"I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?"
— John Lennon
The painting is inspired by reading The Little Mermaid--not the Disney version.
Initially this was just going to be about the mermaid, but on my downtime I came across this fourteenth century drawing of a mandrake.
A mandrake root for those that don't know, is a root that is in the shape of a human. It has a long history rooted in superstition but has also been used as a pain-killer. I will note that it is poisonous.
Anyway, I took the idea further in my mind and started imagining this world between the Garden of Eden and a Midsummer's Nights Dream. So I came to this...
Working on the underpainting.
Halfway finished painted the green fairy.
Startting to paint the mermaid.
Adding the darker tones to the mermaid.
Warming up the darker colors.
Finishing the mermaid.
Close up of the completed mermaid.
Working on the mandrake.
Adding the highlights.
The final result.