I am a mermaid

Here’s Tammy hanging out with The Mertailor Eric Ducharme at Mer-Palooza:

And the aforementioned t-shirt:

Our illuminating interview follows.

So when did you start drawing mermaids?
I have always been drawing something, in fact I don’t remember ever not drawing or painting every chance I got. I started drawing mermaids full time about two years ago. I was requested by my cousin Leslie to draw a mermaid for her birthday, and then when it was completed I received even more requests from others who saw her mermaid. I framed a few, and they sold at their first showing. It has now evolved into prints, apparel, and many different products such as cutting boards and flasks.

Tammy’s “Orange Crush” mermaid

What is the appeal of mermaids to you? Why do you think people love mermaids??
The appeal, in my opinion is universal. People love what mermaids represent. Everyone loves mermaids because they represent all that is feminine. They are graceful, strong, and sensual. They are confident, and also mysterious.

Have you always been fascinated by them?
Absolutely! As a child, I think the allure is the freedom they possess. As an adult, I think the allure is the strength that their freedom brings.

How do you approach each mermaid drawing?
Oh it’s a ritual! I always have a particular pose in my head that I envision for several days before starting to draw. The colors I decide on and the facial expressions, both evolve as I get deeper into the artwork. Once I start on a project, I have a very difficult time stopping and usually it consumes me until it is complete. Yes, I am a bit OCD!

Can you talk about your custom mermaid portraits?
The portraits are a pleasurable challenge. I have created several of these now, including yours, where I turn someone into a mermaid, using my own style of colored pencil art. They are not to be confused with a caricature, instead they are considered fine art. As with my other original mermaids, I like to work from photographs, and I do need several angles of the face and upper torso to get a better likeness of the person.

My own mermaid portrait

I am currently working on another aspect of this, where someone can choose an existing pose and I will transform them into that mermaid. Look for it on my website!

What about your mermaid scales?
Mermaid Scales have been hugely popular! They hold a secret story inside the package, that tells a tale of mermaids……you are also given a secret code that you enter online to receive your hidden meaning! Each scale holds a unique enchanted meaning about your personality & more!

[I should mention that soon Tammy’s magical and actual mermaid scales might have a special story or two penned by yours truly. Love, Carolyn]

What do you think of modern-day mermaids like those at Weeki Wachee, or Hannah Fraser and Linden Wolbert?
I think they are inspiring and brave. I attempt to imagine how their family and friends react when they tell them they want to be a professional mermaid, or the reactions they get when others ask “what they do” for a living. I have had the opportunity to meet several modern-day mermaids, and see how beautiful and graceful they look in the water. They are truly mesmerizing.

What inspires you?
Lighting, shadows, curves. Candid attitudes and emotions. The curve of a jaw line. The bend of an elbow. The way a hand or fingers are positioned. A look of intensity.

You were chosen to do the poster for the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in 2011. Can you tell me about that?
I was contacted by Laure Leber, who works for Coney Island, USA and was asked if I would be interested. Of course I said that I was and I also agreed to do every part of it, which means all the graphics, logos, etc., not just creating a mermaid for them. Between the founder and Executive Artistic Director Dick Zigun, Photographer and Gift Shop Manager Laure Leber, Board of Directors Member and founder & producer of Coney Island USA’s Burlesque at the Beach Fred Kahl, Development Director Tim Pendrell, and myself, we decided to use the mermaid I created known as “Black Tail” for the poster. Mainly because Dick Zigun fell in love with her.

They now carry many of my products in the Coney Island USA Gift Shop, which is in Brooklyn, New York, and also online.

You’ve been called the Vargas of mermaid art. Can you talk a bit about that?
It’s true, and an extremely grand compliment that I am honored to receive, but it’s very unintentional on my part. The main similarity between Vargas’ work and mine is that both involve beautiful, sensual women. And like Vargas, my art focuses primarily on the figure and less on the background. Many have said my mermaids resemble those “on the old bomber planes,” referring to the work of Alberto Vargas. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll see my mermaids on sea-faring vessels?

It has been a very humbling experience to be involved with so many gifted people, and have my work appreciated by so many. I have learned so much in such a short time. I look forward to all of the new things that I will experience through my art.

I never tire of hearing from other mermaid enthusiasts, and enjoy all the Facebook comments and emails. There have been so many humorous comments I have been witness to from the general public, of course they mostly didn’t realize I could hear them!

