Del Rey Scarecrow

For The Scarecrow of Oz, Michael Herring broke away from his earlier practice of repeating a John R. Neill illustration as a full fledged painting. Here he has taken a moment in the book which Neill did illustrate, but has fleshed it out into a much more complete image.

The Scarecrow, Trot, Cap'n Bill, and Button Bright flying out of Jinxland on the backs of Orks (not the Lord of the Rings variety) was pictured by Neill, but in a very simple manner. Here we see a more dramatic image of the characters set against one of Herring's lovely skies.

They are supposed to be flying on a fine moonlit night into the Quadling country, although it almost appears to be mid-day in the painting - the moon must have been very bright! The red trees are correct for the Quadlings, but the ground seems rather lavender, more of what I would expect for the Gillikin country - but maybe that's the moonlight. Aside from these quibbles, it's a lovely image.