I have drawn a lot of fairies. A number are based on an acquaintance of mine who belly dances. I've videotaped her performing on a number of occasions, and once in a while I base a fairy on someone else she is dancing with whose movement I admire.

Tracy's instructor heard about these paintings and went to the gallery where I was selling them to see if perhaps I had based one on her. I had not.

She waited a whole year, wrestling with her vanity, she said. She wanted a fairy based on herself, but she did not want to be so vain as to ask. Finally she did, and I spent some time with her and her daughter watching, photographing and videotaping them as they danced and interacted with each other.

This is the result. She had wanted to see how another artist viewed her art and I believe she was happy with the result.