Here are a few:
How do mermaids poop?
How come they all have so much hair?
Why is their hair always in front of their boobs, can’t they move it out of the way???!!!
Mermaids must not smell very good. They live in the ocean, and so do fish. Fish smell bad.
Why are they always mermaids? Where are the mermen?

Sora is a bellydancer and was one of the performers at MerCon last year, by the way, and also, as a newly minted diver like yours truly, was my dive buddy on this trip. That means that she and I spent a lot of time making hand signals to each other under water, assuring each other that we were still alive. For this I will be forever grateful.

Here is a beautiful shot Chris Crumley took of Sora:

And then here we both are with Malena Sharkey, who also generously made sure that we weren’t dying or being eaten by sharks at any point:

Below I ask Sora many penetrating questions, which she answers with luminous generosity.

How long have you been a mermaid?
All my life. It, predictably, started with Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Before anyone knew it I was drawing mermaids and their scuba diving companions adventuring through many underwater scenes. My mom sewed me a blue tail with little silver sparkles so I could pose on the sofa and try to swim. We didn’t know about monofins then. So I’ve been dreaming of being a mermaid, and in my mind believing and pretending since I learned to swim; but it’s only been a recent few years that I began pursuing it as a lifestyle.

Photo by Miriam Silver

What does being a mermaid mean to you?
Being a mermaid is about—to me—the core feeling of freedom. When I drop below the surface of the water, everything becomes easier. My tail moves me with but a flicker of thought, and my body coasts along the bottom of the pool or along the sand with ease. There is no weight in the water. All things that trouble me are lifted from my shoulders and left to float about the surface until I’m ready to connect them. Being a mermaid is to be free of responsibility, of blame, of guilt and sorrow. It is the most meditative experience.

There is no judgment of self, as the mind drifts, only the texture of the water smoothing against skin, and the power of a tail ready to thrust forward. Mermaiding, to me, is the closest feeling to flying, to soaring about cities and town and mountains. It is communing with the Goddess of the sea, of all life.

Were you surprised to discover a whole mermaid community out there?
I was! I had no idea there were other merfolk out there. I don’t even really remember how I discovered it all, but it definitely is credited to the great Hannah Fraser and a bad day spent on youtube.

Tell me about your experience at MerCon.
I arrived in Las Vegas with my mother on Wednesday evening. It was my first time there, and just getting off the plane I was entranced with the vibrancy and sounds and smells of the city. There were slot machines everywhere, and big posters advertising shows and restaurants. It was 108 degrees outside!

We caught a shuttle to the Silverton and took in the huge, beautiful mermaid tank and aquarium, the beautifully lit bar with the mermaid statue, and the fun fluke-shaped menus. Since Mercon didn’t really begin till the next day, I spent the rest of the night enjoying a few drinks and relaxing.

Here, coincidentally, is yours truly posing with Sora and Malena Sharkey at MerCon in Las Vegas, August 2011

Once I began meeting other merpeople, the real emotions began to build. I met Mermaid Anita and her boyfriend, and Mermaid Iona and a few others before getting the great honor of meeting Hannah Fraser at the Barnes and Noble book signing. There were a handful of us listening raptly to the reading of Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon. Some lounged around in tails, others dressed in style. Around us Sita Lange, the organizer of Mercon, flitted about on light feet, introducing herself and getting things set up for later.

From then on it was a whirlwind of emotion and events and awe. There’s not adequate way to describe how overwhelmed and happy I was. I was surrounded by pirates and merfolk in the glittering Las Vegas. Music and the sounds of the slot machines was always around, and at any hour of the night I could go down and be around people, or sit by the large aquarium and watch the fish swim. Thursday flew by; and Friday, a beautiful day, full of raised hopes and frantic, last-minute tail decorating, was the most amazing of all. I got to perch beside Mermaid Malena for most of the day, in my tail greeting folk as they came into the vendors area with the stage. I jumped into a dress and then back into my tail for the pageant, before rushing out to go sit poolside until the performance that night. It was the greatest honor and joy to be able to dance for, and with, Hannah. I look back with some embarrassment—for it was not my greatest dance!—but the joy of the opportunity will linger forever.

