I recently made another playlist on Spotify. It's called "Mermaid," and is full of aqueous, haunting, sirenian tracks. It spans the spectrum between giddy fun, and terrifying darkness. This playlist also happens to be collaborative, so if any of you manage to find it, ya'll can add whatever watery, musical wavelengths you believe would be a good fit. The reason behind my making this playlist is that I've been in a somewhat draw-y mood, and all I want to draw are those mythical daughters of Neptune! It's like I'm five again! Back in the day, after having watched Disney's The Little Mermaid for the first, second, and billionth time, I drew NOTHING but mermaids. And I was fantastic. I'll see if I can't hunt down one of those old gems for you guys to look at and enjoy- give me a sec . . .
. . . AND my ***Flawless lil' sis, Macy, pulled through and found some! Here's one for ya:
I'm not entirely sure why mermaids are swimming around in the shallows of my mind lately- maybe it's due to the holiday season, and the fact that the sea maidens hold somewhat of a nostalgic fascination for me? I don't really know. Mermaids are connected, in my mind, with my wonderful Grandma and Grandpa Fraley, as it was mostly while visiting their home that I drew the thousands upon thousands of mer-pics from which the above masterpiece was selected and saved. My grandparents were- and still are- extremely supportive of all my creative endeavors, and often made it a point to supply me with whatever materials necessary to bring my artistic ideas to fruition- in this case, markers, crayons, and copious amounts of 8.5" x 11" printer paper were generously given to me so that I may illustrate bulbous, terrifying, mer-chunks. Ah, good times.
In other news: In the last week, I've spent quite a bit of time searching out artists whose work I admire, and I've managed to find a couple that I'd like to tell all of you beautiful people about!
The first is an illustrator I was exposed to a while ago on Pinterest, but whom I really, actually discovered in the last few days. Yelena Bryksenkova is a Russian-born, Ohio-raised, and Czech-republic trained free-lance illustrator based in New England. I love her quirky, beautifully colored, whimsical illos, most of which depict the every-day and domestic in a fun, almost child-like way. While I haven't yet seen a piece of hers that I don't like, I've found a few which I absolutely adore, and that I'm planning on purchasing prints of in the very near future. Here's three pieces I find especially nice, as well as a link to her Etsy shop where you can purchase prints:
There have been a few other artists which have caught my attention lately, but I'll save them for another post. I will, however, give you a little preview of what's coming:
Anyway, Much Love!
Adam