Original artwork description:

Let His Soul flow over

"‘So I am to die and float like foam on the sea, not hear the music of the waves, see the lovely
flowers and the red sun! Is there nothing I can do to gain an eternal soul!’ –
‘No!’ the old woman said, ‘only if a human were to fall so in love with you that you were more
to him that his father and mother; if all his thoughts and love were centred on you, and he would let
the priest place his right hand in yours and promise to be faithful now and in all eternity. Only then
would his soul flow over into your body and you would partake in human happiness. He would give
you a soul and yet retain his own."

This is a quote from the original, and very dark tale of The Little Mermaid, by Hans Christian Anderson, this inspired the painting and the title of this piece. It is at this point in the story that the fate of the little mermaid is really set, she believes she can find an immortal soul, and it leads to tragedy.

This painting is 30x40cm painted on Gallery Wrapped deep edge canvas, the painting is worked up in layers pf inks, water colours, acrylic and varnish, using pearly pigments and gold leaf through the layers, unfortunately the photographs do not do justice to the richness of the surface of this painting, each time you catch another glimpse you see something new within the surface, which is just as important as the figurative image.

The piece was created as part of the Den Lille Harfrue Collection – the little mermaid. Created in lockdown to express my feelings about the restrictions, being unable to have social contact and also experiencing incredibly vivid and at some times quite scary dreams, a lot based underwater.
Not only did I draw on my own vivid dreams as inspiration for this piece, and this whole collection, I also looked at one of my favourite Fairy Tales as a Child- The Little Mermaid, by Hans Christian Anderson.

Materials used:

mixed media with varnish

Tags: