The Princess and the Golden Excuse

I had to get this one out of my system.
It's not particularly deep or meaningful, but it made me smile.
It's a subject I've visited many times over the years, and I had to give it a shake to see how it would come out this time.
I've always found the story a bit dodgy - the idea of a Princess who loses a golden ball that is returned to her by a helpful frog who then demands all kinds of inappropriate rewards.
When he turns into the obligatory handsome prince in her bed chamber, no one bats an eyelid.
Yeah, right...
Maybe, in the real world she'd get the shiny thing back, dump the amphibious nuisance down the drain and turn the castle into a centre for women's studies.

The models for this were Manda, who has more than a touch of Alice about her, and Maxine who always adds a touch of class.
And a wasp whose name I didn't catch.

The background is full of visual touches I've collected over the years.
The castle is from a Mucha sketch, the grasses from a Heath Robinson illustration and the lilies from this painting,which I did when I first started out  as a landscape painter, in 1982.
Strange how things come full circle...