05 May Why Mermaids?

Mermaids represent freedom to me. I have been drawing and painting them for as long as I can remember. The fantastical realm of mermaids and fairies has always spoken to my heart. Perhaps because I believe in the more magical side of life. I still have faith in the human spirit and our ability to create a better reality.

Mermaids invoke a feeling of feminine strength, empowerment, sensuality and wildness. All things I want more of in my own life!

I see mermaid imagery printed on things all the time and I always get excited like I’ve found some treasure from my secret tribe. My sister gave me a mermaid t-shirt a while ago while visiting me on Maui. I loved the gift and I also noticed how awkward the mermaid design was. It was clunky and stiff, not fluid and attractive on the shirt. I thought to myself “I could draw a better mermaid then this and put it on a shirt”.

This is a pet peeve of mine by the way. In the art world I often overhear people say they could do something better than what’s on the wall or pedestal. Maybe someone else could make a better piece of art BUT they haven’t actually done it and probably won’t ever so it doesn’t exist in reality. The artist on the actual wall brought the entire vision they had into tangible reality and had the courage to put it on a wall for someone to then criticize! So my point is…I heard myself doing the same thing and decided to do it! Through a series of synchronicities which included meeting a local screen printer at the right time…I reworked some of my mermaid paintings into line drawings and started to experiment with turning them into wearable art! I use a lot of gold and silver leaf in my original artwork so it was important to me to create some of the designs using metallic foil on the fabric.

I am working on some fairy inspired designs next but wanted to start somewhere so I let the sirens of the sea speak to my creative muse first.