Exhausted after swimming with everyone in that little pool, and having a photoshoot with Susan Knight bright and early the next morning, I slept away the night. The next morning, my mother and I found our way to the saline pool where the shoot was to take place. It was extraordinarily fun! It was a vast, deep pool, and I could really stretch my fins. There was a small crowd of us, and Susan took amazing pictures of each mermaid that came. By the end we were tired, and it was raining, and there was nothing need doing until the party that night.

Photo by Susan Knight

After hours of enjoying the casino and hanging out with my merkind, I caught a ride with Iara to Sita’s party. The lagoon was beautiful, and full to the brim with swishing tails and sparkling lights. This is where I met Mermaid Shelly and Merman Chris for the first time and became fast friends. I enjoyed the lagoon pool, the dance-shows that were performed, and the cool temperature until around midnight, when the party ended and it was time to go back to the hotel. Since that was the end of Mercon, I was terribly saddened. Everyone was going their separate ways, and I wasn’t sure when I’d see my fellows again. Though my mother and I stayed and enjoyed Vegas another night, and it was definitely more relaxed without the urge to know who was doing what, and when, I missed the water and the flap of fins all around me.

What about Mermaids in the Desert? What is it, and what was your experience like there?
Mermaids in the Desert was lots of fun. It was a meetup organized by Pamela Morse, who wanted to get a bunch of us together at a Palm Springs resort to enjoy the warm waters, try out our tails, and do some performing. That was the first time I ever swam in the tail I refer to as “The Beast,” and it was Merman Chris’ first time really getting to exercise his fins too. It was bitterly cold at night, but the water was about 88 degrees all the time. It was my first chance at meeting Jeckyll the Seashell Queen, and Angela Schommer, both beautiful and talented mermaids. We had a lot of fun in those waters! Very relaxing, very soothing. The hotel staff and guests were astounded by us and thrilled to be swimming with mermaids. We took lots of pictures, some video, passed out business cards and had some great drinks at the bar.

Was it mermaiding that led you to scuba?
Yes indeed. Mermaiding and the fabulously enthusiastic Mermaid Malena inviting me along to the BlackBeard’s Cruise.

Chris Crumley’s photo of the whole lot of us!

Can you tell me about that trip? What did you learn?
There’s so much to say… I went on the BlackBeard Cruise full of anxiety. I didn’t know what to expect, it had been nearly a year since I’d learned to dive, and it was my first time flying internationally. I couldn’t use my cell phone and there was no internet to be expected. When I arrived in Nassau I wasn’t sure where to go, who to talk to, and was terrified that I’d missed my ride. Not bringing a watch and my cell phone not functioning, I couldn’t figure out what time it was, only that it was time to be at the docks. I got my luggage and met the driver outside. A wonderful tour to the docks later, and I met up with Malena, who guided me to the ship. Once aboard, well, it was quite the adventure! Meeting Sam our Dive Master, Molly the chef, Red our Captain… and so many others. I made new friends, got re-acquainted with old ones and began an adventure. The week was a whirlwind of new experiences. I swam with sharks, I visited a sunken plane, numerous coral reefs and met so much wildlife. I forgot what time it was every day, to the wonderful confusion of my mind, and simply enjoyed being around friendly people, amazing food, incredible waters, and the open sky.

Another Chris Crumley photo of Sora in the Bahamas

I learned many new techniques in diving, free-diving, and exploring. I learned that I can jump off a boat into waters with sharks swimming around and be O.K.. I learned how to assemble and disassemble my first gauge and how to use a computer when I couldn’t sit up all the way in my bunk. Some of my favorite lessons, though, were how to pick out fish between the corals, how to pose for above—below photos, how to swim with the beautiful mermaids Iara, Kristi and Malena. I learned so much, every single day.

Sora by Chris Crumley

When/how did you make your first tail?
It’s hard to define which is my first tail, of the tails I’ve had in life. I had a tail around the age of five or six, early as memories I have, but I couldn’t swim in it. I worked on another tail many years later, but it was unsuccessful, so it is not really a tail. The first tail I have made that is fully functional is my red gypsy tail. This was a big adventure, with me, my mom and a tailor helping.

We experimented with at least five different types of glue, foam, and ways of sewing the tail together. We were making it way too hard by trying it in an unorthodox way. Eventually we realized the materials we were working with were too thick and harsh for our sewing machines and went to a very nice man named Murdoc to help. He basically tore the whole thing apart and remade it. Then I decorated it day and night until it got to the unfinished state it’s still in today!

