Esmeralda Of The Washbasin

She began with a washbasin and a pig.

Well, actually, she began years ago. I had painted a couple of mermaids in New Orleans, but they didn't survive Katrina. So Kathy & Di (my fairy Godmothers) needed another bathroom mermaid.

Using the Mexican pottery designs as a source, this Chico chic started a-happening around Christmas.

Debby and I had also done a few Mehndi=based designs, and I've been thinking along those lines again since Tamara's studio will be doing another mural for Pulling Down The Moon.

The Mexican pottery (Talavera) (Spanish colonial), is a looser and more colorful type of patterning.

I was surprised at how much can be changed on a grid, when you look at the fill-in designs, many of them are grid based. And scale-like, very useful for someone painting a mermaid.