Jane’s story;
I was a crooked toothed youngster who shared a birth date with Walt Disney (Dec 5 and 60 years later). With my talent for drawing my father encouraged me to paint a mural on my bedroom wall. I chose a rather dramatic scene of chaos from the Sorcerer’s Apprentice featuring Mickey Mouse as Merlin – my father showed me how to grid the picture from my favourite Disney book and draw up the scale on my wall with chalk. I began to paint with great enthusiasm and naturally interpretation, much to my father’s dismay. His discouragement led to the mural never being finished, and his disbelief in orthodontists prevented me ever getting my teeth straightened.
Many years later a dentist friend asked if I could paint a ‘little something’ on their surgery’s waiting room wall for the kids to look at while they waited.
I had been an endorsed artist for Sesame Street for 6 years but and had worked with most character licenses at that stage – but now it was my turn. And so The Friends of Feathertickle were born, naturally a tooth fairy was the hero and the world and the story unfolded from there – the scenes evolved organically and were painted around the surgery – I was paid with a set of shiny new veneers to replace my crooked front teeth and so the cycle was closed, the healing complete. It was this experience that created the drive behind my desire to share the world of FOF with children across the globe – because every child deserves a perfect smile …
