My name is Merritt Wilson. I’m 21 years old and have autism. I’m an artist, aspiring chef, film director and screen writer. This one is my first one that I drew of Andre Rieu. This one is a poster for the concert in Los Angeles next month.

Thank you {Sally} for calling me last week about my artwork of Andre Rieu. I would like to welcome Andre Rieu to Los Angeles and see him in person.

I drew some drawings of Andre Rieu and His orchestra members in a tribute to the Disney Animated films. Los Angeles is the home of the Disney Studios and Disneyland.

• The first one is a landscape drawing of René Henket playing the long royal fanfare trumpets. 
  The background I drew depicts a scene from Sleeping Beauty (1959) with the castle in the background and the hills in both the foreground. Two birds, an owl and a bluebird are perching on his trumpet. I painted it in the same style of the backgrounds in film.
   
• The next painting depicts Manoe Konings, who is the clarinet player in the orchestra sitting on a throne with a background from Cinderella (1950)
       Andre Rieu said in an interview that she reminds him of a fairy-tale princess. That inspired me to draw a portrait of her sitting in a throne with the castle on the left and the château on the right in the background.
   
• Next I created Andre Rieu playing his violin in a forest with some characters from Bambi (1942).
       I drew this one twice. A butterfly has landed on the scroll part of his violin. I wanted that to be a tribute to  the film and to Andre Rieu himself. I heard that he collects live butterflies and keeps them in a green house at his mansion in the Netherlands.  
       In both the first and second drawings Bambi and Faline are playing together by a river and in a flower bed. In the first one Thumper is watching Andre playing his violin. In the second one Flower, Friend Owl and Thumper watch Andre Rieu play while the Stag stands on a rock high above the trees, watching him in the background.
   
• Finally there is a drawing of the singer Carla Maffioletti with some characters from Pinocchio (1940).
       I loved her act when she pretended to be a doll when she sang and that inspired me to draw her and make her look like a marionette.   It depicts her singing on a stage with Figaro and Cleo watching the show in the foreground.  Pinocchio himself is waiting for his cue to come down the stairs in the background as in a tribute to the film.

These are my drawings of Andre Rieu and his Johan Strauss Orchestra that I want to give to them. I want to wow them as their music wowed me. The medium I use is water color paint and pencils.

I’m looking to seeing him in concert. I would love to meet him in person, as we have talked about. He will love these drawings. I hope they would like to hang them on the walls.

Sincerely,
Merritt Wilson

This one I sent to Andre Rieu in the mail. It depicts a violin with the Autism society ribbon in the background.

This one depicts Andre Rieu conducting his orchestra members.There is a camera operator on the left and I drew a caricature of myself.

This one depicts violinists Els Mercken, Freya Cremers, Kremi Minerva and Frank Stejns playing their violins in a concert.

This one depicts the brass section of the orchestra depicting the trumpeters René Henket and Rodger Diedren, French horn player Noel Perdans and the trombone players Leon van Wijk and Ruud Merx.I drew a music stand in the foreground and the score is the Mickey Mouse club theme by Jimmie Dodd. The color schemes are similar to the opening of Fantasia (1940).I did that in all of the drawings involving the orchestra.

This one depicts Andre Rieu leaning against a tree in a meadow in Tuscany.

This one depicts the orchestra on the right side. Some of the members are playing and the others are resting or waiting for their cue to play.

This one depicts the viola player Linda Custers sitting on a wall overlooking a lush river valley in the background behind her.

This one is a portrait of René Henket the other trumpeter.

This one is a portrait of Rodger Diederen, who is one of the trumpeters in the Johan Strauss Orchestra

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This one I sent to Andre Rieu in the mail. It depicts a violin with the Autism society ribbon in the background.

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!! AFTER CONCERT UPDATE !!

Merritt was able to meet Andre, give him 6 pictures and also give many of the orchestra members their individual pictures. They were thrilled!! Rene the trumpeter walked towards us and Merritt greeted him by name, which was a shock to him, and then Merritt gave him his pictures. He was so overjoyed that someone knew him and honored him by painting a picture of him. We eventually had everyone come to get their individual pictures Merritt had painted of them, 20 in all. Carla the soprano was especially appreciative of the picture of her as the marionette with Pinocchio in the background. She did that performance Sat night, so it was extra special to have to picture of it. She spent time with Merritt asking questions of him and he asked her about where she lives in Brazil. He was in heaven!

We had to wait a little bit to see Andre, but when he came over to greet us it was wonderful. Merritt explained the paintings to him. He loved the picture of his mansion Merritt painted. Most of the pictures had some Disney characters in them, which was interesting because some of the troupe were not that familiar with them. One picture Merritt gave to Andre was of him in an area of Long Beach called Shoreline Village. Andre felt honored that Merritt had "included him in his Village." Then we took pictures, with Andre wanting one "just with the Musician and the Artist."

Merritt was on cloud nine! "The happiest day of my life," he said.

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