Are there any mermaids out there who inspire you?
I don’t know anyone who isn’t inspired by Hannah Fraser, but Mermaid Melissa and Linden Wolbert are amazing and great role models. On a more personal level—I am really inspired by my girlfriend Ariel, who has been a mermaid since I met her, even without either of us knowing there was a community out there. My dear friend Mermaid Shelly—how she’s inspired me! She’s done more for me than I could ever express. And Mermaid Malena, who has given me such lovely gifts of courage and adventure.

Photo by Mermaid Shelly

Anyway, being mythical artistes, Shane and Leah of course have a deep and abiding love of mermaids, as evidenced by this not-at-all-suspicious photo of Shane and Mermaid Melissa from last year’s FaerieCon:

They’ve also done some gorgeous mermaid-inspired work, like this amazing mask, Queen of the Sea #2, which they’re about to offer up as part of an auction for the non-profit RESCU Foundation, which is holding a fundraising rally this Saturday in Annapolis, Maryland:

I asked Shane if he could say something about RESCU, Queen of the Sea #2, and mermaids generally for us, and his illuminating post follows (and is also on his and Leah’s own blog, Tales from the Mythical Muse):

RESCU Foundation: A life line in troubled waters
by Shane Odom

The RESCU Foundation (Renaissance Entertainers, Services, & Craters United), Inc. is a non-profit organization established to promote and maintain the health and medical well-being of the participants of Renaissance Faires, historical performances and other artistic events through financial assistance, advocacy, education and preventative programs. They have worked diligently over the years to offset medical and emergency expenses for the folks who work Renaissance Festivals and other themed events, including Faerie Festivals and their like, and are often not the last resort of the wonderful gypsy community that work these,…they are the ONLY one!

They are hosting their first Rally for Support in Maryland, in collaboration with the community of the Maryland Renaissance Festival, located near Annapolis, MD to raise funds and awareness this Saturday, October 13th, at the American Legion Hall, just down the road from the Festival site. 1905 Crownsville Rd, Annapolis, Maryland. There will be a silent auction featuring crafts from the festivals and other items, as well as a raffle of donations. Tickets are $10 at the door, and doors open at $7 PM. Comedy, music, variety entertainment, and more. Additionally, there will be a featured live auction of items. This will include a private parking spot for the 2013 MD Renfest season, located at the front gate, with the winner’s name on the sign!

We at Mythical Designs by Miscellaneous Oddiments LLC are delighted to announce that we are offering our Mermaid Wall Sculpture, “Queen of the Sea #2,” as a featured Auction piece. She is made from sculpted leather, measuring approx. 30″x20″. She incorporates real sea shells, sea weed forms, and one real pearl in her ear. Also, the mask comes free from the sculpture for wearing separately. She retails at $500 and will be on reserve for $275. We thought long about donating her, and think that the Spirit of the Oceans and Waves will be a wonderful addition to the RESCU effort and is an apt symbol for the Annapolis area, with it’s deep ties to the waters.

She was originally created for the Maryland Faerie Festival 2011 show, which was themed on Mermaids. The Mythic Arts community often tends to reach into common mythical pools of inspiration at the same time. That year, the depths of the sea were open, and writers, artist, crafts people and entertainers were finding their inner merfolk and flicking their metaphorical tails. It was delightful and were honored to be the featured artist at that event, along with well known Mermaid and writer Carolyn Turgeon.

The sea is a nurturing place for life, and its inspiration is as deep as its glimmer pools. The fascination with mermaids and sea creatures has been with humankind for many thousands of years. I believe this is partly due to their perceived freedom. What is more free roaming than a dolphin or mermaid? I think this is an apt metaphor for the life of the wonderful gypsy crafts people and folks who work Renfests and other similar events. We are a source of mystery and mirth to those who see us. A wonder that can’t quite be pinned down, and if you go too far in, you may be changed forever. We inspire you to imagine and imagine for you an experience that can’t be had anywhere else. Like the Green Wood of Folklore, it is a dangerous place sometimes. A dark place, where only shamans, mad fools, artists, and wizards dare to venture. We bring you back tales and dreams. However, sometimes, we need a thread to guide us home. Ariadne’s spool of twine to give us way forth from the maze and guide us out of misfortune.

RESCU does just that. They are a life line in troubled waters, and hope in the darkest of storms. Please consider donating, and if you live in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, visit the Maryland Renaissance Festival this Saturday, enjoy our Revels in our Grove, and then, come to the Rally, so that we may continue this adventure of entertainment.

