Is this creature a product of rough seas and a protective nature, or is she something with an entirely different agenda? One thing is for sure... She has been a great conversation piece!
A little background on this and Hearts Desire: There used to be a night club in Tacoma called "The Siren Lounge". It was a great place for hanging out and watching shows, but they used to have these hideous pictures of poorly drawn mermaids all over their walls. One night, I asked the owner "If I make you some mermaid paintings, will you hang them in here?" After seeing some of my other work, he said yes. SO, I began the process of creation. Alas, about half way through creating the first painting, the nightclub was shut down. What a bummer! That didn't stop me from finishing it though, and I continued with the other piece I had planned called "Dangers Ahead" (below). These occasionally venture out into sundry gallery showings, but largely reside at my humble abode. Both are for sale.
Tools Used: Chalk Pastel on Canson Paper, Adobe Photoshop (on the digital version)
Arriving at an art gallery showing up in Anacortes, WA.
Applying a little local color on top of the under and lighting layers. My next step will be to add details.
This is the finished original pastel piece, and is available as a limited edition giclee.
A digitally enhanced version of my painting simply because I wanted to play with it more. This was a super fun piece to create from start to finish. I feel like the digital version best represents the feeling I was going for.
Detail of Mr. Crab snuggling against her tentacles.