Whilst Beauty Sleeps

A hyper-real oil painting style scene, straight out of a twisted gothic fairytale. The overwhelming detail in this artwork commands close inspection. The wallpaper has long gone and even lining falls away as the wood accumulates dust. I can almost smell the crumbling plasterwork.

The past always asks so many questions and has so many stories to tell, especially when the history is so evidently still present, untouched and forgotten.

It's a dilapidated piece of furniture in crumbling ruin, but a beauty once slept in this room. She sat at this dressing table for makeup and hair. Some young maiden, now long dead and buried, laughed and cried as she dressed. Who was she? Why did she abandon this particular piece of furniture? What happened? To my mind, the story is always in the unseen.

The inspiration for this picture is a near-derelict Victorian House. Forgotten and left to rot and ruin for almost a century. It has now been purchased and developed, but I hope the magic I found there lives on in this picture.

Whilst Beauty slept, the world crumbled around her. It's as if the House itself wants to reveal the forgotten story.