The Red Shoes Part 3: Mary Poppins

Red Shoes Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins was one of my favorite books as a child. She was a combination of Queen of the Night and Fairy Godmother, powerful and scary, yet mysteriously loving and the bringer of magic. She could communicate with the animals, who in turn honored her.  In this painting, she has exchanged her prim and proper black hat, black shoes and black umbrella for all red ones. She has left prim and proper Cherry Tree Lane for the vegetative wilds, accompanied by her friends the red foxes.

Other stories about life-giving red:  The Old Woman and her Red Boots told by Clarissa Pinkola-Estes in her collection Late Bloomer, tales of the Dangerous Old Woman.