I love Fairytales deeply. I have happy memories of them as a child, and even more heartfelt are the precious memories of watching them with my little girl.
I love the music and artistry of the movies, similar to a novel for some I think they are an escape for me.
Painting this was an absolute joy, the movie or soundtrack playing at all times while I worked on it.
I wanted to come up with my own scene as opposed to just copying one from the film. I like the fun details such as Merriweather noticing Maleficent in the woods and running and hollering to tell the others who are hanging laundry.
I've had some people give me a hard time about copyright issues but I did not sell this. And I've had others say its not very original to spend my time on Disney themes as opposed to coming up with my own. But I really don't care because it is a personal joy and escape for me to get lost in the music and mood and make something new from my favorite characters and places.
This hung in my living room for almost two years, and then through Facebook I learned about a teenage girl near my area who is non-verbal autistic and loves Disney Princesses so much that the only time she speaks is to quote them.
I got in touch with her mother, we all met for dinner and I gave her the painting for her sweet 16th, which now hangs in her room.
And a sweet surprise when she gave me a hand-blown glass pumpkin in return that her daughter made. We all find joy in Disney and we keep in touch to this day.
I am currently starting my own Beauty and the Beast scene. I'm sure I'll enjoy that a while too and then something meant to be will happen with it before moving on to the next!
