The Sea Witch

Sea Witch

This ghostly and ethereal painting is inspired by the following quote from The Little Mermaid - the original and Dark tale.

“‘ In the middle of this clearing a house had been built of the white bones of shipwrecked human beings, there the sea-witch sat, allowing a toad to eat from her mouth, just as human allow a small canary to eat sugar.'” by Hans Christian Anderson
I think the description of this sea witch is much more haunting than that of disneys Ursula

The painting is 14.5cm x 21cm painted on wood panel, the surface is smooth, I have worked here are many, many layers of paint and ink and varnish. The texture is tactile, with crackle effects and smooth finishes, you want to run your hands and your eyes over it, it looks so delicate, but the varnish finish and layers means the piece is really robust. Take a look at the close up images to really get a feel for the effects and texture on the surface.

The piece was created as part of the Den Lille Harfrue Collection – the little mermaid. Created in lockdown to express my feelings about the restrictions, being unable to have social contact and also experiencing incredibly vivid and at some times quite scary dreams, a lot based underwater.
Not only did I draw on my own vivid dreams as inspiration for this piece, and this whole collection, I also looked at one of my favourite Fairy Tales as a Child- The Little Mermaid, by Hans Christian.
Mermaid Painting, Mother and Child, small painting, teal art, cyan green, underwater,