The 2011 Mermaid for Great South Bay Music Festival

Great South Bay Music Festival Poster 2011

(Please let me know if you are interested in purchasing - copies are in storage somewhere.)

While I'm working on this year's mermaid, I thought I'd share the making of her "sisters." 

In 2011 the festival organizer wanted a new mermaid. We would still use the original for "branding" and for general ID, but a new mermaid every year would give new interest moving forward. I was able to use the same sky and most of the festival grounds, but I had to eliminate the carnival altogether and add a larger stage and ADD MORE PEOPLE. Teeny tiny people.

We went through a number of drawings and ideas. We liked this one, with the floating guitar and the mermaid giving the peace sign, the best.

The original sketch idea (l), and the working drawing of the merm and her flying seahorse guitar (r).

Close up of the merm's face.

Finished merm on guitar with seahorse and bubble holes and moonshell head.

Corner pieces of the border.

New, bigger, badder, gianourmous stage added on left...and more people.

I drew/painted the new stage and new people and placed them in photoshop. The new mermaid, braided border, corner pieces and banner were also painted separately and assembled in photoshop.

Materials: For the mermaid and the festival scene, I use Arches 140lb HOT press paper and a combination of watercolors, colored pencils, and pitt pen. I feel that it allows me to get more detailed,  though I have to give up the lovely grainy textures of the cold press paper. The sky, however, was painted with watercolor on Arches 140lb cold press paper. The moon (in the original painting) was also painted on cold press paper.

Coming soon: 2012 Mermaid.