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Ozma Plankton-Head, An Ideal Ruler

I decided to share this page from my sketchbook which is a collage of two of my favorite things. The first is Ozma of Oz because of her clarity, wisdom and rulership style–she goes around her kingdom with a magic wand, giving presents and having tea parties, ruling with a dainty fist filled with magical sparkles. I combined it with an illustration from my muse Ernst Haeckel, the amazing turn-of-the-century illustrator/scientist who not only accurately depicted plankton but successfully classified it and was in constant contact with his colleague, Charles Darwin. Pictured here, Ozma is thinking about plankton because “plankton is responsible for half the oxygen on our planet.”

Illustrated by Jno R. Neal, 1920.