Mermaids & Maidmers
This is a group of paintings concerning Mermaids, and er... Maidmers. As they sound, they are simply mermaids in reverse. What they loose in attractiveness they make up for in practicality...
Click on the thumbnails below, and see the links above for more themes...
It's rather a mystery to me anyway why mermaids moon about on rocks, luring ships, only to (somewhat hypocritically) mourn over the drowned sailors. I suppose it's just because they can, and it makes a change from sitting around brushing their hair, which is about the only other thing that they are good for – it’s the tails, you see – they just can’t get out and about and it’s embarrassing to be seen flopping about on a beach like and idiot and run the risk of Greenpeace coming along and trying to re-float you.
The Maidmers, on the other hand, now they may be creatures that are going places. They’re probably seen as young upstarts, carelessly casting aside the shackles of tradition in favour of upward mobility and instant gratification. Yes , the Maidmers are quite aware that they’re not the prettiest of creatures – but they have a realistic approach to life - they have a nice pair of legs, and a growing collection of unsuitable shoes. And they’re determined to make the best of it. Very soon they'll probably be strutting their stuff along the dockside, and then there'll be trouble.
Another addition to this shoal of paintings are the Arctic Mermaids - a rare form of mermaid specially adapted to the freezing seas of the arctic - huge and ungainly out of the water, compared to their skinny cousins from temperate regions, but graceful in the water, and of course they need the thick skin and layers of blubber to be well protected against the inhospitable temperatures, and probably against the Polar Bears, too. Someday I will paint the deep-sea mermaids, too - they have headlamps on the front like those weird deep-sea fish, just you wait and see...
All images © Nancy Farmer. Please email me if you wish to reproduce any of these images, or see my permissions page in the 'info' section. Paintings & drawings by Nancy Farmer, UK artist - Myth and fact, fairies and monsters, fetish and fantasy, with a little reality thrown in for good measure. And always art with humour.