Traditional style flash drawing of a pin-up mermaid with a green tail seated in a clam shell, surrounded by bubbles, pearls and two small fish.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Mermaid in a clam shell flash

Traditional · Colour · Flash

A pin-up mermaid with long black hair and a red flower in it holds a pearl necklace aloft while seated on an open peach and cream clam shell. Her green scaled tail curls around pearls and bubbles, with two small fish swimming near her raised arm. Bold outlines and flat, saturated colour fill the drawing against a plain pale background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Dad, The necklace is finished at last, forty-one pearls on silk thread, and Mrs Okonedo at the Harbour Arms says she'll pay double if it's ready for the Saturday regatta. I have strung it the way you showed me, a knot between every pearl so none of them can roll off into the gutter.

Keep reading

The mermaid on the shop wall is a copy I traced from the back of Uncle Frank's flash sheets. She sits on the open clam with her hair piled into that great black wave and a red bloom pinned behind her ear, holding the string up to the light as if she's weighing it. The two little fish keep trying to nip at the silk. I told Mrs Okonedo it was a fable about patience. She said it was about being paid.

The bubbles are the hard part. Every one I paint has to look like it might pop before you finish the sentence. Mr Pell from the lifeboat came in yesterday and said the sea has been quiet since the Tuesday you didn't come home, and that the tide hasn't turned the way the almanac said it would. I didn't answer him. I kept painting.

I have left the necklace on the counter, unclasped, so you can fasten it yourself when you're back. If the tide brings you in on Saturday, look for the green tail in the window. Love, Nell.

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