10th February

February's First Mermaid

The first mermaid for the month! Mermaids seem to be one of my enduring interests. There is something about being able to manage to live both under and above water and yet being unable to get beyond the edges where the sea and dry land meet, that captures my imagination. There are so many stories around mermaids too. The beautiful but treacherous mermaids that lure sailors to their deaths, the little mermaid who forsakes so much for the love of her prince, the poor creatures paraded at freak shows in the circus sideshows of yore. There are flesh eating creatures with pointy teeth and nasty appetites, and beautiful undersea princesses with mother of pearl palaces and magical powers. Mine are creatures of the outdoors, decorative, pensive, and very tactile. All that water streaming past their skin and wind blowing in their hair, sometimes free in the ocean, and sometimes dreaming on the shore. Creatures of warmth and coolness, night and day, air and water, soft skin and scaly, shiny tails. Creatures full of contradictions and beauty, movement and calm. There will be more of them!