[candy_coated_bitch]

***MERMAID PAINTING EXTRAVAGANZA***

This project was born out of a personal project I did myself during the month of May with another online art group. The fabulous mixed media artist Jane Davenport started a project called "Mermay" and the idea was this: It was centered around mermaids, hence it being "Mermay". For every day of the month of may she issued a prompt for the day for everyone to interpret in their own way with the only restriction being that it had to be a mermaid. For instance one prompt was "Spectacles and tentacles" one was "Hello sailor" and another was "Musical scales". I did do a mermaid every day for the month of May and Gemme followed this on Facebook, which brings us here.

She said she enjoyed seeing my mermaids every day and would like to see a project where everyone interpreted the same prompt, like I did for Mermay, in this thread. So I of course jumped on it and said wow, I'd love to wrangle that. Perhaps I did so prematurely, but stick with me folks until the end before we discuss the project.

Now, what made Mermay fun is that it was a Facebook group of 20,000 people interpreting the SAME prompt every day and coming up with such diverse works of art. You wouldn't believe some people's ingenuity. I'd love to do that here.

The idea for our project is thus: create ONE painting for your partner interpreting the prompt/challenge I issue to the group. For this project I would like to introduce the prompt of creating a mermaid with FRECKLES AND SPECKLES in mind. This can be interpreted in any way you see fit. Use your imaginations! (Again, the whole point being seeing how people interpret the same prompt). Everyone will create their painting for their partner, which will randomly be assigned by me. I will NOT be personally be pairing people together to be fair. It will be more of a pick names out of a hat type of dealio. In the event of an odd number of participants I volunteer as wrangler to partner with the extra person as well and make two paintings. I'll end up getting two paintings in my possession in the end, which may not seem fair, but I will also be putting forth twice the work not to mention wrangling so that's my way of dealing with an odd number of participants.

THE PAINTING: should be 5 x 7 inches in size to allow enough room to do a proper painting but still be easily mailable. PLEASE be thoughtful in your process as everyone will be working very hard on this and wants to receive something as special as they made so bring out your bells and whistles! It's not a contest about ability, anyone can join, but just be sure to put your best foot forward and put time and thought into your painting. Please make sure the painting is the correct size and flat enough to mail reasonably. I like my embellishments as much as the next girl or guy, and you can use some but please don't try and send something through the mail that's 3D or super heavy.

I suggest everyone cut a piece of watercolor paper down to size instead of using cardstock, as cardstock tends to buckle when anything wet is introduced. So if you want to use paint or even Mod Podge, please consider this suggestion. If you are using only dry media, such as colored pencils or crayons or fabric, cardstock should suffice but good quality paper is always a nice touch. That's just my plug.

THE TIMELINE: I suggest 8 weeks to complete this project. It's involved and I want to allow people to really use their imaginations and create something that showcases their best ability and effort. The sign up (once I post it) will be up for one week, then the 8 week period will commence. If anyone out of the country feels they need extra time to allow for longer mailing periods PLEASE mention it at the front end of the project when you sign up and we will add an extra week (I think this is what we decided) for you. All rules and regulations apply to this project but I'm not going to ass the blurb now.

Ok, feel free to discuss: the mermaid vs. unicorn dilemma (knowing I STRONGLY feel it should just be mermaids), size of project, timelines, etc. I will try to check my impatience and be open to suggestions and what the majority of the group wants. The one thing I will NOT budge on is my prompt of SPECKLES AND FRECKLES.