Goldie and the Baby Bear

After I finished my Sheltered painting I was bitten by the big canvas bug! I really enjoyed the freedom that a bigger canvas was able to afford me, and seeing my big eyed girls on such a large scale was super exciting.

So I had been thinking about a series of paintings that were inspired by the fairy tales that I grew up on, the ones that for centuries have stood as warnings to young children about talking to strangers, going off into the woods, eating someones porridge 😉 etc

And I had often thought about Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood and the ‘creatures’ that they were so afraid of. And in my mind as a kid I thought it would be silly to be scared of a wolf and a bear, I thought they would make much better companions!

When I started this painting I thought that was where it was going. And it kind of did. But I didn’t intend for the baby bear to be so fearful and hiding behind Goldie’s skirt.

When I finished this painting my wee beastie came into the studio and looked at my painting.

‘Mama’ she said ‘you have painted me and you’

HUH!

She went on to tell me that there she was behind my skirt, and mama was protecting her and look mama there is a tattoo of you and me on your arm – that’s you giving me a hug!

Subconsciously I had been thinking about Wee Beastie a lot when I was painting this one – I had been worried about how she was doing at school and how she had been it a little bit of trouble because she was this beautiful wild and free child who suddenly was thrust into the education system.

A child who went to the local preschool where she was encouraged to play in water, climb trees and jump around when she felt like it. And suddenly she was in trouble for playing with water, jumping around and climbing trees.

And there she was in my painting, and me feeling all mama bear about the situation at school there I was standing in front of my wee beastie.

The thing that I love most about this painting is that my wee beastie actually figured out the painting before I did!

Unfortunately this painting doesn’t translate onto a print yet but the original is still available here and can been seen in person at Studio36a in Cowra.