Of Mermaids and Red Heads...

Both are in the air. After posting about mermaids here and here this week, I was thinking about scanning these photos of my daughter Kaitlyn at age 14 when she starred as Ariel in The Little Mermaid in 1992...

...and after watching Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes on TCM last night, I knew that I just had to!

I made both Kaitlyn's costumes ~ the "on land" gown and the mermaid suit...

...for which we had to visit the local ballet store to buy a flesh colored leotard...

Kaitlyn is a natural blond, so we had her hair dyed red for the performance...

I'm struck this morning by the similarities between these two.

Mom giving Kaitlyn a hug at the curtain call. Have a happy and creative weekend, everyone!

Aqua Siren

I drew with my students while Ahna Reichman posed for my Mixed Media Portraiture class this morning. She said that her red wig was part of a full mermaid costume, but she not have it with her, so decided in its place, to wear this dress. After yesterday's post, how could I resist drawing this aquabelle with her blue mussel shell bedecked wig??

(photo sent to me from Ahna's phone - a little blurry, but you get the gist...)

The colors in my drawing echo the colors in this fabric and these mandala magnets that are sitting on my sewing table right now... funny how colors can pop up and follow us around...

The painting behind Ahna was against the wall and we decided to put it on the stage as a backdrop becuase it echoed the colors in her wig and outfit. It belongs to a talented MECA student (I know not who...if any of my readers can solve this mystery, I'd be obliged!). Ahna remarked that she was in a friend's studio the night before admiring a painting of hers with the same color scheme...

Funny, too, how a mermaid can follow one around. There was one at the top of yesterday's post, and she swam into my class today....sans beard...