When I was a child I spent whole days alone exploring the lava rockpools and isolated black sand beaches below my house. The sea was my solace, a mystery with its secrets it held underneath the waves.

After painting the first mermaid in 2006, I moved inland and the ocean bacame a memory. Whilst painting, I continued to learn about meridians and the elements, testing out the human correlations and connections. One way to do this was to paint the water element, it seemed appropriate, since there was a drought at the time. The more I painted the water element, the more I got to know it, in techniques and the transformational energy it brings with it.

I moved back next to the ocean in NSW in 2011, took up surfing a Mini Malibu and living the beach life.

Strange things started happening as a dived further into the element energies in art and life, for example, for a period of time when I felt the closest to the water element, no matter where I painted the mermaids, water would find me, even if it meant coming through the ceiling just above the easel, in different locations. I wondered whether there was a connection with my obvious bad-luck for fishermen. To this day, despite many fishing trips and efforts made by expert fishermen to break the spell, I have never caught a fish.

If I ever were a mermaid, I would be a hungry mermaid.

Left: The first mermaid I did in 2006, whilst living in Brisbane, Australia.