Still Swimmin'

The mermaid I posted, Selena, sold pretty darn quickly. So, I think that's positive feedback on the mermaids! With that in mind, I was looking at some of the frames I managed to pick up and one of them is just begging for a mermaid:

I mean, there are shell patterns! If that doesn't say mermaid, I don't know what does! So, this morning I sketched out a little one on a 4x6 canvas and stuck it in the frame to gauge how it would look:

I think I'm on the right track! It's funny really, I've always picked out frames to suit a picture, not painted a picture to suit a frame. However, I was lucky to pick up a couple recently that I just loved, so even if I didn't know what would go IN them, I knew eventually something would! I'm a little hesitant on how heavy the frame is. If I'm able to sell it, shipping is certainly going to be tricky (on the other hand, I might finally get to use those flat-rate boxes from the post office and feel like I'm getting my money's worth! Usually I make my own boxes, because it's so much cheaper to ship by actual weight! Of course, if that's true I might experiment with decorating the outside box too like so many of you wonderful artists do. I admit, I've been taken with that idea ever since I saw Castaway, and Tom Hanks hung onto that box with the wings on it.)

I worked a little on the watercolor yesterday (in between taking my son to the doctor. The poor guy either has the chicken pox or something like it.)

As you can see, I finally figured out how to get the moon more to my liking. I started in on her dress and then realized I was messing it up, so I set it aside. *sigh* The best thing to come out of this watercolor is that it's making me rethink some traditional painting techniques too, and I'm better for it! The downside is that I'm frustrated, almost constantly. Although, maybe that's my being frustrated with my life, and it translating to being angry with my artwork. I also got a call while I was in the middle of working on this that my mother had a TIA (mini-stroke) and was in the hospital (she's pretty much fine, though.) So, there are definitely a lot of things going on.

I must be stressed out, because the idea of getting out of my pajamas today seems like a bit much. I think I'll just go paint a mermaid or work on my kitten Halloween crew. It's been a while since I messed with them!