cinderella’s escape.
inspired the french fairy tale
cinderella's escape.
derived from the original french fairy tale telling, there are hidden gems of un-disney version characters in this painting. 6 mice, 6 lizards, & one rat to be precise. (fairy godmothers are sneaky beings, no?)
of course, your standard pumpkin carriage is there (a lady only needs one great ride), & the broom to signify her past, even though she seems to be running away from the thing she thinks she wants the most.
there’s a fleur de lis (it is a french fairy tale, after all, even though a version of this rags-to-riches story essentially exists in every culture around the world), the birds (for singing, as well as for doves at the wedding), the heart ribbon (romance and simplicity), cinderella’s wooden shoes (worn by house maids for chores), and one very shiny chandelier (royalty, the balls, the prince!)
see below for the painting process!
fun fact! the water cup i use for painting is a thermos from a cinderella lunchbox set i bought while working at the disney store on fifth avenue. (which i think is actually a ralph lauren now? or at least was the last time i was in the city.) ;)
once i’ve done all my research, i trace my final sketches onto tracing paper so i can fill in the background nice and tight like a pattern.
i place that tracing paper over my illustration board and use transfer paper to retrace the background pattern onto the board.
once my drawings are on the illustration board, i first fill in the background with all the same colour of paint.
once the background has been painted in, it’s time to start painting all the story icons!
so one icon at a time, i’ll mix my paint colour and paint in all of the same icons at the same time. so all the wooden shoes get painted with the same golden ochre. all the lizards get painted with the same mint green. all the mice get painted with… well, you get it.
i wanted cinderella running away from the ball (talk about a scary life change! oy! love! with a prince!) so i painted the chandelier outline in the upper right hand corner over the background painting first in black and then…
i put some gold acrylic paint over it so it would sparkle.
original painting has SOLD, but you can contact me for a list of available faerie tale feet pieces.
happy dancing!