Anyway, you can imagine that such a contest has inspired some gorgeous work, and it so happens that filmmaker Ivan Landau’s entry in said contest stars none other than mermaid extraordinaire Hannah Fraser, both above and below the water. The video itself and the images that have emerged from it are just unbelievably stunning. Look:

And here’s the amazing video itself:

Sigur Rós “Dauðalogn” [Mystery Film Experiment Submission] from Ivan Landau on Vimeo.

Obviously, you should vote for this film immediately, or at least at some point over the next four days before voting ends [the winner of this online vote will become an official selection in Sigur Ros’s Valtari Mystery Film Experiment, one of them being that cool one one with Shia Labeouf you might have seen before]. You can vote here.

And, finally, here’s what Hannah had to say about the experience: “The video was an incredible experience of working with such a talented crew and such a beautiful melting pot of play meets art meets work with a creative purpose.”

Below, I talk to Brenda about The Drowning World, sea creatures in need, and fancy author things generally.

What made you decide to write about mermaids?
My fourth novel, the environmental thriller Animal Heart, was reviewed by a book critic from Library Journal who wrote, “one can hardly imagine a more heartfelt work or a more unusual love story than this one.” Hmmmm, I thought, “unusual love story.”

What would be more unusual than two people from an underwater cosmos and our world trying to find love together? Mermaid and human. Every taboo or prejudice that we experience in inter-racial or interfaith love would be magnified. My own decades studying dolphins had left me feeling half-human, so why not explore this hybrid or mixed relationships in a love story? The Drowning World is set both in Aquantis, an underwater advanced civilization of merpeople, and in a future Florida, called SkyeWorld, circa 2020 and 2030. Marina, a highly trained mermaid, is on her first spy mission to SkyeWorld. On the beach she meets Lukas, a proud Cuban refugee who is helping his father rescue sea turtle eggs from an oil spill. Marina saves Lukas’s life with her magical skills, but can she save herself from a life-long nemesis from her own world?

So can you tell us a little about yourself and your books? What draws you to the oceans?
I’ve published 17 books—novels, memoirs, essays—and almost all of them have something to do with our blue planet’s underwater realms. In fact, I’ve drowned twice. Those near-death experiences left me with a profound devotion to our seas. “Maybe fathoms deep in the sea is where all the old and the new souls are dreaming and changing and being born again,” I conclude my 1990 essay “On Drowning” from Living by Water.

As a National Geographic author, I’ve also spent two decades underwater studying whales and dolphins. Cetaceans are my inspiration for The Drowning World because my merpeople are really half-dolphin and half-human. So there is a real animal nature and intelligence to my amphibious hybrids, called Aquantans. They are Shape Shifters and Go Betweens in many worlds. I’ve been working on building my underwater cosmos in The Drowning World since 2003. In fact, my address since email was first invented was always “Mermaid Ink.” Imagine my surprise and delight when suddenly all these mermaid books surface, just as I finally finish my own novel!

Can you talk about Seal Sitters and any other marine-related activism you’re involved in?
It’s never been enough for me to just be an artist. My five years in the editorial department of The New Yorker magazine when I was in my twenties taught me that “art for art’s” sake was not my path. I am grateful for the literary apprenticeship to writing from those New York years; but I knew I wanted to connect my work to the natural world. So I returned to my native West Coast and have lived in Seattle since 1981. My first memoir, Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals, was my way of engaging with other animals as an activist-writer. So all of my journalism and non-fiction is always in service to something greater than art. I’ve lived on water for so long that the tides, birds, marine mammals, all seem a part of my own body.

My co-founding of the grassroots volunteer Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network began as just a few neighbors sitting on our backyard beach keeping watch over the seal pups while their mothers fished far out in the Salish Sea. Call it day care for Seal Pups. My first children’s book, Leopard and Silkie: One Boy’s Quest to Save the Seal Pups, is just out from Henry Holt for Young Readers. [Here’s a link to an ABC News interview on Seal Sitters.]

