Merritt Wilson Meets Andre Rieu
A follow-up to Merritt the Artist Attends Andre's Concert

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.

This is the follow up to Merritt's article about his paintings. 
To read his first article click here: