Mermaids and inspiration from the Masters

Alphonse Mucha is one of my favorite artists, and I love the art nouveaux style. I am trying to dissect and understand just exactly what it is about Mucha that entrances me, and I decided that mostly it has to do with posture and hands. So I've decided to do some mermaids in a long-thin composition, which is one that I absolutely love- the 2x1 proportion of this type of work is difficult to work with but offers a lot in terms of setting up a human figure.

What I learned:
It's really fun painting on wood.
Mucha was a master with hands.
It's hard sometimes to get proportions right when you are interpreting someone else's work.
When painting tall and thin like this, be careful. The canvas tends to "stretch" in your own view, so before you commit your composition, hold it up and really look at it. (my face is too small).

Here is the first in a series of mermaids that start with inspiration from Mucha, and end in my own mixed-media style.


The original work that inspired: