The Princess and the Frog: Disney Discoveries Collection I

Here it is. For the first time, I've painted an image based on the newest Disney animated feature, The Princess and the Frog. This painting is my initial image for the new Disney Discoveries Collection and hopefully there will be many more to come in the future as Disney creates new films every year. Hopefully, The Princess and the Frog will be a classic for many years to come!

Nanette's Apple Pie: A Holiday Treat

Nanette’s Fresh Apple Pie, featured on pages 32-33 in The Thomas Kinkade Cookbook, A Journey of Culinary Memories, is a delight and a Thanksgiving must. I promised to give you the recipe of her apple pie filling and here it is:

Fresh Apple Pie

Ingredients:

¾ cup sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled and cored tart apples (6-8 apples)
2 tablespoon butter, divided into pats
1 batch Standard Pie (from yesterday’s recipe for Nanette’s amazing pie crust)

Serves 10
1.) Heat oven to 425 degrees

2.) In a bowl, mix together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Add apples and mix thoroughly.

3.) Pour into a 9-inch, crust-lined pie pan and dot with butter. Cover with second crust, seal and flute edges and cut ½-inch slits in the top for steam to escape. Cover outer edge of pie with a 3-inch wide strip of aluminum foil. Bake pie, removing foil for last 15 minutes of cooking, until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, 40 to 50 minutes.

It's All in the Crust for a Great Apple Pie

This is Nanette’s incredible apple pie recipe. Making pies was thought to be an art in Nanette’s house as a child. She and her sister Suzanne would countless spend hours in the kitchen with their mother perfecting a great apple pie crust. Nanette’s mom wanted to be sure that she would always be able to bake a delicious pie. And believe me—she does!

First, this is how Nanette’s mom taught her how to make a wonderful pie crust. Tomorrow we’ll tell you how to create the filling.

Makes 2 Pie Crusts (9-inches each) for 1 Double-Crust Pie

Ingredients:
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 tablespoons cold water

1.) In a bowl combine flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in shortening until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all the flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans the sides of the bowl; add an additional 1 to 2 teaspoons water, if necessary.

2.) Divide pastry in half and shape each half into a flattened round. Place one round on a lightly floured cloth-covered board and, using a floured or stocking covered rolling pin, roll out a 11-inch diameter (2 inches larger than inverted pie plate). Fold pastry into quarters and place into pie pan. Unfold and press firmly against bottom and sides of pan. Add desired filing mixture.

3.) Roll and fold second crust. Place over filling and unfold. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal. Flute edge with fingers or a fork. Cover outer edge of pie with a 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

The Princess and the Frog

My newest Disney image tells the story of The Princess and the Frog in what I call a “narrative panorama”. Every Disney painting I’ve done strives to convey the complete film’s story line in one glimpse. The viewer’s eyes can look at the image and visualize the plot, the characters and the overall feeling communicated within the animated feature.

In The Princess and the Frog, my first painting for a Disney new release, the characters of the movie swirl about the composition, inviting us to ponder the part each plays in the story. We see the large mansion of Big Daddy, resplendent with an evening's party on the bayou. The old riverboat churns its way into the bay as a flight of fireflies flickers overhead, and Ray, the senior statesman of the fireflies, ponders the vista. In an example of the blended time frame for which my Disney paintings are known, we see Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen being observed by the frogs who are Tiana and Naveen in a different form. In the billowing smoke of the riverboat we see a hint of Facilier, the evil voodoo master, while below Mama Odie stands guard in her swampy home. Lewis, the trumpet playing alligator, reminds us that New Orleans is at heart a musical city, and the riverboat guests behind him wave greeting to one and all. If you look carefully, you can spot other characters from the movie hidden around the composition, as well as a few unexpected "Disney visitors" from earlier classics.

As the first piece in the series, The Princess and the Frog will no doubt experience an enthusiastic welcome by Disney and Kinkade fans worldwide. At its core, The Princess and the Frog painting, like the movie itself, portrays a romantic love story. And who can resist a love story?

Disney's Newest Princess is Here!

Within the last several years, I’ve been painting images based on many of the Disney classic films as part of my Disney Dreams Collection. My relationship with Disney has been a blessing and a gift.

Well, now I am painting a Disney image based on the company’s newest film, The Princess and the Frog. This painting is the first image in my new Disney Discoveries Collection. I am so pleased and excited to be honored by the Disney people for being chosen to do a painting based on this upcoming animated feature.

The Princess and the Frog has been brought to life with hand-drawn animation techniques, making it the first Disney traditional animation classic in years, as well as the first ever to be set in the enchanted city of New Orleans. In this painting, I’m striving to suggest the look of traditional animation yet maintain the sense of painterly mood that my work is known for.

Walt Disney said it all with a mouse, and this new film starts it all with a frog, you might say. The Princess and the Frog is an original story set in New Orleans during the Jazz Age (1920’s). Without divulging important story details, The Princess and the Frog is about Tiana, a young enterprising African-American woman who, inspired by her mother, Eudora (a gifted seamstress), and her father James (a wonderful cook), has big dreams of opening her own restaurant. Despite her determination, skill and talent, a number of obstacles are making her dream increasingly impossible.

A wonderful array of colorful characters comes into the story to make The Princess and the Frog another timeless gem from the amazing minds and artists of Disney. We’ll be featuring several of the characters in the film and offer some comments about the process of painting The Princess and the Frog within the next entries--so stay tuned to my blog for more on the film and my newest Disney image!

Nanette's Country Fresh Biscuits

As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm starting to think about Nanette's great Thanksgiving dishes, including her Country Fresh Biscuits, which are featured in The Thomas Kinkade Cookbook, A Journey of Culinary Memories, written by Nanette and myself.

Try Nanette's Country Fresh Biscuits and place them aside your turkey this Thanksgiving Day. Here's the recipe:

Country Fresh Biscuits

Makes 24

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup instant non-fat dry-milk powder
2 tablespoons double-acting baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup shortening
1 ½ tablespoons water

1.)Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2.)In a large bowl using a fork, mix together all ingredients except shortening and water. With pastry blender or two knives used scissor-fashion, cut shortening into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until moistened. If mixture is dry, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3.)Turn dough onto a floured work surface and, with floured hands, knead 8 to 10 times until smooth. With a floured rolling pin, roll dough ¾-inch thick. With a floured 2 1/2 –inch cookies cutter, cut biscuits and place into a baking sheet, 1 inch apart. Press trimmings together, roll together and cut. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

More About the The Disney Family Museum

The new Walt Disney Family Museum is creating a buzz not just in the San Francisco Bay Area but throughout the world. Here's more about this amazing museum:

The fascinating and inspiring story of Walt Disney, whose artistry, creations, and vision helped define 20th-century American culture, will be brought to life at The Walt Disney Family Museum, which opens in San Francisco on October 1, 2009. The Museum will illuminate Walt Disney’s tremendous successes, disappointments, and unyielding optimism as he pursued innovation and excellence while entertaining and enchanting generations worldwide through his pioneering ventures.

The creator of Mickey Mouse, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disneyland, and the global yet distinctly American company that bears his name, Disney was a risk-taker who started his first business at the age of 19 and worked tirelessly to elevate animation to an art form. He invented timeless and much beloved characters and stories that brought the fantastical to life and continue to inspire a sense of wonder. Through animated and live-action films, television programs, and theme parks, Disney created global symbols, icons, and characters that, more than 40 years after his death, are an indelible part of popular culture in America and around the world.

The Walt Disney Family Museum will illustrate how Disney’s irrepressible creativity enriched the imagination of generations. The Museum will tell the story of the man behind the myth in Disney’s own voice and in exhibits that reveal his expansive vision, from early drawings of some of his most popular characters to plans for Disneyland and EPCOT.

“My father has one of the most well-known names around the world, but as the Disney ‘brand’ has grown, the man has become lost,” said Diane Disney Miller, one of the Museum’s founders. “We are committed to telling the story of Walt Disney’s life, in his own words, and in the words of others who knew him well and worked with him. My father was very open, and in the many conversations and interviews that you will hear in the galleries, you learn the story of his life. It is a wonderful story, and Dad himself loved to tell it. Thanks to the amazing work of many dedicated people, we are fortunate to be able to tell it here using the tools he worked with—art, music, film, and technology—to present an honest yet affectionate portrait of this amazing artist and man.”

“From Steamboat Willie to Pinocchio to EPCOT, Walt Disney’s unyielding ambition was to ignite a sense of wonder and to mesmerize audiences through great storytelling,” said Richard Benefield, Founding Executive Director of The Walt Disney Family Museum. “He recognized the power of art to spark the imagination and, time and again, pushed himself and his companies to the breaking point as he pursued the highest level of excellence in everything he did. The Walt Disney Family Museum will present the compelling story of his life—of his successes and failures—as he entertained and enlightened the nation while it struggled with the Great Depression, joined the fight of World War II, and entered a golden age of prosperity and preeminence.”