Snow White

My own version of the "Evil Queen" of Snow White.

"Spieglein, Spieglein, an der Wand
Wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?"

I don't like to see people in black and white. In my opinion the Queen is a very sad and anxious person. Why ? First because jealousy is (for me) a total nonsense. Secondly i crossed the road of some very jealous, envious persons, and all of them were nervous, insecure, agressive... and (even if most of them used to play a part) deeply sad... And in fact maybe it's not Snow White, but a reflect of her idealized self that she hates and would like to kill - because she cannot be this "self" - this idealized, perfect, eternally young (like Snow White is in her glass coffin) woman. Though, in the mirror (or in herself) she has to kill her in order to live.

Here's a detail of the face. I worked on the face a long time, layer by layer : first i put the colors, shadows, etc., and then i work on the texture of the skin with little dots or thin lines of various tones or colors, and then i slowly blur them in the skin, etc.).

Esmeralda

Almost finished :)

“To a gargoyle on the ramparts of Notre Dame, as Esmeralda rides off with Gringoire,
Quasimodo says : "Why was I not made of stone like thee?" ”

Victor Hugo, The hunchback of Notre-Dame 

 Photo (c) Les Créations du Paon d'Or

The Book

New beginning : Saint François d'Assise

Thérèse de Lisieux

 « Il faut toujours prier comme si l'action était inutile et agir comme si la prière était insuffisante.» 

  Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux.

 I've always felt close to this uncompromising, passionate young woman who slowly but strongly understood that trust and reliance were thousand times more powerful than mortification and sacrifice.

New beginning : The Swan

Nouveau tableau en cours : Le Cygne.

Trust

“You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.”

 Anton Chekhov

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”

Golda Meir

My model for this very special painting (which is still not achieved) is my dog (a crossbreed wire haired podenco who was rescued from a pereira in Ceuta, Spain). His name is Dartagnan, and his story is very special too. At the beginning he was so afraid that one couldn't touch and go near to him, and he has improved so, so much :)

Dartagnan

When he came at home, sad and skinny :

And now :

 

And 

  

And here's his "fiancee", my beautiful princess Doris :)  (also rescued ;)