And here is the wicked fairy/ Carabosse from the Sleeping Beauty/Briar Rose (I haven't decided on the title yet! I prefer Briar Rose, but the Sleeping Beauty is so much more recognisable...). This is the first finished painting - another 7 to go!
I decided I wanted to do a version of a fairy tale where the princess has glasses. One day I forgot to take my glasses off one day (I only use them for driving and watching films) when I was late to teach a dance class. One of my beautiful little dancers (bespectacled and all of eight years old) was so delighted to discover that I wore glasses it set me thinking how few bespectacled role models little girls have.
The boys have Harry Potter (hurrah for JK Rowling), but who is there for little girls to look up to? I had a think and I couldn't think of any childhood figures*...
And really why shouldn't a princess have glasses and be beautiful too?
To cut a long story short I am now working on a steampunk version of sleeping beauty (lots of clocks counting the years!)... we'll have to see how the rest of it turns out...
*Okay Velma from Scooby Doo..but let's face it she is wearing glasses because she is 'brainy'... glasses and brains have such a long association, but what about pretty girls, adventurous girls etc etc....rant rant
