"Swansong", 16x20, oil on linen panel, Swan Lake, ballet, ballet art, ballerina portrait, Odette, Swan Song, on pointe, classical dance, paintings of dancers

 "Swansong", 16x20, oil on linen panel

Odette is the tragic heroine in the classical ballet Swan Lake. Odette is a princess turned into a swan by the evil sorcerer Von Rothbart's curse, who wants his evil daughter Odile (the Black Swan) to wrestle the handsome Prince Sigfried's heart away from the gentle Odette. The ballet is a love story of enchantment and tragedy, as only the Prince's undying love can break the curse and free Odette and the other swan maidens of the sorcerer's curse.

When I was artistic director of my ballet company back in the 1990's, we performed a full length Swan Lake 2 or 3 different times. The challenges of staging a ballet of this magnitude on a small company were tremendous, but I was ambitious and the rewards of re-creating the magic of that ballet eventually overshadowed the work that was involved. I have painted this scene before, but had the urge to paint Odette again in memory of the many hours of love I put into the restaging of that ballet !

Ballet, art, and music are all similar passions. When one has an artistic passion, it dictates their lives for that particular season. Luckily for me, I no longer need to do an entrechat quatre in order to fill my passion. 

May every creative person continue to fill the world with beauty, through music, dance, art, and poetry!

"First Pointe Shoes", 9x12, oil on panel, ballet art, little ballerina, first pointe shoes, young dancer, master class, Vaganova method, dance, ballet, on pointe, paintings of dancers

 "First Pointe Shoes", 9x12, oil on panel

To a budding young ballerina, nothing in the world is as important than her first pointe shoes! As the former director of a large ballet school and regional ballet company, parents would often anxiously ask me if their daughter was ready to go on pointe.

Obviously, this question will depend on many things. Here is a very good article that discusses this issue and although every child is different, your child's teacher is the best judge of when she will be ready.

I painted this to commemorate your little dancer's special day. It was painted in the impressionist style, and after the Vaganova training method that I used as a syllabus in my own school.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting, please use this link.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Leave a comment if you enjoyed this post.