Merwoman in Oils - Part 1

The focus of our next painting is an original work inspired by a piece of literature. The diversity of the class' selections ranged from spiritual interpretation to fantasy. My source of inspiration is near and dear to my heart. My daughter is in the process of writing her first fantasy novel and I felt pulled to create a scene from the pages of her story.

The subject I have chosen is a violet-eyed Merwoman with intense, mesmerizing eyes that reflectively mirror the world around her. She is slowly emerging from the lake water while observing the main character on the shoreline.

Challenging: Since the eyes are the main focal point of this painting it will be crucial to create exact symmetry in order to draw the viewer into the reflections on her iris and pupil that will portray the world around her.

Rewarding: I am very pleased with the result thus far. I have tweaked the shape of the eyes from my original drawing and will need to carefully construct the same shape. But, overall, I am pleased with the progress.

HINT: Our instructor, Cristian Aluas, suggested first drawing the eye on tracing paper in the exact shape and size. Then the image was transferred to the canvass on the right, flipped over and duplicated on the left to ensure symmetry. Also, working from reference photos definitely helps to provide the sense of realism that I could not have drawn out from memory.