You recently attended MerPalooza and wrote about it for the Huffington Post. What did you think? What kind of reaction have you gotten?
My brother lives in Tampa where this summer’s MerPalooza was held. So I had a perfect excuse to attend. When I told my literary agent, Sarah Jane Freymann, about the mermaid convention Sarah Jane said, “I’m there!” I call her my WaveMate because we travel on book tours together and always take time out to swim in the nearest ocean together. When my brother, and Sarah Jane and I attended Merpalooza we were amazed at the professional mermaids. Those elegant tail flukes and the commitment to marine conservation won me over. My Huffington Post article focused on Mermaid Enakai, a young mermaid who is devoted to shark conservation and also beautiful mermaid design. I also was very moved by Stephanie’s story of her grandmother, who ran away from home in the 1940s to become a real mermaid in the Weeki Wachee roadside shows.

Brenda encountering a mermaid at MerPalooza

Why do you think mermaids are so appealing to us, anyway?
Mermaids swim through all of our myths and folklore. Like you, Carolyn, I much prefer the powerful, sexy, soulful, and darkly complex mermaids that authors are creating for the 21st century. The psychologist C. G. Jung always asked, “Why this dream now?” So I wonder: Why this mermaid trend now?

Is it because we intuit that we are all bound for a MerWorld as seas rise and coastlines sink? Is mermaiding a way of adapting, first in our imaginations, before we finally face the facts of climate change? Maybe it’s simply time for women to make and reclaim their own mythology. We no longer believe the prince will save us or give us a soul. We realize that, like Venus rising from the sea, women must find our own destiny—even if it means running away from home.

Can you talk about The Drowning World, your Kickstarter.com campaign, and how people can join in/order the book?
I turned down a publisher’s offer for The Drowning World because I wanted complete artistic control—from cover design to choosing my own professional editors, some of whom worked with me on other traditionally published books. It’s a ton of editorial work but also an exhilarating experience to produce an indie book. I’m so grateful to my many Kickstarter bakers who are part of my Publishing Pod. They will receive special rewards this month, including signed copies of the book, characters named after them, having their name in my Acknowledgments, private Book Club visits via Skype or FaceTime. The book is now finished and at the e-book conversion lab and my designers for the paperback. Both editions are due out this month!

As it happens, Tera was also at MerCon last year and participated in two cool mermaidly readings with Timothy Schaffert, Matthea Harvey, and yours truly, including one at the Vegas Barnes & Noble featuring not only our literary efforts but Hannah Fraser and Kylee Troche being carried out of the bathroom in tails by studly young bookstore employees and other if-this-doesn’t-make-you-want-to-read-books-then-I-don’t-know-what-will delights.
Here’s the lot of us being mermaidly and literary, which is clearly the best combination possible:

from left to right: Timothy, Tera, Kylee, Hannah, Matthea, Carolyn

Below, I talk to Tera about Just for Fins, the mermaid world, hottie biker boy honeys, and what’s coming next for her, mermaid-related and otherwise:

So your third mermaid novel, Just for Fins, just came out. Can you tell me a little bit about it?
In this third installment, my main character—Princess Waterlily Sanderson of Thalassinia—steps into her role as crown princess and tackles some deeper issues affecting her world. There is a big focus on the environment and specifically the effects of humans and climate change on the oceans. She has to venture beyond her kingdom—which lies off the Atlantic coast of Florida—to visit the rulers of mer kingdoms from Brazil to the Arctic. A lot more adventure and, of course, a test of her relationship with her hottie biker boy honey.

Is this it for you and mermaids, or will there be more mermaid books for you?
Oh the eternal question. This decision isn’t entirely in my hands—publishers and editors and agents have to weigh in too—so we’ll have to wait and see. But I would like to think that Lily and Quince have more stories to share.

I know you’ve participated in at least some mermaidly real-world events—like MerCon…! What are your impressions of the mermaid/mermaid-fan world out there?
I never knew there was such a mermaid sub-culture! I mean, I knew I loved mermaids, but I couldn’t have imagined how widespread the mer love is. I think it’s wonderful and I wish I had time to participate more.

Can you tell me a bit about your experience at MerCon?

the blue-tailed baby boy in question

Have people responded to your mermaid books differently than they have to your other ones?
Definitely. Readers love mythology and how it is adapted for the modern world in my Oh. My. Gods. and Sweet Venom books. But there is a special love that readers—girls especially—have for mermaids. And because Forgive My Fins is the most romance-y of all my books, the love interest—Quince—gets lots of attention. Most of my mermaid fan mail is about wanting to read more Quince!

