Medium: Watercolor
Dimensions: 12" x 16"
Date: June 2003

This is a brand-new mermaid picture. This piece has a more pastel tone than what I normally paint. I really loved the greens, blues and copper that I used to create this painting. The entire paper is covered with a few coats of Winsor & Newton gum arabic to give it a glossy sheen and help the colors stand out and look like they are still wet.

About Mermaids:
Mermaids have long been in every culture's folktales and stories. They go by many names: mermaid, maerin, mermen, nereids, sirens, lorellei, minne, mari, harpies, ninyos, lamias, undines, apsara, iara, water nymphs... They are a permutation of the very ancient, primordial sea goddess, or fish goddess who has been called many names: Aphrodite, Yemanja, Tiamat, Mariamne, Kupala, Ran, Cliodna, Dubh Lacha, Ganga, Mami Wata, Sedna. Mermaids in Greek and Western myths are typically beautiful women on the top halves of their bodies, and fish on the lower halves, who spend a lot of time sunning and bathing themselves on sea and river rocks. They lure sailors by their beautiful singing, mesmerizing them to their deaths in the deep waters.

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