Sunken Treasures Mermaid Paper Doll Mixed Media

 

"Sunken Treasures" 

 Original sold to collector, prints available here 

 "FAR out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it: many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Sea King and his subjects"  from Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid 

A new mixed media paper doll, I do love making them. (Probably because needle and thread vex me so!)  The Little Mermaid is painted in watercolors. Her tale is a passage out of book of pantomimes about brave little sailors.

Mermaid stories, so filled with contradictions have always been intriguing to me. Some like the familiar Anderson's is filled with longing and sacrifice (see sur la Lune) in contrast we have Undine and Selkie stories. Mermaids are creatures portrayed in wide range of personalities from murdering temptresses to tragic innocents. They are everything feared and admired in females, the sinners and saints of the mythological world.