This past weekend it truly felt like winter with the heavy snow and wintery mix of freezing rain and had me thinking of the Frost Fairies as I shoveled away the snow and ice and seeing remnants here and there of fall leaves.The Frost Fairies ("Delicate Dance of Winter") sculpted by Kent Melton was a Numbered Limited Edition (NLE) of 500 released in September 2005.
The Frost Fairies are from the Nutcracker Suite portion of Fantasia. The Nutcracker Suite a personified depiction of the changing of the seasons; first from summer to autumn, and then from autumn to winter. It features a variety of dances, just as in the original, but danced by animated fairies, fishes, flowers, mushrooms and leaves; no actual nutcracker is ever seen in this version. Many elements are rendered carefully and painstakingly using techniques such as drybrush and airbrush.
The Nutcracker Suite musical score was done by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Animation Supervisors were Fred Moore and Vladimir Tytla and Animation by Art Babbitt, Les Clark, Don Lusk, Sy Young, and Robert Stokes.
As an added treat, below is a portion of the Frost Fairy Sequence (courtesy of YouTube.com):
Nutcracker Suite portion from Disney's Fantasia is ©Disney
You summed it up perfectly Don. Shoveling on Sunday did have the Frost Fairy look with the autumn leaves coming through the snow, sleet and ice. Not a happy morning at all.
ReplyDeleteI usually bring this piece out to display right after the holidays. It really is a nice piece. I'm hoping for more of the Fantasia fairies to be done.
One of my most treasured pieces, particularly knowing what had to happen to allow me to get it! (A multitude of thanks to Janeene and Monte!!!)
ReplyDeleteThe thing that strikes me most about the piece is the shade of blue in the base. To me it is hypnotic!
Thanks for the Fantasia fix today, Don!
(Thanks also for allowing me to get in another shameless request for more Fantasia Fairies, and other Fantasia pieces! LOL!)
Hey Matthew, we have to take advantage of every opportunity we have to campaign or get in a shameless plug .. LOL!
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