This is a fairly tale of a different sort - the story of one woman's love affair with painting that started suddenly, bloomed quickly and surprised even the woman herself - who until the age of 36, had never even picked up a paint brush.

It was 1953 the year Helen Dunn was talked into joining an art class by some of her girlfriends from church. The first class was charcoals and she wasn't terribly fond of that.

The next week; watercolors. That medium didn't thrill her either.

The 3rd week, she attempted to get out of going to the class, but under peer pressure from her friends, she grudgingly went. It was at that class that she first painted with oils.

She chose to try painting a mountain scene. Once she got going she couldn't get herself to stop, painting most of the night. The next morning she took the finished piece back to the instructor who looked at in awe and told Helen that if she was able to paint like that with no instruction, she needed to go study with a master artist.

During her short time under that instructor, Helen quickly found that she could pick up an oil brush or knife and in a few short hours create a picture with the amazing color, depth and detail of accomplished artists. And so the fairy tale began...

No fairy tale is without a villain though, and in Helen's case that villain showed up in the form of her husband Fred's diagnosis with lung cancer that year. Fred was given 3 months to live. Despite her immense grief, Helen realized that she would need to support herself once he was gone.

So, she called a well-known artist from Colorado whose work she particularly admired. She asked him if he would consider giving her more lessons in the hope that she could one day sell some of her paintings. He asked her to bring an example of her work to his home.

Nervously standing on the front porch of his Cherry Hills home, Helen clutched a large painting of sunflowers and prayed that the artist would deem her talent worthy of his lessons. When she presented the work to him, he declared it a masterpiece. He gave Helen 5 or 6 lessons and always refused to take payment after each lesson.

Helen's paintings have hung in private and pubic collections throughout the United States, Scotland, Canada, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Australia and Europe. During her career as an artist she had 40 one-woman shows, taught art privately, and instructed classes at the Schlessman YMCA and at Cherry Hills Country Club. She served as president of the Denver Artist Guild and is listed in the Marquis Who's Who of American Women.

To make a good story great; Helen, 91 and Fred, 95 are still happily married. Fred survived his bout with lung cancer and the couple recently celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary. With the sale of Helen's paintings they were able to travel the world; visiting 19 countries on 3 continents and 5 islands.

They currently reside happily at Cherry Creek Retirement Village in Aurora, where Helen's paintings adorn their home, constantly reminding them that fairy tales always have a happy ending. The End