My Mermaid drawings are born from my love of mythology and the sea.
Mermaids emerge from the wavy blue corners of my mind with their own personality and style. Each tail - a fingerprint, ornate and uniquely theirs, their hair adorned with seaweed or shells, and often they are enjoying the company of fish and dolphins… all pulling the beauty of the sea into one unique being. Imagination, fantasy, play – until they are complete, then they are there - to tell their own stories.
I find mermaid mythology fascinating.
The Mermaid was portrayed as a creature of the water, a beautiful woman with the tail of a fish. To artists she has been symbolic of fertility and the unconscious - sometimes she carries a mirror that represents truth and the soul. Male equivalents are more rare, although the Tritons of Greek mythology (embodying wantonness) were mermen.
Originally an old sailor may have mistaken a breast feeding Manatee or Dugong as a “woman of the sea” and created the mythical ladies. A manatee does have two breast, produce milk and give birth to their live young, has short hair and even fingernails, but Manatees can also grow to 13 feet long - have a snout and whiskers and weigh as much as 3000 pounds! These men may have been at sea a bit too long or had too much grog in their daily rations.
Sirens were not the same as the kinder more wishful feminine Mermaid, Sirens had legs and lived at the edge of the sea (occasionally a confused artist - did depicted them as half fish) but they were not like the sweet mermaids. They were not nice! Luring sailors to the rocks with their irresistible serenade... ask Odysseus about his experience with them on the Odyssey.
If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at info@savanna.art.com