This painting was created for a competition at Eatpoo Forums. The brief was to illustrate a scene from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and I chose Alice's meeting with the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle, the latter of which is surely the most absurd character ever. I was inspired by a photo of a Jim Henson Productions version of the same scene, by Arthur Rackham's painted version, and style-wise by oil paintings and the work of Brian Despain.