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Wenchworks — Queen of the Deep
Published: 2006-01-10 17:05:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 10655; Favourites: 357; Downloads: 454
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Description
They say that the myth of the mermaid began when sailors first saw manatees. Now, if you've ever seen a manatee, you've gotta wonder what kind of crack those sailors were smoking... Anyway... I wanted to paint a manatee mermaid. That explains her tail.As for the dragon, well... I wanted to paint a dragon. No better reason than that.
I had wanted to put her on a throne, and started sketching a rocky outcropping. In looking for pictures of rocky outcroppings, I found these incredible photos of underwater stalagtites and stalagmites in South America.
Close up details of her are on my website ( [link] ) and (blatant advertising!) on the aution on ebay of the original painting. ( [link] )
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Comments: 47
I like your style here, the texture is great. I also like the way you explain things... you're very funny. Really looks great.
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your mermaids are gorgeous, and so is all your artwork really ^^
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Absolutely divine!! Such amazing detail and wonderful luminosity 
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wow, really gorgeous 
lyra xxx
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Beautiful!
Love the webbing on the fingers - makes a lot of sense - and the barely hanging-on bikini!
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Wow!!! 
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This is really pretty. I like her design a lot. Even though you modeled her tail after a manatee's, it kinda reminds me of a shark.
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Your mermaids are so strong & vibrant! I love how this one has a very 'take-no-crap' kinda air to her. She's perfect! Love the dragon too!!! Such a beautiful picture!
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That looks gorgeous! I love the coloration!! Really well done
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I love this piece...the mermaid and the sea dragon are such compliments to each other!
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Nice composition! I like the way you gave her the manatees 'arms' too on her tail. Original twist to a mermaid! And that fact she is in one of those underwater caves and not the ocean is also very cool too.
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When they saw a manatee? That'd be one very fat mermaid! lol.
Beautiful work as always, of course.
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Gorgeus, I like the details, the color scheme and everything (fav!!)
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Oh, neat, a mannattee mermaid, cool idea. (yeah, I've also always wondered just how much salt water got in their eyes to see a lady out of a big fat, cow of the sea)
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Awesome! All those details... That's just incredible! You must have really worked hard on it!
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Yeah, it took about three weeks of painting. I usually paint between eight and ten hours a day--constantly interrupted by kids.
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My god, that's really a lot of time! No wonder it looks so good!
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love this painting! the hair is absolutely perfect.. it really looks like an underwater plant.. and the way you did the throne is genius.. just.. aw, so many aspects of this painting that work so well that its hard to put into words.. my favourite part, though, is the webbed fingers. i did a painting of mermaids not too long ago, with fin-like hands... and a girl i showed it to actually said, 'mermaids dont have hands like that..'
i had a good laugh.
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I am so in awe - this is BRILLIANT - just fantastic - going now and looking at ebay!
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I really love this-all the elements of it are so wonderful!
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Very cool. Got the stalagmites spot on. 
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I have been on such an oceanic crush lately, and seeing this and your other shark mermaid have just brought a smile to my face. I love it when people expand out to new ideas with an old one. There is so much you can do with fantasy, I'm surprised that more people don't try to take it and make it their own, like you do. You really are a true artist. I'm so happy to see new work from you.
This is really beautiful. The mermaid really pops out against the background, since you used brighter colors on her, and the dragon kind of blends in. It's like he was from this cave, it has been his home for centuries. And he allows the merfolk dominion...for a time ^_^ Ah, sorry, my overactive imagination is at it again. Good work always does that to me. ^_^
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Thank you for all your compliments! Do you do any diving? I miss the ocean! I haven't done any diving or wild-water swimming in something like twenty years. Sigh.
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Well, no...I actually live at about the furthest place you can from the ocean; Missouri! But I love mermaids and all fantasy sea like. I even transformed myself into one for my stock photo account just two days ago ^_^
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Very nice work, colors and pose....
To be honest if you were going for a 'manatee' mermaid, then you're off-model as far as the tail and skin on her lower half. A manatee has a rounded, flat paddle-shape of a tail, with no flukes. Also their skin is more along the lines of an elephant skin... just not with a lot of wrinkles and hairs.
(Not trying to be snippy, but when you live in Florida for nearly all your life, you tend to be a bit protective of the native species, in any form of representation.)
Otherwise, this is a great piece of work, and it compliments the Amazon in the previous piece! Please keep up the great work!
Maintain and Check Six!
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Ahhh, that's what happens when I work from my brain, instead of finding a good picture. I'd been watching a TV program that had a manatee in it, and obviously didn't remember it quite right. I'll have to try again!
Thanks for your suggestions!
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Not a problem! My sister loves manatees, so I've had to look up artwork for her, as well as photos, so the image of these gentle critters isn't too far from my mind. ^_^
I hope to see the second piece when you finish it!
Maintain and Check Six!
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Pretty Cool! been a while since I have seen your work! but we know it takes time sometimes and I took a break for almost three months and thought I had lost my feel for it, but no........and so we go on.
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I moved to Colorado to take care of my parent's ranch for a few months, and it's taken me this long to get the internet working! Argh! I did take a break from painting over Christmas, but that was mostly just 'cause I got a new computer game.
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Ah! those games I know some of my friends play them for hrs...I personally don't play them.. I think am a computer freak!
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Actually I don't think it was crack they were smoking... I think it was more along the lines of being out at sea without women for months and months and months on end
"ARRR GIRL OFF THE PORT BOU!!!"
"Jim... thats a manatee."
"ITS A GIRL A TELLS YA!"
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