Starfish Lullaby

For the first time, I've made a sculpture without an actual story in mind. I picked up this smooth granite stone off rocky Rye Beach in New Hampshire. I saw a starfish. I saw a mermaid. I brought the rock home to let the story create itself. Well! It worked somewhat; the sculpture came out easily enough from my imagination... but the story still remains at large.

This adorable mermaid is indeed tuckered out. She sleeps snugly under the cozy arm of a starfish. However, why is she doing this? Something tells me there's a friendship story in this little sculpture. Perhaps this is a good contest question.

I'm looking forward to another trip out to the rocky Atlantic coast so I can take pictures of the pair in their 'natural environment'. Nothing beats a natural setting. As I only completed this sculpture today, I had to make due with white paper and a light box.

Her glass bead belt and her sparkling tail are best viewed in person. You should all come to Wilton, NH to see her. :)

The starfish came first. I blended 3 colors and 2 brands of polymer clay to get the right color, shine and strength that I wanted. I used an eye dropper tip to impress all of those little bumps which are common on starfish of the NH coast.

The mermaid was just plain fun. Unlike the 'Captive Mermaid' and 'Shell Maiden' sculptures I created before her, she has wing like fins shooting from her back. Her copious blue hair shimmers with silver specks of light and it unfortunately hides her awesome shoulder fins. But, the beauty of art dolls is that you can move her hair and style her hair to reveal her lovely shoulders. :)

Is it just me or does the Captive Mermaid look... happier? o.O

Back Claying Again - The Littlest Mermaid

I suffered a severe case of clay withdrawal these past two weeks. For those who didn't know it, I've been recovering from an eye injury and consequent surgery. As such, I've been one-eyed and not up to creating my little creatures. :( Today, I was well enough to return to the artist mill and actually get some work going!

Just a shell? No, this is not clay. But it's not just a shell either...

 My eyesight becomes rather blurry and dizzy when I try to focus on tiny details, but that didn't deter me from trying to create something with some seashells I found. Here was the result of my claying today (playing + clay = claying). The seashell is only 3.5 inches long (8.89 cm). It's an original idea as far as I know. I've seen shells with faces sticking out of them from other artists, but never an entire tiny mermaid.

Flip it around and you've found her - my littlest mermaid yet. ^_^

I created this little shell mermaid out of polymer clay. It's hard to tell from the photos, but she is reclining doubled up - her bottom tucked back into the shell. No molds, like usual. Her hair is that horrible viscose stuff that I hate It gets EVERYWHERE! And it doesn't like to stay soft and realistic if you use mousse or water to style it. It was all I had to work with today though and I was impatient to finish her. Her tail is painted with a blend of oil paints and acrylics. Her tail fin is silver plated copper and a mint green film.

Just to give you a better idea of her size. I was discouraged when my eyesight completely lost all focus when painting her eyes! I really hope my eye heals soon! D:

The Tiny Captive Mermaid - Would you like to barter?

She'll give you amethysts and pearls in exchange for her freedom.

I've been told sketch artists, painters and illustrators can see the picture on the blank page or canvas before they even pick up the pencil. While that certainly doesn't work out for me (as soon as I place a mark on the paper, what I see vanishes! Poof!) That concept does seem to be true with me and polymer clay however. One of the lovely things about a colorfully bizarre childhood and an imagination that refuses to comply the date on my birth certificate, is that I have some rather vivid concepts and can see them clearly in the first instant.

This OOAK mermaid is about 6" and hand sculpted without molds!

My focus at present is on fairies, but when I saw a little fish bowl in the local dollar store, my mind immediately saw a sad yet fantastical mermaid hanging over the lip and holding treasures to try to barter her way back home. I imagined the child who caught her in the tide pool won't take her offerings, so the point I captured the image is her semi-resigned to her fate.

She is hand sculpted of polymer clay, hand painted with a blend of oil paints and acrylics and decked out with glass beads, freshwater pearl and amethyst. Her bowl is deceptively void of water, but contains a real Atlantic sea sponge I found at the coast a few weeks ago, and shells from that same trip, all secured in 'wet' looking glass pebbles. You'll soon find this little creature in my etsy shop.

I'd really love to know what everyone thinks!