Once upon a time....

The first painting in my series.

Remember when you were young and your imagination was so vivid? I remember swearing up and down that Santa Claus snuck in my room to kiss me goodnight... that my cat was a REAL baby and NEEDED to wear the baby clothes. And yes, I really did have a twin sister named Patty...REALLY! OK, so maybe we were never in the room at the same time and my Mom couldn't remember being pregnant with twins... I wanted a twin sister so bad, I guess I thought if I willed her to exist, she would. 

As I got older I realized you couldn't will people to exist, but you could bring them to life in a story.  I would draw funny portraits, each person with their own story. Henrietta Peachbottom lived on the lake, had 50 cats and loved to practice her high wire act in the backyard. Jacques VanTankersnitch would race cars and collect umbrellas until he was killed by an elevator falling on his head. Hey, I didn't say they were all happy tales.

Luckily I had a best friend who had her own stories to tell. So we would spend hours drawing and creating new people in magical places. And we never stopped.

When I started painting again I wanted each painting to tell a story.  For my first series I chose to paint existing fairy tale characters while putting my own twist on they're story. Haven't you ever wondered what it would have been like if Little Red Riding Hood garnished a whip and tamed the big bad wolf? Or if Hansel and Gretel were actually two headed siamese twins that ate the evil witch? It's a series I decided to call Fairy Tale Circus.

So maybe I can will someone to exist after all. If I paint them does it not make them real? After I'm done with my Fairy Tales, maybe I'll make my evil twin! Watch out world, here comes Patty!