’ she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth.”

And whilst we are in with Alice in Wonderland there’s good story about roses from the Queen of Hearts garden.

“A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red. Alice thought this a very curious thing, and she went nearer to watch them…”Would you tell me, please,” said Alice, a little timidly, “why you are painting those roses?” … “Why, the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake.”

Well that’s a nice segue to my next large painting I am working on. I’ve drawn the rose onto the white canvas and now I’m going to paint the roses red!