Ballet Art and Tutu Paintings - Where it All Began
Artistic inspiration can come at anytime from virtually any source. But sometimes it comes from within...from a memory or a dream that has been carried in the heart for a lifetime. My Ballet Paintings and Tutu Artwork grew from seeds of inspiration sown in my childhood.
Before my father was a shoe designer, he was a shoe salesman. A very good shoe salesman for the exclusive shoe salon of Joseph Antell - Boston.
I would often visit my father at work…though secretly I was there just to experience the salon! The entire store had the most beautiful ballerina paintings. To me, it was like a fairy land; I slowly strolled from one painting to the next like it was my own personal art gallery. I would lean close, observing the seemingly random brushstrokes, but as I slowly stepped back, I watched those dabs of color create a window into the entrancing world of ballet.
Of course my parents signed me up for ballet lessons; but sadly, the grace and eloquence of a ballerina was not in my feet. But it was in my hands. And it could be transferred to a paintbrush.
A lifelong adoration of ballet coupled with growing up in a shoe salon surrounded by ballerina paintings of the masters, inspired me to create my own collection of tutu paintings and artwork. It was such a natural fit! Tutus are so whimsical and graceful; they were a perfect complement to my romantic artwork.
Though most of my ballet artwork focuses on the tutu, I will on rare occasion paint the ballerina herself. One of my more recent paintings "Ballet Dreamer" shows a rose-petal adorned ballerina bathed in pink light. I feel like not only a tribute to professional or even aspiring ballerinas, but to those of us that are merely the dreams as well.
Painting can sometimes be difficult; it takes time to consider the subject and how to best portray the feeling behind it. But with "Ballet Dreamer" I feel like my inner-ballerina was ready to come out! I hope you enjoy this painting as much as I enjoyed painting it.
