Original artwork description:

Combining my theme of mermaids with portraiture, the visionary with the figurative, I decided to paint the above:

I have always loved the otherworldliness of The Pre-Raphaelites and have sought to marry their floaty influence in this painting with contemporary fashion. The deep blue-green tendrils of hair like seaweed against the dark burnt umber and yellow ochre background contrast strikingly with the rich hues of the red starfish adornments. The amber eyes, like those of a cat have a burning glow against the ghostly parlour of her flesh were ideas of my own. To create the flesh tones, I adopted a technique used by Vermeer which was to create base layer consisting of dark, cool tones followed by a translucent layer of warmer, lighter tones. The dark layer was left to dry in order to eventually add the light. This is what gives
the painting it's atmosphere.

Please note: As shown in the photos, this is a fairly deep Block Canvas. The painting exceeds the boundaries of the actual picture size - in other words, the image wraps around the frame of the block, so to speak.

Materials used:

Oil on stretched canvas block

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