One of my favorite books as a child was The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. The story of Wanda Petronski, the misfit girl with a vivid imagination who was ostracized because of her unusual name and wardrobe, holds a tender place in my heart. It was one of the first books I purchased for my own girls, long before they learned to read, and I will always remember how wide their eyes were and how quietly they listened as I told them this sad little story.
A part of the story that captured my fancy was the brilliant array of dresses Wanda drew and hung in her room. A hundred dresses on a bedroom wall--all silk, all velvet, all colors. Imagine that! Can you understand why the dresses seemed to have a reality of their own, as they did in Wanda's mind? Mix a little deprivation and alienation together with the creative process and the results can be amazing.
At any rate, I was thinking about this the other day as I put away our copy of The Hundred Dresses for about the zillionth time, and the delightful notion came to me of making my own wall of dresses. Will there be quite one hundred? That is a good question. I think we are all familiar with the fact I can hardly commit myself to a cookie recipe long enough to pull it off, so let's not hitch our wagon to the stars just yet!
The other element of this project is that I intend to offer some of the original drawings for sale in my Etsy shop. I've had several requests or queries about Tollipop originals and I think maybe it's time to see if there truly is an interest for them.
I'm not really sure how to price originals, so if anyone thinks I got on my high horse, you may tell me so nicely. I myself think they are quite delightful--little 5x7 drawings painted carefully and with great pleasure using Dr. Ph Martin's radiant inks. Honestly, it looks as if these colors spilled their lifeblood for these paintings!
And although I wanted to tell you a bit about these young ladies, Astrid and Sabine, it is now getting late and well past my bedtime. Suffice it to say the lowdown on these two would cause you to set your knitting aside, pinch your cheeks, and rush to look out the window all at once. And I could never forgive myself for causing such an uproar! Dear me, never!
