Atlantis Mermaid Painting Commission

Recently, I had the honour of receiving a wonderful commission to paint a large format composition of a fantasy theme.

My enthusiastic American patron and his wife have commissioned me to paint a 6 foot x 6 foot (nearly 2 meter x 2 meter) painting on canvas of two whimsical mermaids swimming through the undersea ruins of ancient Atlantis. For those of you who are familiar with my work, I have only really painted small scale watercolours, though I have explored at times acrylic and oils. After some hesitation and much encouragement from my patrons, I took up the challenge to paint this beautiful theme on a large scale, and I am so glad I did!

Here are the beginnings of the painting (after a photo of the initial sketch), which is acrylic on polyester canvas sheet which provides optimal surface smoothnes, pinned to a makeshift board kindly constructed by my ever-supportive Dad. I am using acrylics as watercolours; relying on the wonderful Acrylic Drying Retarder by Australian paint makers Derivan for adhesion and flow upon the canvas. It is an enriching experience for which I am very grateful- now that I know I can paint as big as this with the same dreaminess and ethereal quality for which my watercolours are known, I will be exploring painting large canvases and posting them for sale on my Online Shop…

Here is a painting sketch of what the finished work will look like and I will post stages of development of the painting as it progresses!