Do you have any favorite mermaid novels/stories/films yourself?
My favorite mermaid movie of all time is Splash. That’s where my mermaid love—obsession—really began. And as for mermaid books, I really loved Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs. It’s a great dark, dangerous teen novel with plenty of hot boys—I mean, yummy romance.

I know you have a lot of other non-mermaidly things, and books and book tours!, going on. Can you talk a little about that?
Oh my goodness, so much life stuff happening! Everything took a sideways turn last year when my dad passed, and now my mom and I have moved to Las Vegas. We’re getting settled in just in time for me to head out for the release of Sweet Shadows, the second book in the Sweet Venom trilogy. I’ll be signing in Texas (Houston, Austin, and Dallas) after a quick birthday trip to Miami for a little relaxation first. That’s about as far ahead as I have planned right now.

Can you tell me about your mermaid illustrations?
I have been drawing, sketching, painting, doodling, sewing, printing and otherwise visually creating mermaids for as long as I can remember. They are the perfect subjects for any artist, combing the raw power and mystery of the sea and the fun and life of aesthetically interesting women. Right now, I am very inspired by historical mermaids, as well as the real-life mermaids that I work with at The Dive Bar in Sacramento. Drawing the mermaids and mermen that I work with brings a personal connection to an otherwise totally fantastical illustration; I feel that art is always made stronger when the artist has a clear concept or storyline behind the work. That’s also probably why I am attracted to historical mermaid characters—their stories are rich and fascinating, usually drawing heavily upon the watery regions of the world in which they originate.

I recently did a lot of research into mermaid television and mermaid films and created a paperdoll series based off my findings. Sirens of the Silver Screen is that paperdoll; I really enjoyed revisiting my favorite mermaid films and discovering some pretty interesting obscure ones! I put a lot of time into correctly recreating the tails/costumes for the doll, I think she’s really fun! I also created another mermaid paperdoll based on several mermaid myths from Polynesia. I feel that the playful nature of mermaids lends itself naturally to a medium such as paperdolls, and I love creating them! They are both available on my etsy page.

Why do mermaids appeal to you as a subject?
Most of my illustration work is centered around figures and animals so of course merpeople are the perfect hybrid of the two! As I mentioned before, I really like putting a lot of visual research into creating any work I do, whether it’s checking out how a certain costume might move underwater or scoping out different species of fish for tail inspiration. I definitely think one of my favorite things about illustrating mermaids is figuring out what mermaids from different parts of the globe would look like, depending on the local plant and fish life; it’s sort of a oceanologist approach, but I try and keep a level of the fantastic in my work as well.

And on the superficial side, it’s always fun to draw pretty women/men. I’ve done lots of work of people in their mermaid states; it seems to be something that people are always interested to see or to use for their companies. Mermaid popularity is on the up, which is good news for illustrators like me who love to create images them!

Has actually being a mermaid affected your art work?
I really feel as though it’s given me a ‘fin up’ on how to create the feel of suspended animation you get underwater, and as I mentioned before my gorgeous and talented coworkers are a constant source of inspiration. I also find when I am creating the tail portion of the mermaid, I keep thinking about how functional it would really be underwater…then I usually ignore that and create something as bizarre and splendid as I can possibly envision. One of the reasons I love being an illustrator is because I can create worlds, situations and objects that I could never interact with in the waking world, but I get to intimately and obsessively know them when I create my work.

It has also affected my artwork in a slightly negative sense, in that I just want to paint and draw mermaids all of the time! When I was working on my children’s book Manuel’s Murals (available on Amazon or from 3L Publishing) I had to fill my sketchbooks with mermaid sketches to appease my aqualust. It’s hard to concentrate of my real ‘work’ with mermaids swimming around my brain!

Do you have any favorite mermaid art?
I really adore the work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; there’s something so appealing about that perfect balance of naive honesty and over-the-top sentimentalism (cheesiness?). Waterhouse in particular has some really fantastic mermaid/water nymph paintings. Arthur Rackham is one of my favorite all time illustrators and he does wonderful mermaids. He was just SO prolific, he created hundreds and hundreds of beautiful images for books. Scott Gustafson has done really adorable paintings of pirates and mermaids, he’s worth a serious look. Mermaids and Mythology Magazine just had a lovely article on an Victor Nizovtsev… I really enjoyed the way he captured soft, ethereal light on all of his mermaids, and the golden glitter of their scales was very well done.

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