What Do Mermaids Do All Day Long?

“Evia” 9″ x 12″ Graphite

What do mermaids do all day?  Are they bored with swimming around?  Or is it still as much fun as it for you and me?  Do they play with sea creatures or go to balls given by the sea king?  Do they make sushi? Yeeew!  Or search for pearls and other sea treasures to adorn themselves with?  Do they go on sightseeing tours of far away seas and oceans? Do they rise to the surface to study the stars or gawk at boat loads of sailors and swim with the dolphins and sun on the rocks? What do mermaids do all day long?

Copyright 2013  All Rights Reserved Ann Gates Fiser

Taking a Breather

“Taking a Breather”   12″ x 9″   Graphite

“Taking a Breather”

Meleah, like many mermaids loved to go top side to sun herself and contemplate having another existence, one where she could walk upon the land and visit exotic places that were out of reach to her in her present form.  Or she would stare at the sky and watch the flight of birds, to her they were the  fishes of the heavens,  and wish that she could join them in their utter freedom of flight.   But though these things appealed to her strongly, she was as aware as any human child of the story of the little mermaid, who traded her tail fin for legs to be with her love.  And more importantly she knew the ending of that story. How the little mermaid had been left painfully without home or love.   The story had even more impact on her because to her. and her kind, it was not a story but history,  the history that was taught to every young one in hopes that they would not make the same mistake.   So  Meleah’s longing never went any farther than a wistful daydream. 

Copyright 2013  All rights reserved  Ann Gates Fiser

 

“Maestro Blininni and the Fish Choir”

Sketch for the Day

Maestro Bellini appeared in a mediation one day. This is one of the sketches, that has me stumped when someone asks, “Where did you get that idea?!”  All I can say is that it bubbles up from the depths of my creative unconscious and I no longer argue with the muse. If it shows up it gets space on a page. Sometimes I eventually even paint it.

I’m particularly fond of “Maestro Blininni and the Fish Choir” because he’s so obviously out of his element and yet he’s still in the full passion of his art.  One of the things I’ve noticed that keeps people from being creative is they think they have to have the exact perfect circumstances in which to do it. In this past year I’ve found that if I let it, my muse will come forth anywhere and everywhere, and my creativity expands exponentially. I think that’s one reason that I’m now keeping a sketchbook with me most of the time.  In the process I’ve discovered a love for drawing that I didn’t know I possessed. Drawing used to only be a necessary but trying means to be able to put paint on a piece of paper.

“Maestro Blininni and the Fish Choir” 9″ x 12″ Graphite