Watercolor @ MindSay

After working a long while (about two weeks) on this painting, I began to see the Betta Mermaid as a Merman and, in my mind as I tried to sleep, I keep seeing a few different female versions of a Siamese Fighting Fish-maid.  The name that comes to mind is that this "guy" is Abernathy.  I've always liked that name.  Sounds antique and nautical to me, like he was discovered in an old sea coastal town...

When we last left our buddy, Abernathy, this is how he looked:


Sometimes, in order to finish a really good painting, you have to stop work on it and just stare at it for awhile.  After that while, I realized that the scales should appear more translucent. Normally I don't use a lot of white watercolor, I usually just erase color with water, but since I put a lot of dark color on his scales, a washing out would overall give a more gray lavender sheen underneath the scales. So here is the result:


Here's a close-up of the detail I put in his mysterious eyes:

Can you see how he has started to seem more male in personality and appearance? I love how character develops like that. Start with a few strokes of the brush and pencil lines and soon someone you didn't expect at first appears!

Here is where I started to become more and more satisfied with the appearance of the scales. This was the moment I came to know the figure as "Abernathy" and started to fall in love with him.

What would you do if you encountered this Merman? Doesn't he look fierce?

To show you the scale of the painting, I took a photo of Mr. Snuggles carefully stepping around my drawing board.

To check my detail, I often take a photo of a painting in black and white. I also, if I have enough time and computer access, scan in the painting, invert the colors, and/or reverse it to see how it would look in a book. I do this not just to gauge a different perspective, but to see if I got anything in improper perspective. Then it's back to refining the image.

I don't think Abernathy would be totally alone in his tank, so as I began to detail the bubbles in the water and background, I lifted some color with water to allow some space for a few new watery friends...

Enter a goldfish and a guppy! Now we can really see how small (or is that how big?) Abernathy really is. Considering the size of the other fish, I now see him as being almost as big as a kitten.

And now we are nearly done with the painting. The goldfish and guppy (someone wanna come up with some names for them?) are more detailed and Abernathy is looking more and more pleased with himself. I imagine a male Betta merman would be kind of like a peacock -- not necessarily conceited, but happy being the only one of his kind and secure knowing that he is the most beautiful thing in his world.

If you are keen to notice, our Abernathy is ready to mate. He has begun to build a nest of bubbles at the surface of the tank. He doesn't know yet if there are any female Betta mermaids to be found, but he's willing to send out a mating call into the universe.

From close-up you can see a slight smile on Abernathy's face. Maybe all he needs is you?

Wait and see.

The first two images are a bit cloudy and dark because I didn't have a good bright light source to show the pencil drawings in detail, but it should give you an idea what direction I was going to work into...

I've been working, slowly, on a painting of a Betta Mermaid.  Here's how she's been coming into view:

The first color wash above.

Second color wash. The paper is still wet here.

Let dry, then I worked in more detail, including some color on the shell and foliage around the figure. Imagine that the Betta Mermaid is quite small. The shell is most likely from a snail. She holds onto it near the top of a tank or glass bowl.

A close up of the mermaid's face. Her personality is showing!

Another detailed close-up of the mermaid.

And here she gets her scales and fins detailed! I used wet on dry color for this part of the process.

Another close up. I like how the water reflected the light from the flash. It gave me an idea on how to bring out her eyes.
There will be more to come soon. The painting is developing beautifully!

    

 

 

#1  "Memories of Freedom" --Acrylic

#2  "Mallards" --Watercolor

#3  "Posted No Hunting" --Acrylic

#4  "Boys Night Out" --Acrylic

#5  "Men's Club" --Acrylic

#6  "November Turkeys" --Acrylic

#7  "Long Way Home" --Watercolor

#8  "Mom's Barn in Winter" --Watercolor

#9  "Lily Drawing" --Graphite

#10  "Daffodils in a Jar" --Graphite

#11  "Where's The Cows?" --Watercolor

#12  "Rose Drawing" --Graphite

#13  "Special Home Delivery"--Watercolor

#14  "When Harry MetSally"--Watercolor

Whenever I get empty space on a watercolor board, I mask it off and create another painting in the corners. I try to utilize all of the space I have. Watercolor board is expensive, my friends. The tiny painting to the left is called "Mysticat" and it's how I think of my feline friend, Nightshade, who was a chocolate black purebred Bombay. I still think about him everyday. We had only a decade together and we had to part. I wish I had been there for him when he died. But now I see him as the Mysticat -- his chocolate black turned snow white and glowing with moonlight. He's like a star in a cobalt sky. His little fat body curled up and appearing almost like the petals of a rose. He loved to eat roses. No other flower. Just roses. As the Mysticat, he's a guide to the underworld for cat spirits, but in this painting he's taking a nap in between quests. He never could get enough sleep -- in this world or the next. He's a busy dreaming cat.

On the other side of the page, we have a misty eye, or an eye weeping out a mist. Looking at it will make you want to see more of the face behind that eye and wonder who they are. This painting was just a thought taking form. Like the Mysticat, the Mist Eye is another corner of a watercolor board I filled up. I like to think that the eye is one of my own. I tend to draw a lot of eyes in my notebooks and journals. This one weeps mist instead of tears. Imagine the person in a bedroom having a good weep over the past. Maybe she misses an old lover. Or she's just lonely in general. As her tears relieve her from her pain, they form a mist she cannot control. The mist fills the room. The room is cold and so the mist soon forms into a frost. A different kind of winter fills the atmosphere. What was first a release of pain becomes a cool blanket of beauty... and comfort. That is what I see in this eye that dared opened out of my brush.

I'm happy to report that I have created more Fairy Godmothers!  Yes.  You heard me.  The crazy characters I first blogged about a year and a half or so ago have multiplied!  And they aren't going away anytime soon.  Eventually these lil' fairies will become an affirmational card deck for the queer in all of us.  Each character will have its own name and special powers.  Guess which ones have what:

 

 

See?  I have been very productive lately.  I have more art to post, but give me some time.  There's a lot I want to write about, too.  Oh, and here are the original six Fairy Godmothers (for those of you who don't want to click on the link above).  Haven't they gotten even better?  I think I want to do up to a hundred.  Make the deck a collectable.  Yeah.  But first gotta find a publisher...  anyone suggest one for me?