This button eyed mermaid sits on the rocks, looking out across the sea. Mermaids have a somewhat varied reputation in European folklore. Is she protecting the land, dreaming of finding true love, or waiting for her next victim?
I used black fine liner pens and watercolours to create this 6 x 9 inch colourful illustration of a button eyed mermaid.
The title 'Beyond the Sea' is borrowed from the English translation of Charles Trenet's song 'La Mer' made popular by Bobby Darin in 1959. I first heard the song when it was used in an episode of the X Files in 1994, where Scully was visited by her father's spirit as she received the news of his death. The scene was haunting and stayed with me, inspiring ideas of ghostly beings on the sea shore.
Stories of mermaid encounters are eerily seductive. The idea of an etherial figure on the desolate rocks, who seems human but not quite, faining vulnerability yet threatening destruction, has captured the heart and imagination of many a fantasy writer. I'm more of a visual storyteller myself, so Beyond the Sea is my humble contribution to modern mermaid lore.