I am so happy to finally be able to share with you my recent painting “Leap and the Sleeping Princess”. I don’t remember exactly what I was looking for when I took up the book of John Bauer paintings, full of the stories he created his images for…but I landed on this page with Leap and the princess and fell in love. I knew immediately I wanted to try and recreate it in my own style.
The painting started out completely different to how it was now. I had originally thought to make it suit the story more… Leap takes the princess to his own in the marshlands were she sheds her dress and sleeps in the reeds.
But it just wasn’t flowing. It felt chunky and stagnant in my style so I had to mentally break free from the original image and story and recreate it with my own voice.
Now I’ve had a hell of a time trying to take pictures of this painting. My camera could not capture the moose’s fur and even know I am not 100% happy with how it appears in the finaly image. But its never easy is it. It has many shades and nuances to it from the night sky – it’s just one of those pieces better appreciated in person.
I had been out to the forest just before I started on the foliage and took lots of inspiration from what I saw there. Leaves turning red, berries, delicate white flowers… you name it. I put it all into the ground around the sleeping princess.
Special thanks to my model Leya for helping me recreate this piece! I hope to do a varnishing video in the future which will hopefully show off the colors and details better. You can follow me on tiktok or instagram to see it!
This painting measures 40 x 30 cm and is painted on fine Belgian linen. It is available for purchase for 9000 swedish crowns. <3