I felt inspired to create this illustration after a strange dream I had that involved (amongst many other weird and wonderful happenings) a mermaid-like creature discovering it had legs! However, I must say that the thing that appeared in my dream wasn't as anatomically defined as my depiction or as beautiful, in fact, I vaguely remember being a bit spooked by it!
As I have always greatly admired the work of Gustave Klimt, I drew inspiration from the beautiful multilayered patterning featured in many of his works.
As this is purely out of my own head, I had to make preparatory sketches to get the human anatomy of the form right, drawing on my experience of teaching and attending life classes. (see below)
The foreshortened extended arm was particularly challenging.
I like to believe that our dreams carry some sort of message or reflection of our deepest feelings and if so, I wonder what can be gleaned from this image and what was my subconscious mind trying to tell me. I guess I will have to see what transpires!
Acrylic on Canvas Paper
