Little Brother and Little Sister
Chapter One: The Deer
Here is work-in-progress for a project loosely based on the Grimm story about siblings who run away to live in the woods; the little boy drinks some enchanted water which turns him into a deer. I have been making short animation clips, oil paintings, watercolour drawings to explore the themes that appeal to me about this story, including: care, siblings and faith and was delighted to have the opportunity to show some of the work in Letchworth as part of my bursary from the Letchworth Open.
Here’s some information about my bursary exhibition at the Broadway Gallery in Letchworth in 2025. Extremely grateful to the gallery for all their help and support.
And here is a tiny (doll’s house sized) book to print, colour and cover. It’s linked to the first part of the story with space for you to decide what happens next. (Children will need a little help.)
Below are some of the paintings and animated moments from my version of the story.
Chapter Two: The Wild boy
At the end of part one, Buck’s sister Martha believes that he had been transformed into a deer and takes him with her to live in a deserted house in the woods.
But in fact Buck has just run away in a temper and when he returns, expecting to find his frightened and worried sister, he finds nobody.
He spends a few days waiting and hoping for his sister’s return, getting hungrier and hungrier until he hears somebody calling his sister’s name and finds an old woman calling her small dog. Buck jumps to the conclusion that his sister has been transformed into a dog possibly by the old woman whom he believes to be a witch (and the story continues from there).
In the clip below Buck is watching terrified, believing the old woman is the Cailleach, an ancient hag who brings the winter frosts and storms, and that she has changed his sister into a dog. Everything she does convinces him that this is true, including the way she casts the white enchanted looking dust on her food before eating it. Buck decides that he must get hold of this magic caster to change his sister into a girl and he plans to creep down that night when the witch is sleeping.