Susan recalled being read the story of Beauty and the Beast as a child from The Blue Book of Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang. It became one of her favorite subjects through the years and here we see an absolutely charming representation from 1984.

For Susan, an admitted romantic by nature, the heart of the fairy tale was at least threefold: finding beauty in unexpected places, the triumph of love over all and the growth (transformation) from young woman into the fullness of womanhood.

This piece is representative of a style that Susan adopted in the early 1980s of utilizing extensive pencil work to create beautiful, elaborate details and texture while using lightly worked areas to form an essential part of the piece. We see other characteristic details of her work, including the ethereal beauty of Beauty,  the attention to detail in the clothing, the emerging inner figure, checkerboard patterns, a doorway, the flowing branches in the upper right and the merging of animal and human forms echoes her shamanic pieces and reveals her love of transformation.

"Beauty and the Beast" is limited in edition to one-thousand. Each print is numbered in the margins and blind-stamped to insure authenticity.The image is printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, Bright White, 310gsm, Smooth Matte, 100% cotton archival paper, using state-of-the-art archival inks. Each print has full margins.