In the Beginning . . .

Back again, and this time with a work in progress.

I started her this morning, ably abetted by furry friend Tiggy, pensioner Persian cat extraordinaire, who loves nothing better than walking back and forth across any papercutting I'm working on! So glad my picture framer, Dave is good at picking cat hairs off everything I take down to him, well. . .  his eyes are younger and better than mine!
Back to the Mermaid. A long way to go with her yet but I'm enjoying how she is coming along so far, especially as this time last night I had no idea how and where to start. This will be the most detailed layer, mermaid, fish and the swirly lines that depict the sea, in a very loose way. 
Little Miss Mermaid is a piece I'm doing for a challenge - Folk/Fairy Tale Illustration - put out by GAP ( the Guild of American Papercutters) do have a look at their facebook page. After much faffing about and searching on t'internet I opted for something fishy, hence, the mermaid. She is more synonymous with Cornish myth but I thought it a good subject as I love using the human, well, half human! form in my work. I'm afraid I don't know any specific mermaid tales so she is depicted in her aquatic environment and that's it! As a northerner I should have looked more into stories of the "Selkie", a human/seal character but, shallow me, I thought a bit of glam was more up my street and mermaids are definitely that!
I'd better get back to my cutting mat and the new series opener of CSI now, dying to see how Ted Danson gets on, but no-one will ever be as good as Grissom!!