My most recent personal project, a rework of an older piece. Brother and Sister has been one of my more popular paintings, and though I loved the concept and held the painting dear to my heart, I've felt for a while that I should revisit it. The difference is profound, at least to me... I look forward to seeing where my work is in another two years! Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two:
But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over it to drink, and, sure enough, no sooner had his lips touched the water than he fell on the grass transformed into a little Roebuck. Sister cried bitterly over her poor bewitched brother, and the little Roe wept too, and sat sadly by her side. At last the girl said: "Never mind, dear little fawn, I will never forsake you," and she took off her golden garter and tied it round the Roe's neck...
After they had gone a long, long way they came to a little house, and when the girl looked into it she found it was quite empty, and she thought. "Perhaps we might stay and live here."
So she hunted up leaves and moss to make a soft bed for the little Roe, and every morning and evening she went out and gathered roots, nuts, and berries for herself, and tender young grass for the fawn. And he fed from her hand, and played round her and seemed quite happy. In the evening, when sister was tired, she said her prayers and then laid her head on the fawn's back and fell sound asleep with it as a pillow. And if brother had but kept his natural form, really it would have been a most delightful kind of life.
(Original published 1890.)
