sea fairy

Medium: Watercolor
Dimensions: 9" x 12"
Date: January 2003

This is a mermaid who is also a fairy. She is very serene and sitting on a rock, contemplating life. It is a pretty recent painting of mine and I loved painting it.

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.

About Fairies:
Lore of fairies, faeries, or fay/fey are abundant in many cultures throughout the world. Fairies are nature entities endowed with the powers of magic and enchantment. They go by various names in a variety of cultures - in Greek they are nymphs, in Arabic they are the djinn or jinni (genie), the Scandanavians have trolls, the Germans elves and the British pixies. Sometimes they are also known as brownies. They can be good or demonic, but typically they are mischievious and live in the natural world, such as meadows and forests. If you are lucky, they may even enchant your garden. The fairy religion was also known as the Goddess religion in Europe. Morgan le Fay was also known as Morgan the Fairy, and the Isle of Avalon and her part of the Arthurian legend was one of the last vestiges of Goddess worship.