Betta Mermaid and friends

She doesn't yet have a name and hasn't yet found a need for one.  Her trusty koi and eel know her by  heart.  They live together in a little secluded pool in a tropical forest.  She doesn't even care that she may be the last of her kind nor is she aware that her male counterpart lives a carefree life under the care of humans.  The male, Abernathy, is lonely despite the company of other fish bowl friends.  He longs for one of his own.  This female is not lonely.  She's too busy to care about finding a mate.  Her coloring is transparent, she's able to hide in plants and muck, wearing the colors of the water, fins short and hidden.  In this painting she is captured playing in an underwater pocket of sunlight.


A close up of her face.  She looks back at us from a distance.


Her koi friend seems to be telling her something.  The bubbles are like thought balloons over his head.


The eel is sly and a show off.  He's both cute and mischevious.  What sort of hi-jinks does he have planned?


Her webbed hand grasps after the light in a way that makes it appear as if she is holding the light.


Her other hand is shows us how pale she is in contrast to the water flora that surrounds her like a cape.

Here is the original drawing.  I wasn't pleased with the pose right away because it seemed too much like a magazine model pose.  Boring and silly.  But I never throw away an idea.  I came back to her because Abernathy (the painting of the betta merman I did months before) was really longing for a companion and it made me wonder what the female betta mermaid would look like.  A quick study of the fish and out came this sketch:



This is how it looked taped up on my drawing board:



Here she is taped up on my painting board.  The lighting is dim because my apartment is rather dim and the flash from my digital camera tends to wash everything out.  You can see how she developed and how much fun I had with the colors:




I just wanted to show you the painting that started it all.  Abernathy makes his next appearance below.  I created him out of a fantastical whim.  He kind of looks like a drag queen but you have to realize that Siamese Fighting Fish males are very showy, flowy, colorful, and slightly feminine.  They are the peacocks of tropical fish.  The females are thinner, shorter, smaller, and not as colorful with stubby fins, but just as beautiful.  You get the idea.  Abernathy found a pearl that he likes to wear on his forehead.  He's into things like that.  And by the mass of bubbles you see surrounding him, he's indicating that he longs for a mate.  I wonder what would happen if he saw another Betta merman OR saw his reflection?  Ouch.  Poor little guy.


Will these two ever meet?  You'll just have to wait and see...
I originally created these creatures for my nephews.  They were the first to see the development of these mer people and got really excited about it.  So I dedicate the fish to them and promise to write a little story about them someday soon!